Oilersnation is reviving the Top 100 Edmonton Oilers of All Time list, a project originally created by the late Robin Brownlee in 2015. Boris Mironov comes in at No. 57 on our updated 2025 list. He was ranked No. 57 on Brownlee’s original list.

The Edmonton Oilers have arguably the greatest Finnish player of all-time, Jari Kurri, arguably the greatest German player of all-time, Leon Draisaitl, and even flirted with the “Scottish Gretzky” back in the day with Tony Hand.

They’ve mined talent from all over the globe. But with Russia, they’ve had less luck.

With that said, the greatest Russian Edmonton Oiler of all-time must be Boris Mironov: a beloved character amongst teammates and fans just as much as a quality defencemen through the heart of the 1990s for the franchise.

He’s the only Russian to ever wear a letter for the franchise, an alternate captain in his last two seasons, and was an integral piece to the upstart resurgence of the 1996-97 and 1997-98 Oilers, who upset Dallas and Colorado in consecutive years.

Bobo had a box office quality to him: he could score, he could lay a thundering hit, he could fight in the hallway between the benches, and produced in several big games for the Oilers.

He was done in the NHL at just 32 years old, having made his millions, and won silver and bronze medals at the 1998 Nagano and 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, respectively.

But one can argue he played the best hockey of his life as an Edmonton Oiler.

Notable

Mironov was drafted in the second round, 27th overall, by the Winnipeg Jets in 1992. Playing with CKSA Moscow, his play earned him a spot on the Soviet’s U20 team, and he performed well in back-to-back World Juniors in 1991, winning gold in 1992.

He made the jump in 1993-94 to North America, joining the Jets for 65 games, until the Jets looked to make a big trade. They swapped Mironov, along with Mats Lindgren and a first-round pick for Dave Manson, who was just exiting his prime.

Bobo finished the year on the NHL All-Rookie Team.

Mironov fit right in for the rebuilding Oilers, where he’d play parts of six seasons. After the truncated lockout year of 1994-95, Mironov regained his form the following season, and the Oilers improved and set a new career high in points, a total he’d break twice more in Edmonton.

Enjoying another terrific season in 1998-99, the writing was on the wall. Mironov needed a new contract.

Glen Sather elected to trade him along with Dean McAmmond and Jonas Elofsson for multiple former first-round picks in Dan Cleary, Ethan Moreau, Chad Kilger, as well as Christian LaFlamme. Mironov provided nine assists in the last 12 games to reach 49 points on the year, but held out to begin next season.

Finally, after a heated dispute which saw him miss several games, Mironov and the Blackhawks agreed to a four-year contract worth more than $3-million annually, a substantial raise from what he was making with the Oilers.

The marriage got off on the wrong foot and ended on the wrong foot as well.

In 2002, with struggles and some nagging injury issues, he requested a trade, which was granted. Sather came calling, this time as New York Rangers general manager, and finished 02-03 with the Rangers.

He would play just one more season in the NHL before retiring.

The Story

This is one of the hardest hits I’ve ever seen. And after doing my info gathering for this piece, I’ve watched it 20 times at least.

Mike Gartner sends Dave Gagner a suicide pass up the middle, and Boris Mironov absolutely crushes him on Hockey Night in Canada at Northlands. It leads to a funny Coaches Corner bit to boot.

Mironov loved stepping up to inflict a big hit, but he could be dangerous with the puck as well as a powerplay option with a wicked slap shot.

He also produced in both playoff years, second in team points in the 1997 postseason.

Mironov scored twice in the incredible Stars series, including in Game 7 on a delayed penalty to make it 2-1 at the time for the Oilers, a game of course Todd Marchant would finish.

In the remarkable Game 3 comeback where the Oilers scored three goals in 1:56 to tie the game, Mironov had two assists: the clean takeaway to start the rush on the Andrei Kovalenko 3-2 goal, and starting the breakout which led to the Kelly Buchberger OT game winner.

The Oilers would be ousted by the Avalanche, but Edmonton would get revenge a year later in 1997-98. Mironov scored 16 goals in the regular season (10 on the power play) and fired home three more in the post-season.

His six points all came in the 7-game upset of the Avs, as the Oilers won three straight to claim the series, but the Oilers would be ousted by the Stars in five games in the next series.

Brownlee’s anecdotes about Mironov speak wonders, so it’s best left to him to share the personal side of Bobo.

I’ll say this, well after he’s left, Mironov’s impact and presence to the Oilers haven’t diminished. To think, Brownlee ranked him 57th, and the current Oilersnation braintrust held his spot at 57 – maybe it was the ridiculous highlight fighting with Joe Murphy alone.

What Brownlee said

I’ve written about the misadventures of Boris Mironov as a member of the Edmonton Oilers a time or two, so I’m not going get too much into specifics again. You can read some of it here. What I will say, though, is it’s too bad Mironov wore out his welcome in Edmonton because he was a helluva player and a guy who everybody in the dressing room loved.
It wasn’t really surprising, then, that when the Oiler contingent rolled into Chicago in November of 1999 for their first game against the Blackhawks since GM Glen Sather had traded him the previous March, boozing Bobo was waiting on us in the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton. Same big smile. Same big handshake. A new big contract from the Blackhawks. He was happy to see us. We were happy to see him. That was Boris.

The Last 10

Oilersnation wants to hear from you, the reader, in our new weekly “Letters to the Editor” segment. Letters can be emailed to Oilersnation’s managing editor Zach Laing (zach.laing@bettercollective.com), titled “Letters to the Editor.” Please include a letter up to 200 words, including your name, place of residence (city, town, province, or state). Your letters may be edited for length and/or clarity. Letters must be submitted by 6 PM MT Saturday night to be considered for feature on Sunday mornings.

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