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Top 100 Oilers: No. 29 — Sam Gagner
Photo credit: Jacob Lazare
Jun 2, 2026, 09:00 EDTUpdated: Jun 2, 2026, 05:39 EDT
Oilersnation is reviving the Top 100 Edmonton Oilers of All Time list, a project originally created by the late Robin Brownlee in 2015. Sam Gagner comes in at No. 29 on our updated 2025 list. He was ranked No. 62 on Brownlee’s original list.
If you aren’t cognizant of 2010s Edmonton Oilers lore, you might think the team record for most points in a single game is held by Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, or maybe even Evan Bouchard.
However, Sam Gagner is one of three to accomplish this feat, tied with Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey in the Oilers’ all-time history books.
That’s right, Gagner recorded a total of not six, not seven, but eight points in a single game on February 2, 2012, against the Chicago Blackhawks.
HockeyDBNotable
Gagner was drafted by the Oilers with the sixth overall pick in 2007, after the team had a significant decline following their 2006 Cup run. He had scored 35 goals and 118 points with the OHL’s London Knights in his draft year, propelling him into the top ten of that year’s draft.
In his first seven seasons with the Oilers, he was “Mr. Consistent,” recording 13 to 18 goals in each full season and between 41 and 49 points. These stats aren’t spectacular by any means, but in a time where offensive consistency was hard to come by for this team, it was what the team needed.
He also had hands.
Anytime there was a shootout for the Oilers, you knew you could expect something sweet from No. 89. There is even a move named after him called “The Gagner,” so you know he was smooth with it. Fake shot, fake backhand, fake forehand, to the backhand, to the forehand, tuck it home. That’s my best attempt at describing the absolute wizardry that he would conduct in his specialty move.
Later in his career, after signing with the team as a free agent ahead of the 2023-24 season, he took on an elder statesman’s role with the team. He received the nickname “Papa Clutch,” which was revealed by Zach Hyman, after Connor Brown had deemed him “Papa Oiler” earlier in the 2023-24 season.
The Story
After his first stint with the Oilers, Gagner couldn’t find a home in the league.
The first trade of his career came in 2014, when he was dealt to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Teddy Purcell. He was then flipped immediately to the Arizona Coyotes, along with a fourth-round pick, for Nicklas Grossman and Chris Pronger.
In the next six years, Gagner played for five NHL teams – Arizona, Philadelphia Flyers, Columbus Blue Jackets, Vancouver Canucks, and Edmonton again. He also had three AHL stints, one for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, one for the Toronto Marlies, and one with the Bakersfield Condors.
His second time in Edmonton ended a year after it began, when he was traded with two second-round draft picks, one in 2020, the other in 2021, to the Detroit Red Wings for Andreas Athanasiou and Ryan Kuffner.
Then, he spent three seasons in Detroit, playing 129 games and recording 21 goals and 47 points. In 2022, he signed with the Winnipeg Jets, then in 2023, he was on a professional tryout with the Oilers. The team did not sign him out of his tryout, but then weeks later, they changed their mind, and in “Papa Clutch’s” first game back, he scored two goals in a losing effort to the Dallas Stars.
Gagner only played 28 games with the Oilers that season, and 15 with the Condors. At the NHL level, he logged five goals and ten points, marking the last season of his career in the big leagues.
He played one more AHL season with the Belleville Senators, before retiring from professional hockey with 1043 games, 197 goals, and 529 points under his belt. Gagner only saw two playoff appearances in his career, in Philadelphia and Columbus, where he collected a total of four points, which were all assists.
What Brownlee said
If this list was about the Top 100 Good Guys who have played for the Edmonton Oilers, Sam Gagner would occupy a place on it much higher than the 62 spot I’ve slotted him into. In the seven seasons Gagner toiled for the Oilers, he was considered a good teammate. He was respected in the room.Gagner was a stand-up guy who’d fight for his teammates, even though he was physically ill-equipped to do so. I never once heard him make excuses or shift the blame after awful performances by a too-often lousy team, even though there was plenty of blame to go around.All things considered, Gagner was a pretty good hockey player who was thrown in over his head on some decidedly bad teams, even if he became something of a whipping boy for frustrated fans as his time in Edmonton wound down – I never understood that, although, like I say, I liked the kid.
The Last 10
- No. 39 — Todd Marchant
- No. 38 — Darnell Nurse
- No. 37 — Petr Klima
- No. 36 — Joe Murphy
- No. 35 — Dwayne Roloson
- No. 34 — Taylor Hall
- No. 33 — Curtis Joseph
- No. 32 — Dave Semenko
- No. 31 — Dave Hunter
- No. 30 — Dave Lumley
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