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Top 100 Oilers: Grant Fuhr (5)
alt
Robin Brownlee
Aug 29, 2017, 09:00 EDTUpdated: Jul 28, 2025, 11:49 EDT
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“If you start worrying about things you can’t control, you get old fast. I don’t get mad. I don’t get angry. There’s no sense to it.” – Grant Fuhr, in an interview with Ralph Wiley of Sports Illustrated in January of 1988.
That easy-come-easy-go philosophy served Fuhr well during all the years he spent left largely to his own devices while patrolling the paint for the Edmonton Oilers during the 1980s. It’s particularly fitting Fuhr shared those words during what many consider his finest season in a HHOF career, 1987-88, when he won 40 games during the regular season and won all 16 the Oilers would need to claim a fourth Stanley Cup. Fuhr never worried much about how many pucks he had to fish out of his net as long as it was one less than the guy in the crease at the other end of the rink. All Fuhr ever did was win.

Grant Fuhr

Goalie — shoots R
Born Sep 28 1962 — Spruce Grove, ALTA
Height 5.11 — Weight 184 [180 cm/83 kg]
Drafted by Edmonton Oilers
Round 1 #8 overall 1981 NHL Entry Draft

BY THE NUMBERS

Season
Age
Tm
GP
W
L
T/O
GA
SA
SV
SV%
GAA
SO
1981-82
19
EDM
48
28
5
14
157
3.31
0
1982-83
20
EDM
32
13
12
5
129
4.29
0
1983-84
21
EDM
45
30
10
4
171
1463
1292
.883
3.91
1
1984-85
22
EDM
46
26
8
7
165
1426
1261
.884
3.87
1
1985-86
23
EDM
40
29
8
0
143
1296
1153
.890
3.93
0
1986-87
24
EDM
44
22
13
3
137
1149
1012
.881
3.44
0
1987-88
25
EDM
75
40
24
9
246
2066
1820
.881
3.43
4
1988-89
26
EDM
59
23
26
6
213
1714
1501
.876
3.83
1
1989-90
27
EDM
21
9
7
3
70
532
462
.868
3.89
1
1990-91
28
EDM
13
6
4
3
39
380
341
.897
3.01
1
1991-92
29
TOR
66
25
33
5
230
1933
1703
.881
3.66
2
1992-93
30
TOT
58
24
24
6
185
1729
1544
.893
3.30
1
1992-93
30
TOR
29
13
9
4
87
826
739
.895
3.14
1
1993-94
31
BUF
32
13
12
3
106
907
801
.883
3.68
2
1994-95
32
TOT
17
2
9
3
59
464
405
.873
4.03
0
1994-95
32
BUF
3
1
2
0
12
85
73
.859
4.00
0
1994-95
32
LAK
14
1992-93
30
BUF
29
11
15
2
98
903
1995-96
33
STL
79
30
28
16
209
2157
1948
.903
2.87
3
1996-97
34
STL
73
33
27
11
193
1940
1747
.901
2.72
3
1997-98
35
STL
58
29
21
6
138
1354
1216
.898
2.53
3
1998-99
36
STL
39
16
11
8
89
827
738
.892
2.44
2
1999-00
37
CGY
23
5
13
2
77
536
459
.856
3.83
0
10 yrs
EDM
423
226
117
54
1470
10026
8842
.882
3.69
9
4 yrs
STL
249
108
87
41
629
6278
5649
.900
2.68
11
3 yrs
BUF
64
25
29
5
216
1895
1679
.886
3.60
2
2 yrs
TOR
95
38
42
9
317
2759
2442
.885
3.50
3
1 yr
CGY
23
5
13
2
77
536
459
.856
3.83
0
1 yr
LAK
14
1
7
3
47
379
332
.876
4.04
0
Career
868
403
295
114
2756
21873
19403
.887
3.38
25

