In last week’s Throwback Thursday, we looked at a forgettable trade deadline for the Oilers. Back in 2013, they had a chance to make the post-season and instead traded a late-round pick for Jerred Smithson. For a memorable trade deadline, let’s look at what the Oilers did before the 2006 trade deadline.
After the games on Jan. 25, 2006, the Oilers sat eighth in the Eastern Conference, six points ahead of the San Jose Sharks with four additional games played. The following day, they traded Cory Cross and Jan Rita to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Dick Tärnström. Moreover, the Oilers traded Tony Salmelainen to the Chicago Blackhawks for Jaroslav Špaček.
Fast forward over a month later, and the Oilers made their most important trade of the millennium, trading a 2006 first-round pick and 2007 third-round pick to the Minnesota Wild for Dwayne Roloson on Mar. 8, 2006. The following day, trade deadline day, they traded Marty Reasoner, Yan Šťastný, and a 2006 second-round pick for Sergei Samsonov.
After the trade, Tärnström, a left-shot defenceman, played 22 games with the Oilers, scoring a goal and four points. Špaček, also a left-shot defenceman, played 31 games with the Oilers after the trade, scoring five goals and 19 points in 31 games. Samsonov, a winger, played 19 games with five goals and 16 points.
The biggest impact though was by far the acquisition of Roloson. The Oilers had used three other goalies before this trade, Mike Morrison, Jussi Markkanen, and Ty Conklin. After Mar. 7, they had an .877 save percentage, an .880 save percentage, and an .880 save percentage respectively. Does that remind you of the current-day Oilers?
In Roloson’s three games after the deadline, he had an .859 save percentage as the Oilers went 0-2-1. However, he finished the remaining 16 games with an 8-5-3 record with a .916 save percentage, giving him a .905 save percentage after the trade.
The Oilers finished with a 41-28-13 record with 95 points, three points ahead of the Vancouver Canucks. What followed was one of the best Cinderella runs in sports history, starting with a matchup against the dynastic Detroit Red Wings who had a 58-16-8 record with 124 points.
Famously, the eighth-seeded Oilers took down the Wings in the first round in six games thanks to a late Aleš Hemský game-winning goal. Tärnström was held pointless in five games while Špaček scored two goals and four points in six games. Samsonov had one goal and six points, including an assist on the game-winning goal. As for Roloson, he had a .929 save percentage in the six games.
The second round saw the Oilers matchup with the fifth-seeded San Jose Sharks. Tärnström played just one game this series and was held pointless. Špaček had a goal and four points while Samsonov had two goals and four points in six games. Roloson once again had a strong series, posting a .931 save percentage that included a 24-save shutout in the series-clinching Game 6.
Next up was another team from California, the Anaheim Ducks. Like the previous series, Tärnström only played one game and was held pointless. On the other hand, Špaček picked up an assist in five games and Samsonov had four points in five games. Water is wet, the sky is blue, Dwayne Roloson had a strong series performance, posting a .934 save percentage and a 4-1-0 record.
At this point, the Oilers were the first team to ever finish in the eighth-seed and make the Stanley Cup Finals. Unfortunately, they weren’t the first time to win it all as they fell in seven games to the Carolina Hurricanes after being down 3-1. Tärnström played five games in this series with two points, Špaček had five assists in seven games, and Sergei Samsonov went cold, scoring a goal in seven games.
You know the story, Roloson played the first game and was injured as Marc-André Bergeron pushed Hurricanes forward Andrew Ladd into the Oilers’ netminder in a 4-4 game. The Oilers lost that game, as well as two of the next three to fall to 3-1 in the series. They won the next two, before falling 3-1 in Game 7. What could’ve been if Roloson hadn’t gotten injured?
These are the exact type of moves the Oilers have to make before Friday’s trade deadline. The Oilers addressed holes on their roster in 2006, adding a goalie, a top-four defenceman, a depth defenceman, and a top-six forward.
So far this season, the Oilers have added a bottom-six forward but still have several holes to fill; namely a right-shot defenceman for the second pair, a right-shot centre for the penalty kills, and a tandem netminder. With Kane seemingly on the Long Term Injured Reserve until the post-season, that will give the Oilers a bunch of cap space to play with.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Oilersnation, FlamesNation, and Blue Jays Nation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
