Top 100 Oilers: Mark Messier (2)

Photo credit:NHL.com

6 years ago

Mark Messier isn’t the greatest player in the history of the NHL, but if you made a short list of the most complete players to ever lace their skates in the league, The Moose would be on it along with the great Gordie Howe, who set the bar as a hockey Frankenstein several generations before Mess first pulled on the silks of the Edmonton Oilers in 1979.

For me, Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux are the most talented players ever to grace the NHL in any generation. When it comes to the total package — the ability to skate, score and play a physical game — Messier and Howe are one-two, in that order, of the guys who could play it anyway you wanted and beat you for fun. Messier, like Howe before him, didn’t much care how he got the better of opponents, only that he did. Whatever it took.

Mark Messier

Center
Born Jan 18th, 1961 — Edmonton, ALTA
Height 6.01 — Weight 205 [185 cm/93 kg]

Drafted by Edmonton Oilers

Round 3 #48 overall 1979 NHL Entry Draft

BY THE NUMBERS

Season	Age	Tm	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	S	S%	TOI	ATOI
1979-80	19	EDM	75	12	21	33	-10	120	113	10.6
1980-81	20	EDM	72	23	40	63	-12	102	179	12.8
1981-82	21	EDM	78	50	38	88	21	119	235	21.3
1982-83	22	EDM	77	48	58	106	19	72	237	20.3
1983-84	23	EDM	73	37	64	101	40	165	219	16.9
1984-85	24	EDM	55	23	31	54	8	57	136	16.9
1985-86	25	EDM	63	35	49	84	36	68	201	17.4
1986-87	26	EDM	77	37	70	107	21	73	208	17.8
1987-88	27	EDM	77	37	74	111	21	103	182	20.3
1988-89	28	EDM	72	33	61	94	-5	130	164	20.1
1989-90	29	EDM	79	45	84	129	19	79	211	21.3
1990-91	30	EDM	53	12	52	64	15	34	109	11.0
1991-92	31	NYR	79	35	72	107	31	76	212	16.5
1992-93	32	NYR	75	25	66	91	-6	72	215	11.6
1993-94	33	NYR	76	26	58	84	25	76	216	12.0
1994-95	34	NYR	46	14	39	53	8	40	126	11.1
1995-96	35	NYR	74	47	52	99	29	122	241	19.5
1996-97	36	NYR	71	36	48	84	12	88	227	15.9
1997-98	37	VAN	82	22	38	60	-10	58	139	15.8
1998-99	38	VAN	59	13	35	48	-12	33	97	13.4	1333	22:36
1999-00	39	VAN	66	17	37	54	-15	30	131	13.0	1399	21:12
2000-01	40	NYR	82	24	43	67	-25	89	131	18.3	1578	19:14
2001-02	41	NYR	41	7	16	23	-1	32	69	10.1	759	18:31
2002-03	42	NYR	78	18	22	40	-2	30	117	15.4	1453	18:38
2003-04	43	NYR	76	18	25	43	3	42	104	17.3	1253	16:29
12 yrs		EDM	851	392	642	1034	173	1122	2194	17.9
10 yrs		NYR	698	250	441	691	74	667	1658	15.1	5043	18:12
3 yrs		VAN	207	52	110	162	-37	121	367	14.2	2732	21:52
1 yr		CNS	47	1	10	11	-6	58	55	1.8
Career			1756	694	1193	1887	210	1910	4219	16.4	7775	19:20

PLAYOFFS

Season	Age	Tm	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	S	S%
1979-80	19	EDM	3	1	2	3	2	2	11	9.1
1980-81	20	EDM	9	2	5	7	1	13	24	8.3
1981-82	21	EDM	5	1	2	3	-4	8	17	5.9
1982-83	22	EDM	15	15	6	21	11	14	50	30.0
1983-84	23	EDM	19	8	18	26	9	19	63	12.7
1984-85	24	EDM	18	12	13	25	13	12	56	21.4
1985-86	25	EDM	10	4	6	10	1	18	23	17.4
1986-87	26	EDM	21	12	16	28	13	16	62	19.4
1987-88	27	EDM	19	11	23	34	9	29	42	26.2
1988-89	28	EDM	7	1	11	12	-1	8	23	4.3
1989-90	29	EDM	22	9	22	31	5	20	47	19.1
1990-91	30	EDM	18	4	11	15	2	16	41	9.8
1991-92	31	NYR	11	7	7	14	-4	6	27	25.9
1993-94	33	NYR	23	12	18	30	14	33	75	16.0
1994-95	34	NYR	10	3	10	13	-11	8	26	11.5
1995-96	35	NYR	11	4	7	11	-10	16	41	9.8
1996-97	36	NYR	15	3	9	12	2	6	43	7.0
Career			236	109	186	295	52	244	671	16.2

AWARDS

1983-84 Conn Smythe Trophy

1989-90 Hart Memorial Trophy, Ted Lindsay Award

1991-92 Hart Memorial Trophy, Ted Lindsay Award

NOTABLE

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Messier, a big, raw-boned, homegrown talent when he broke in with the Oilers, won five Stanley Cups in Edmonton and another with the New York Rangers. He sits third in NHL career scoring with 1,887 regular season career points, 1,034 of those with the Oilers. The former Oiler captain is a two-time Hart Trophy winner as league MVP and a Conn Smythe Trophy winner. Messier’s accomplishments and his numbers speak for themselves and will stand the test of time. But there was more, much more, to No. 11.

Messier could do it all, but it’s the snap factor that separates him and Howe from the ranks of many of the other all-time greats at the top of the NHL’s career scoring list. He could dominate opponents on the ice with speed and skill or beat them in the alley, if that’s what it took. Messier would happily knock your teeth down your throat using whatever means he had at his disposal in any given situation — fist, stick, elbow. It didn’t matter. You can see some of Messier’s handiwork here. More here against the New York Islanders.

That nasty streak aside, Messier also had both the desire and ability to lead. He did it with actions and words, with and without the captain’s C on his chest. Whether it was great goal, a punishing hit, a well-placed elbow or that famous glare, Messier knew how to get his message across. He did whatever he had to do and said whatever he had to say — that went for teammates as well as opponents. His best season? That was 1989-90, with Gretzky gone, when he had 129 points, won the Hart Trophy and led the Oilers to their fifth Cup as team captain.

THE STORY

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of the leaders that I’ve ever had do it as well as Mark did that particular year,” coach John Muckler said of Messier leading the push for the 1990 Cup. Of course, by the time of Messier’s called shot in the 1994 playoffs as a member of the New York Rangers, he was being heralded as one of the greatest team leaders in any sport. The seeds of that were sown in Edmonton.

“You learn from all the people you come in contact with and, of course, through winning, you gain experience and, unfortunately, through losing you gain experience as well,” Messier said. “You start putting all these things together as your career evolves and pretty soon you figure out what works and what doesn’t and that’s what experience does. Pretty soon, you realize that relationships are important and learn to cultivate those and extract the best you can out of everybody and I think that is what leadership is.”

Simply put, Messier figured out “what works” early in his career and put his own dazzling and sometimes vicious spin on it during his prime years, which came during his 12 unforgettable seasons with the Oilers. Nobody, and I mean nobody, competed with more passion and purpose, or had more fun doing it, than The Moose. Watching Messier skate out with the Stanley Cup at Rexall Place one more time during his jersey retirement ceremony with tears running down his face was, like the player, unforgettable.

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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