How Many Cups Would Gretzky Have Won With The Oilers

[VanIslander]

I agree with hunter1909: The Oilers would have been competitive throughout the nineties.

Especially if other Oilers stayed in the fold as well.

The Washington Capitals' coach attributed their Stanley Cup appearance to the phenomenal playoff skill and leadership of Esa Tikkanen, a postseason demon.

Even Fuhr had some very good, long seasons in St. Louis. And Gelinas of the 1990 Cup-winning Oilers proved this year that he still has mustard.

A Gretzky-Messier-Tikkanen-Gelinas-Fuhr core would have continued to compete for the Cup in conference finals against Detroit or Colorado (in all those years where the East was clearly a notch lower in competitiveness).

 

[Stephen]

I really think we're overestimating this Oiler core here.

Any team whose top two players are Gretzky and Messier are going to do well, automatically, and the Oilers of the 90s would have been no different. The problem is with the rest of the cast. If they had turned all their other lesser light players into young forwards, sure they could have continued to do well.

To say the Oilers could have done anything into the late 90s without a huge retooling job is a huge stretch.

 

[MacDaddy TLC*]

I think a team with Gretzky, Messier, Lowe, Fuhr, Kurri and Anderson would still have been a great team, but I really don't think they would have had the depth to contend with the other teams that were getting better around that time to win another 5 cups.

it is a better core than all but maybe Pittsburgh could have had at the time, and like I said, Sather did a nice jopb of bringing in a few guys each year through the 5 cups in 7 years era. It is very possible they could have run on into the mid 90s and won 3 or so more cups.

BTW, Anderson may have started to slow down in the regular season, but he was a key member of the Leafs 1993 run and 1994 with the Rangers (not to mention scoring started declining in the early 90s)

 

[jiggs 10]

I think they would have won either one or two more, and then been done. Simply because of the economics of the game. Players (other than Gretz) would have been traded, or retired, or whatever, and they would have been lost without a map after that. They were a great team, but no team stays great forever. By 1991 or so they would have been old, tired, and different. With Gretzky, they EASILY win in 1989. But after that? Hard to say.

 

[hunter1909*]

I think they would have won either one or two more, and then been done. Simply because of the economics of the game. Players (other than Gretz) would have been traded, or retired, or whatever, and they would have been lost without a map after that. They were a great team, but no team stays great forever. By 1991 or so they would have been old, tired, and different. With Gretzky, they EASILY win in 1989. But after that? Hard to say.

OK LETS SUBTRACT ALL OF THE OILERS FROM THE 1994 NYR...

1940...1940...1940...LOL

THE FACT IS...THE OILERS WERE STILL TOTALLY DOMINATING RIGHT UP UNTIL 1994 AND BEYOND...

SURE THEY WOULD HAVE HAD TO KEEP RETOOLING...LIKE THEY ALWAYS DID WITH THE ROLE GUYS...

BUT TO EQUATE THE OILERS WITH THE 50S HABS...INTO THE 60S HABS...

HABS KEPT BELIVEAU AND POCKET ROCKET AND A FEW OTHER OF THE COOL 50S TEAM ON BOARD...TO TEACH THE ROOKIES HOW TO WIN...

THATS HOW TO WIN AND WIN AND WIN...

KEEP GRETZKY AND MESSIER(UM, ISNT MESS LIKE STILL PLAYING)...YOUVE GOT THE GREATEST 1 2 CENTER LINE PUNCH IN HOCKEY HISTORY...

ALSO...GRETZKY WASNT SUCH A MEDIA DARLING IN OILERLAND...HE WOULD HAVE BEEN FAR HAPPIER JUST TO HAVE PLAYED THE GAME...INSTEAD OF HAVING LEAD THE EXPANSION OF ALL OF THOSE SH*T TEAMS THAT CAME AFTER