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Top 100 Oilers: No. 14 — Ales Hemsky

By Michael Menzies

Sep 16, 2026, 09:00 EDTUpdated: Sep 16, 2026, 11:49 EDT

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Oilersnation is reviving the Top 100 Edmonton Oilers of All Time list, a project originally created by the late Robin Brownlee in 2015. Ales Hemsky comes in at No. 14 on our updated 2025 list. He was ranked No. 22 on Brownlee’s original list.

For a generation of Edmonton Oilers fans, Ales Hemsky was their guy.

He is among the craftiest forwards the Oilers have had since the glory years, a player whose skill set benefited from the lockout’s rule changes and the freedom of mobility, but was by no means soft. If he could be airdropped into today’s NHL, where the Robyn Regehrs of the world are few in number, Hemsky would be a consistent offensive threat.

For parts of 11 seasons, Hemsky was the Oilers’ most dynamic option, and is cemented in the franchise’s lore for his net drives, slick hands, and natural skill. Those shoulders, though. He paid the price for that willingness to take the puck to the dirty areas, despite his slim frame, and he’d be a fan favourite throughout his Oilers tenure.

“The fans, in my eyes, they were always great to me,” said Hemsky in 2020. “Even through bad things and good things they were, I think they were always fair to me. I don’t mind if I play bad, just give it to me. I’m an honest guy, and I know that I’m playing bad.”

Hemsky co-authored some of the most electric moments of the 2000s Oilers, when the bad times outnumbered the good. And thanks to Patrik Stefan (who, as Ray Ferraro reminds us, should be embarrassed for missing that wide-open net), Hemsky is shown continuously on all-time highlight countdowns.

Notable

When the Oilers shipped out Bill Guerin in November 2000 to the Boston Bruins in a swap for Anson Carter, the Oilers got a first-round pick back in the deal they’d use on a kid from Pardubice, Czech Republic. Ales Hemsky was coming off a 100-point season with Hull Olympiques and would produce an even higher points per game in his second and last junior season.

That’s when fans would get acquainted with Hemmer and it wouldn’t be long until they’d rise to their feet to cheer, or to shout, “Shoot the puck!”

Hemsky revelled in making plays, and he’d produce a career high 77 points in 2005-06 as a 23-year-old. That season would be the biggest offensive year for Edmonton post-lockout until Taylor Hall’s 80-point output in 2013-14.

But he’s even said himself how much returning home during the lockout in 2004-05 took him to the next step. He won a league championship in the Czech league, playoff MVP, and then a World Championship gold, setting the stage to becoming an NHL All-Star.

Hemsky would surpass the 70-point plateau once more two seasons later, but injuries were on the cards. A shoulder injury sidelined him for a chunk of 2006-07, and most of 2009-10 after a collision with Michal Handzus. Shoulder injuries, as well as groin and concussion problems, would resurface annually, and he’d never again appear in more than 70 games in a single season with Edmonton.

Until he was traded to the Ottawa Senators on a March day in 2014, Hemsky would suit up 652 times for the Oilers, scoring 142 goals and 477 points. Four times he would lead or co-lead the Oilers in scoring — only Wayne Gretzky, Connor McDavid, and Doug Weight have done it more times in franchise history.

Hemsky played three seasons with the Dallas Stars before one last gasp for seven games with the Montreal Canadiens in 2017-18.

The Story

The image of Manny Legace slumped over in the Detroit Red Wings crease after Hemsky scores the last game-winner in Game 6 of the first round in 2006 is iconic.

Hemsky was dancing that night, Johnny-on-the-spot with 3:53 left in regulation to tie the game 3-3 on the power play. With the moments winding down in regulation, Hemsky deked into the offensive zone, got knocked off the puck, but carried on toward the net. Left all alone, Sergei Samsonov whipped the puck across to Hemsky, who fired home the series winner. The Oilers pulled off the upset and began the great run to the Stanley Cup final.

“Ales sure wants to be in that situation all the time,” said coach Craig MacTavish just a couple weeks before. His words foreshadowed what was to come as Hemsky’s goal with 34 seconds left on April 13 against Anaheim ensured the Oilers would nab a playoff spot. “He has a lot of confidence in his ability, as all good young players do.”

Hemsky, however modest, would downplay those moments years later.

“Honestly, those two goals, the first one was lucky,” he told Jason Gregor. “It went off my legs or my body. I knew I had to step up a little bit, and I did in the last game, and that gave me a lot of confidence too. Honestly, that second goal, I tried to beat three guys, but it didn’t work out. And then Sammy (Sergei Samsonov) made a great pass and then I had an open net and we won the series. It was a great feeling for everybody.”

The less that Hemsky, the more the Oilers suffered in his absence, going from playoff bubble team to perennial cellar-dweller.

You always wondered, though, what if? What if Hemsky didn’t have his injury setbacks? In his final seasons in Edmonton, Hemsky just didn’t look himself.

But occasionally, if the moment was right, he’d turn back the clock and remind you just how slick those hands were. Watching 83 come slowly down the wing, break back towards the middle, freeze time, and deke out the netminder remains some of the best pure skill Edmonton has ever seen.

He’s a legend in this household, goddamnit, often while playing without much help.

CREDIT: Edmonton Journal, April 14, 2006.

What Brownlee said

“Within about 20 minutes of the Oilers selecting Hemsky 13th overall from the Hull Olympiques at the 2001 Entry Draft in Florida, media relations man Bill Tuele hustled him over to Jim Matheson and me for an interview. Here was this rosy-cheeked kid without a single hair on his face. He made Ryan Nugent-Hopkins look like Grizzly Adams.
“Hemsky blushed as he struggled to put words together. He looked about 15. Hemsky had put up 197 points in just 121 games over two seasons with Hull. I remember looking at him and thinking, “How?” It didn’t take long to get an answer. The ability to get to full speed in three strides, a just-try-to-stop-me nose for the net, inside-outside moves that put opponents in knots and a sneaky wrist shot, that’s how. Oh, and he didn’t blink when games got physical and opposing D-men targeted him, which was often.”

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Michael Menzies is an Oilersnation columnist and co-host of PreGaming and Oilersnation After Dark. He’s also been the play-by-play voice of the Bonnyville Pontiacs in the AJHL since 2019. With seven years of news experience as the Editor-at-Large of Lakeland Connect in Bonnyville, Menzies collects vinyl, books, and stomach issues. Follow him on X at Menzies_4.