A former Edmonton Oilers fan favourite celebrated his birthday on Tuesday.
Happy birthday to right-shot defenceman Igor Ulanov, as the Krasnokamsk, Russia native turned 55 today.
Originally selected by the original Winnipeg Jets in the 10th round of the 1991 draft, the defenceman played parts of four seasons with the Jets before being traded to the Washington Capitals during the 1995 season.
After spending the rest of the season with the Capitals, he signed with the Chicago Blackhawks, where he played 53 games, before being traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Ulanov spent parts of three seasons in the state of Florida before being traded once again, this time to the Montréal Canadiens.
Surprise, Surprise, Ulanov was traded again as the Edmonton Oilers acquired the defenceman. He finished the 1999-2000 season picking up three assists in 14 games with the Oilers, along with playing five postseason games. His career-best season came in 2000-01 when he scored three goals and 23 points in 67 games as the Oilers fell in six games to the Dallas Stars.
Ulanov signed with the New York Rangers to begin the 2001-02 season and was shockingly traded again, this time returning to the state of Florida to play with the Panthers. In return, the Rangers received fellow Russian Pavel Bure.
The right-shot defenceman spent parts of two seasons in Florida, as well as their American Hockey League team, before returning to the Oilers to begin the 2003-04 season. That year, he scored a career-high five goals as well as 18 points in 42 games, the highest point-per-game total of his career.
In Ulanov’s final National Hockey League season, he scored three goals and nine points in 37 games with the 2005-06 Oilers but didn’t feature in the team’s lineup in the postseason as the Oilers went to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
Ulanov played for three more seasons in Russia. He spent two seasons with Yaroslavl Lokomotiv in 2006-07 and 2007-08 and Minsk Dynamo in 2008-09 before hanging up the skates. The birthday most recently was the assistant coach of the Kunlun Red Star in the Kontinental Hockey League back in 2020-21.
Of the 27 goals he scored in his 739 NHL games, 11 of them came with the Oilers during his two stints. Moreover, Ulanov scored just under a third of his 162 points as an Oiler, finishing with 53 in the four seasons he played in the provincial capital. The late great Robin Brownlee ranked Ulanov as the 93rd on his Top 100 Oilers countdown back in 2015. It’s a great article and you can read it here.
“I’ve told this story before, but it captures the essence of Ulanov in a nutshell. We were on the road in Columbus in November 2000 when Ulanov took a slapshot in the throat. It knocked him out of the game. He was badly bruised, but it could have been much, much worse.
Two nights later at Madison Square Garden, after insisting he was able to play against the New York Rangers, Ulanov took a slapper in the face. Spurting blood, Ulanov insisted on staying on the bench because he wanted to wait until the intermission to get repairs. He was forced by officials to go to the medical room, where it took about 30 stitches to close him up.
Later on the plane, with his face having swelled to freakish proportions, I asked him what the hell he was thinking by resisting immediate treatment. Ulanov sneered: ‘What? It’s blood on my face. My leg is not broken.’
Tell Ulanov he doesn’t belong on the list? Not me.
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