TOP 100 OILERS: IGOR KRAVCHUK (86)
8 years ago
If you’re wondering what Igor Kravchuk is doing on this list of Top 100 Edmonton Oilers or had forgotten about him altogether, you’re probably not alone. Kravchuk was a very good player, but he had terrible timing – he toiled for some completely forgettable Oiler teams in the mid-1990s.
When Kravchuk arrived from the Chicago Blackhawks to start the 1992-93 season, the Oilers had won five Stanley Cups and made the playoffs for 13 straight seasons. When the big Russian blueliner moved along to St. Louis during the 1995-96 season, the Oilers were on their way to missing playoffs for the fourth straight year. Bad teams. Bad times.
Igor Kravchuk #21
Defenseman
| NUMBER: | 29 | BIRTHDATE: | September 13, 1966 |
| HEIGHT: | 6′ 1″ | BIRTHPLACE: | Ufa, Russia |
| WEIGHT: | 215 | DRAFTED: | CHI / 1991 NHL Entry Draft |
| SHOOTS: | Left | ROUND: | 4th (71st overall) |
BY THE NUMBERS
CAREER REGULAR SEASON STATISTICS
| SEASON | TEAM | GP | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | PPG | SHG | GWG | S | S% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991-92 | BLACKHAWKS | 18 | 1 | 8 | 9 | -3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 40 | 2.5 |
| 1991-92 | SOVIET UNION-CAN-CUP | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||||||
| 1991-92 | CSKA MOSCOW-CIS | 30 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 6 | ||||||
| 1991-92 | RUSSIA-OLYMPICS | 8 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 6 | ||||||
| 1992-93 | BLACKHAWKS | 38 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 11 | 30 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 101 | 5.9 |
| 1992-93 | OILERS | 17 | 4 | 8 | 12 | -8 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 9.5 |
| 1993-94 | OILERS | 81 | 12 | 38 | 50 | -12 | 16 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 197 | 6.1 |
| 1994-95 | OILERS | 36 | 7 | 11 | 18 | -15 | 29 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 93 | 7.5 |
| 1995-96 | OILERS | 26 | 4 | 4 | 8 | -13 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 59 | 6.8 |
| 1995-96 | BLUES | 40 | 3 | 12 | 15 | -6 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 114 | 2.6 |
| 1996-97 | BLUES | 82 | 4 | 24 | 28 | 7 | 35 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 142 | 2.8 |
| 1997-98 | SENATORS | 81 | 8 | 27 | 35 | -19 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 191 | 4.2 |
| 1997-98 | RUSSIA-OLYMPICS | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ||||||
| 1998-99 | SENATORS | 79 | 4 | 21 | 25 | 14 | 32 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 171 | 2.3 |
| 1999-00 | SENATORS | 64 | 6 | 12 | 18 | -5 | 20 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 126 | 4.8 |
| 1999-00 | RUSSIA-WC-A | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0.0 | |
| 2000-01 | SENATORS | 15 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 7.7 |
| 2000-01 | FLAMES | 37 | 0 | 8 | 8 | -12 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 54 | 0.0 |
| 2001-02 | FLAMES | 78 | 4 | 22 | 26 | 3 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 135 | 3.0 |
| 2001-02 | RUSSIA-OLYMPICS | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | ||||||
| 2002-03 | PANTHERS | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0.0 |
| NHL TOTALS | 699 | 64 | 210 | 274 | -57 | 251 | 28 | 2 | 8 | 1,486 | 4.3 |
CAREER PLAYOFF STATISTICS
| SEASON | TEAM | GP | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | PPG | SHG | GWG | S | S% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991-92 | BLACKHAWKS | 18 | 2 | 6 | 8 | -2 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 48 | 4.2 |
| 1995-96 | BLUES | 10 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 7.1 |
| 1996-97 | BLUES | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0.0 |
| 1997-98 | SENATORS | 11 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 8.3 |
| 1998-99 | SENATORS | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0.0 |
| 1999-00 | SENATORS | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 5.3 |
| NHL TOTALS | 51 | 6 | 15 | 21 | -15 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 123 | 4.9 |
NOTABLE
While the ongoing stretch of futility the Oilers find themselves in now as they head for a 10th straight year out of the playoffs ranks as the longest skein of ineptitude in franchise history, the teams Kravchuk played for were as deep and as dark a hole as fans in this city have seen.
The .357 points percentage clip the 1992-93 Oilers played at remains a franchise low. Kravchuk’s tenure was a four-year tire fire that saw him play for four different coaches. Ted Green, Glen Sather, George Burnett and Ron Low all took turns at the helm without much luck.
Through it all, Kravchuk performed pretty well, considering he played on a blueline corps that included the likes of Francois Leroux, Brian Glynn, Gord Mark and Dean Kennedy during his stay in Edmonton. In his second season with the Oilers, 1993-94, Kravchuk finished fifth in team scoring behind Doug Weight, Jason Arnott, Zdeno Ciger and Shayne Corson with 12-38-50.
THE STORY
All told, Kravchuk played 160 games in Edmonton and tallied 27-61-88 for a points per game mark of .55. To add some context, Tom Gilbert averaged .41 PPG as an Oiler, Boris Mironov was .50 in his time here and Sheldon Souray was .53 before talking himself out of town.
Originally acquired from Chicago with Dean McAmmond for Joe Murphy, Kravchuk got his get-out-of-jail card in February of 1993 when Sather dealt him to the Blues with Ken Sutton for Donald Dufresne and Jeff Norton.
When all is said and done, Kravchuk enjoyed the best season of his 699-game NHL career on that 1993-93 edition of the Oilers. He was a very good player on a very bad team.
This series will look at the top 100 Edmonton Oilers from the NHL era 1979-80 to 2014-15, starting with 100 and working up.
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