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TOP 100 OILERS: MARTIN GELINAS (50)

Robin Brownlee
7 years ago
He was a hotshot prospect drafted seventh overall by the Los Angeles Kings in 1988, but it turned out the only time he’d ever wear the team’s black and silver jersey was on draft day. A couple months later, he was told he’d been traded to the Edmonton Oilers for Wayne Gretzky — a deal which had fans burning Oiler owner Peter Pocklington in effigy.
Such was hockey life for 18-year-old Martin Gelinas, who arrived in Edmonton with Jimmy Carson, three first-round draft choices and $15 million in the trade that sent Gretzky, Mike Krushelnyski and Marty McSorley to Tinseltown. Impossibly big skates to fill for Carson and Gelinas – anybody, for that matter – in a town where the Great One and the Oilers had won four Stanley Cups.
Martin Gelinas
Left Wing
Born Jun 5 1970 — Shawinigan, PQ 
Height 6.00 — Weight 194 [183 cm/88 kg]
Drafted by Los Angeles Kings
Round 1 #7 overall 1988 NHL Entry Draft

BY THE NUMBERS

Season
Age
Tm
GP
G
A
PTS
+/-
PIM
S
S%
ATOI
1988-89
18
6
1
2
3
-1
0
14
7.1
1989-90
19
46
17
8
25
0
30
71
23.9
1990-91
20
73
20
20
40
-7
34
124
16.1
1991-92
21
68
11
18
29
14
62
94
11.7
1992-93
22
65
11
12
23
3
30
93
11.8
1993-94
23
TOT
64
14
14
28
-8
34
107
13.1
1993-94
23
31
6
6
12
-2
8
53
11.3
1993-94
23
33
8
8
16
-6
26
54
14.8
1994-95
24
46
13
10
23
8
36
75
17.3
1995-96
25
81
30
26
56
8
59
181
16.6
1996-97
26
74
35
33
68
6
42
177
19.8
1997-98
27
TOT
64
16
18
34
-5
40
147
10.9
1997-98
27
24
4
4
8
-6
10
49
8.2
1997-98
27
40
12
14
26
1
30
98
12.2
1998-99
28
76
13
15
28
3
67
111
11.7
13:13
1999-00
29
81
14
16
30
-10
40
139
10.1
13:39
2000-01
30
79
23
29
52
-4
59
170
13.5
17:54
2001-02
31
72
13
16
29
-1
30
121
10.7
16:05
2002-03
32
81
21
31
52
-3
51
152
13.8
16:33
2003-04
33
76
17
18
35
10
70
139
12.2
14:50
2005-06
35
82
17
24
41
27
80
186
9.1
15:59
2006-07
36
82
14
30
44
7
36
171
8.2
13:26
2007-08
37
57
9
11
20
5
20
110
8.2
14:07
5 yrs
CAR
348
75
90
165
-11
226
639
11.7
15:12
5 yrs
EDM
258
60
60
120
9
156
396
15.2
5 yrs
VAN
258
90
81
171
10
173
536
16.8
2 yrs
CGY
157
38
49
87
7
121
291
13.1
15:43
2 yrs
FLA
164
31
54
85
34
116
357
8.7
14:42
1 yr
QUE
31
6
6
12
-2
8
53
11.3
1 yr
NSH
57
9
11
20
5
20
110
8.2
14:07
Career
1273
309
351
660
52
820
2382
13.0
15:07
PLAYOFFS
Season
Age
Tm
GP
G
A
PTS
+/-
PIM
S
S%
TOI
ATOI
1989-90
19
20
2
3
5
0
6
24
8.3
1990-91
20
18
3
6
9
4
25
29
10.3
1991-92
21
15
1
3
4
-3
10
15
6.7
1993-94
23
24
5
4
9
-1
14
35
14.3
1994-95
24
3
0
1
1
1
0
5
0.0
1995-96
25
6
1
1
2
-1
12
8
12.5
1998-99
28
6
0
3
3
-4
2
12
0.0
117
19:33
2000-01
30
6
0
1
1
-4
6
4
0.0
107
17:51
2001-02
31
23
3
4
7
6
10
33
9.1
328
14:16
2003-04
33
26
8
7
15
10
35
51
15.7
415
15:58
Career
147
23
33
56
8
120
216
10.6
967
15:51

NOTABLE

It goes without saying that the Oilers were never going to win the Gretzky trade. It was a deal that shook the hockey world with Edmonton at the epi-center, but with Pocklington dismantling the NHL’s last great dynasty because he could no longer afford to pay the hired help, the former star of the Hull Olympiques arrived under the greatest of expectations.
Gelinas was home in Shawinigan, taking a break from the hockey school he was working, when he a stranger approached him. “You just got traded for Wayne Gretzky.” Gelinas’ reaction was what you’d expect: “I just chuckled. Thinking it’s just a joke,” he said. “Then someone else came over and said, ‘You know you just got traded?’ I didn’t quite believe it. And then when I saw a flock of reporters coming at me, I realized, ‘OK, this is true.’ ”
With the shock and anger of Edmonton’s fan base still bubbling over, Gelinas would spend just six games with the Oilers in 1988-89 before he was sent back to junior with the Olympiques. It would be 1989-90 when Gelinas would make his mark with the Oilers as a member of the Kid Line with Joe Murphy and Adam Graves, a trio that would play a role in bringing the Oilers a fifth Stanley Cup.

THE STORY

Gelinas scored 17 goals in just 46 games during the 1989-90 season, but it was the secondary offense that he, Murphy and Graves would provide coach John Muckler during the playoffs on the way to a 4-1 Stanley Cup final series win over the Boston Bruins as the Kid Line people still remember him for. Gelinas was just 19 at the time.
The Kid Line didn’t put up huge numbers – Murphy had 6-8-14, Graves scored 5-6-11 and Gelinas chipped in 2-3-5 – in support of Mark Messier, Craig Simpson, Jari Kurri, Esa Tikkanen and Glenn Anderson, but it helped push the Oilers over the top as Edmonton celebrated its first, and so far only, Stanley Cup of the post-Gretzky era.
Gelinas would enjoy his best regular season with the Oilers in 1990-91 with 20-20-40 in 73 games and he’d play two more seasons in Edmonton before being dealt to Quebec in June 1993. All told, Gelinas would produce 60-60-120 in 258 games with the Oilers, but it was the 1990 Stanley Cup and that baby-faced Kid Line that lands him on this list for me.
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. 
Listen to Robin Brownlee Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on the Jason Gregor Show on TSN 1260.
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