The Edmonton Oilers had role players in their dynasty years, believe it or not.
One such player, Mark Lamb, was with the Oilers during the last few years of their Stanley Cup window. This week, the Wheel of Names landed on the 1991-92 season, with that season being one of Lamb’s best.
The Ponteix, Saskatchewan native (try finding that on a map) played for the Swift Current Broncos in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League in 1980-81, scoring 13 goals and 59 points in 40 games. In the same season, he played 24 games with the Western Hockey League’s Billings Bighorns, scoring a goal and nine points in 24 games. Lamb became a regular for the Bighorns the next season, scoring 45 goals and 101 points in 72 games, with four goals and 10 points in five postseason games.
This led to the Calgary Flames picking Lamb 72nd overall in the 1982 draft. Lamb played for the Nanaimo Islanders the following season, scoring 14 goals and 51 points in 30 games, before being traded to the Medicine Hat Tigers where he scored 22 goals and 65 points in 46 games, with three goals and five points in five postseason games. Lamb also had his first taste of professional action that season, playing six postseason games for the Colorado Flames.
His last season in the regular season in junior hockey saw him score 59 goals and 136 points in 72 games, with 12 goals and 23 points in 14 postseason games for the Tigers. Lamb played for the Moncton Golden Flames in 1984-85, scoring 23 goals and 72 points in 80 games, before returning to junior for the postseason, where he scored three goals and five points in six games.
The 1985-86 season was mainly spent with the Golden Flames, where he scored 26 goals and 76 points in 79 games, but he made his National Hockey League debut with the Calgary Flames the same season. Lamb departed the Flames organization to sign with the Adirondack Red Wings, where he scored 14 goals and 50 points in 49 games in 1986-87. More importantly, he played in 22 NHL games, scoring two goals and three points, along with playing 11 postseason games.
Once again, Lamb was on the move, as the Oilers claimed him off waivers. He played two NHL games and 69 games for the Nova Scotia Oilers, scoring 27 goals and 88 points. The 1988-89 season was much of the same, playing most of the season in the AHL but appearing in 20 games for the Oilers where he scored two goals and 10 points.
Finally, Lamb became an NHL regular in 1989-90, scoring 12 goals and 28 points in 58 games. The Oilers won their final Stanley Cup that season, with Lamb scoring six goals and 17 points in the postseason. In 1990-91, he played 37 games with four goals and 12 points, with five assists in 15 postseason games. The next season, he had six goals and 28 points in 59 games, with a goal and two points in 16 postseason games.
Edmonton left Lamb unprotected in the 1992 expansion draft, with the Ottawa Senators taking the Ponteix native. His first season with the Sens saw him score seven goals and 26 points in 71 games, followed by his career-best year with 11 goals and 29 points in 66 games with the Senators. Lamb served as the team’s co-captain in 1993-94. Despite that, they traded him to the Philadelphia Flyers where he had a goal and seven points in 19 games.
In the lockout-shortened season of 1994-95, Lamb played eight games for the Flyers before being traded to Montréal Canadiens the same season. He scored a goal in 39 games with the team. Lamb returned to the minors for the 1995-96 season, scoring 17 goals and 77 points in 67 games with the Houston Aeros, while playing one game with the Canadiens.
In 1996-97 with the Aeros, he scored 25 goals and 78 points in 81 games, before heading to Germany to play with EV Landshut of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, scoring seven goals and 28 points in 46 games. Lamb returned to the Aeros in the 1998-99 season, scoring 21 goals and 70 points in 79 games, along with a goal and 11 points in 19 postseason games as the Aeros won the league’s championship.
All good things must come to an end, and Lamb’s final season of his playing career came in 1999-2000, where he scored 15 goals and 61 points in 79 games with the Aeros, along with two goals and nine points in 11 postseason games.
Since then, Lamb has served behind the bench, becoming the Oilers’ assistant coach in 2001-02. He moved on to Dallas for six seasons, before becoming the head coach and general manager of the Western Hockey League’s Swift Current Broncos for seven seasons. Lamb coached one season with the Tucson Roadrunners of the AHL, before returning to the helm of a WHL team, this time the Prince George Cougars, both as a coach and as a general manager.
Last season, they finished with a 49-15-4 record, falling to the Portland Winterhawks and current Oiler prospect, James Štefan in the third round. Thanks to the Cougars’ success, Lamb was named the coach of the year and the executive of the year.
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