As a charter member of the More-Try-Than-Talent Fraternity during an athletic career that never got me within a $20 cab ride of a pro gig before I took the easy way out and started writing about sports rather than playing them for a living, I brought that bias to the writing game.
While I appreciated pure talent, my real soft spot was for the ham-and-eggers who willed themselves to better careers than they should have had based on determination, hard work and competitive fire. We all know and played with or against guys like that. I never had much patience for athletes at the other end of the spectrum – those who could have been great but shrugged and settled for good. We all know guys like that, too.
Maybe that’s why Dustin Penner drove me around the bend during his time with the Edmonton Oilers after signing a five-year offer sheet worth $21.25 million. Penner was big, strong and talented. He was capable of dominating games when he felt like it. The problem, of course, is he didn’t feel like it nearly often enough. The thing is, even when Penner was slacking off, he was still better than a lot of try-hard guys on some bad Oiler teams.

Dustin Penner

Left Wing — shoots L
Born Sep 28 1982 — Winkler, MAN 

Height 6.04 — Weight 247 [193 cm/112 kg]

BY THE NUMBERS

Season
Tm
GP
G
A
PTS
+/-
PIM
S
S%
TOI
ATOI
2006-07
ANA
82
29
16
45
-2
58
204
14.2
1147
13:59
2007-08
EDM
82
23
24
47
-12
45
201
11.4
1411
17:12
2008-09
EDM
78
17
20
37
7
61
137
12.4
1200
15:23
2009-10
EDM
82
32
31
63
6
38
203
15.8
1507
18:23
2010-11
TOT
81
23
22
45
-12
47
173
13.3
1468
18:07
2010-11
EDM
62
21
18
39
-12
45
137
15.3
1145
18:28
2010-11
LAK
19
2
4
6
0
2
36
5.6
323
17:01
2011-12
LAK
65
7
10
17
-7
43
119
5.9
931
14:19
2012-13
LAK
33
2
12
14
-2
18
61
3.3
419
12:42
2013-14
TOT
67
14
21
35
25
30
119
11.8
969
14:28
2013-14
ANA
49
13
19
32
22
28
100
13.0
748
15:16
2013-14
WSH
18
1
2
3
3
2
19
5.3
221
12:18
4 yrs
EDM
304
93
93
186
-11
189
678
13.7
5262
17:19
3 yrs
ANA,MDA
150
46
38
84
23
100
350
13.1
2122
14:09
3 yrs
LAK
117
11
26
37
-9
63
216
5.1
1673
14:18
1 yr
WSH
18
1
2
3
3
2
19
5.3
221
12:18
Career
589
151
159
310
6
354
1263
12.0
9279
15:45

NOTABLE

Part of the problem with Penner was perception. Even when it looked like he was coasting, advanced stats would show he’d often accomplish more than teammates who were, or looked like, they were busting their behinds. It’s a bias many big guys face. Part of the problem was the amount of money he made, which, at the time, was a pretty good chunk of Edmonton’s payroll.
That said, there is no question Penner was less-than-driven and guilty of not putting in the work required and expected. He was often out of shape — long before Pancake Gate was even a thing. He drove coach Craig MacTavish to distraction with his indifference for preparation and his inconsistency on the ice. MacTavish put it this way:
“When we signed Dustin we thought he’d be a top-two-line player. We thought the contract was a starting point for him, but he views it as a finish line. I can’t watch it, certainly not for another 2 1/2 years.” MacTavish fired that verbal volley in November of 2008 with Penner off to a slow start after he’d led the Oilers with 23 goals the previous season.

THE STORY

Penner had the same effect on GM Dean Lombardi in Los Angeles, where he was traded by the Oilers in February 2011. When Penner began wearing out his welcome in Tinseltown with more of the frustrating on-again, off-again play that was his trademark, Lombardi characterized him this way:
“Dustin is at the cross-roads of his career. He can choose to use his athletic ability to either become a dominant power forward in the National Hockey League or be a dominant number four hitter for the El Cid Lounge in a men’s softball league. The choice is his.” 
Penner never did become that dominant player. Not in Edmonton, despite scoring 93 goals and compiling 186 points in 304 games. Not in Los Angeles, where he won a Stanley Cup. Not in two stints with Anaheim, where he won another, or in Washington. Penner could have been a great player, but he settled for good in a career spanning 589 games. He was out of chances and out of the NHL at the age of 31.
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. 

Listen to Robin Brownlee Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on the Jason Gregor Show on TSN 1260.
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