Playoffs

Season
Age
Tm
GP
W
L
GA
SA
SV
SV%
GAA
SO
1981-82
19
EDM
5
2
3
26
5.05
0
1982-83
20
EDM
1
0
0
0
0.00
0
1983-84
21
EDM
16
11
4
44
491
447
.910
2.99
1
1984-85
22
EDM
18
15
3
55
522
467
.895
3.10
0
1985-86
23
EDM
9
5
4
28
273
245
.897
3.11
0
1986-87
24
EDM
19
14
5
47
511
464
.908
2.46
0
1987-88
25
EDM
19
16
2
55
471
416
.883
2.90
0
1988-89
26
EDM
7
3
4
24
227
203
.894
3.45
1
1990-91
28
EDM
17
8
7
51
488
437
.895
3.00
0
1992-93
30
BUF
8
3
4
27
216
189
.875
3.42
1
1995-96
33
STL
2
1
0
1
45
44
.978
0.87
0
1996-97
34
STL
6
2
4
13
183
170
.929
2.18
2
1997-98
35
STL
10
6
4
28
297
269
.906
2.73
0
1998-99
36
STL
13
6
6
31
305
274
.898
2.35
1
Career
150
92
50
430
4029
3625
.900
2.92
6

AWARDS

1987-88 Vezina Trophy
1993-94 William M. Jennings Trophy

NOTABLE

In an era before oversized pads and stifling defensive systems choked scoring and excitement out of the game, even the best goaltenders had ridiculously modest statistics compared to the butterflying behemoths of today. During that 1987-88 season when Fuhr won his fourth Cup, claimed the Vezina and finished second to Mario Lemieux in Hart Memorial Trophy voting, Patrick Roy of the Montreal Canadiens had the best save-percentage in the NHL at .900 (Fuhr finished at .881 during the regular season and .883 in the post-season). Yes, Roy’s .900 was the top of the heap back then. That’s not a typo.
Simply put, Fuhr, who shared the crease with Andy Moog during the first half of his career with the Oilers after being selected eighth overall from the Victoria Cougars in the 1981 Entry Draft, was money when it mattered most – even though that doesn’t really show compared to the kind of numbers we see today. While Fuhr was guilty of giving up soft goals from time to time, more often than not he’d find a way to buckle down with the game on the line and his high-scoring teammates fixated on the other end of the rink.
Give up four goals? That was fine with Fuhr as long as the Oilers got five. That’s far easier said than done, but Fuhr was never easily rattled and showing up teammates with animated displays of exasperation – there was plenty of opportunity for that because on far too many nights he and Moog didn’t get much help – just wasn’t his thing. Hell, Fuhr didn’t even flinch when Steve Smith banked one off him and into the net in the 1986 playoffs. Stop the puck. Don’t allow the next one.

THE STORY

“He was the right fit for our organization because statistics and numbers didn’t matter to him,” Wayne Gretzky said of Fuhr. “All he wanted to do was win, and he didn’t care if we won 1-0 or 6-5. As we went along, it became more and more apparent to us that if it was 2-2 or 4-4 going into the third period that our goaltender was as good a goaltender in clutch situations as anyone who ever played the game.
“I never saw him point a glove or point a stick or point a finger at a player for a screen or a tip. He just got the puck and threw it to centre ice. Never saw him in the locker room, when many a time it was 5-5 after two periods and he could have looked over at someone and said, ‘Will someone at least try to play some defense?’”
The only time I ever saw Fuhr outwardly rattled was Oct. 9, 2003, the night his No. 31 jersey was retired at Rexall Place, which is completely understandable. We spent a few minutes chatting in a room down the hallway from the Oilers dressing room, where he was putting on his Oiler equipment one more time before heading out to the ice to have his banner raised. There stood Fuhr, a team-first guy if ever there was one, about to step into the spotlight – something he never chased as a player. Fuhr was overcome with emotion and the ceremony was still 30 minutes away. It was a wonderful night marking a wonderful career.
This series will look at the top 100 Edmonton Oilers from the NHL era 1979-80 to 2014-15, starting with 100 and working up.

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