Listicle! Oilers Scoring Leaders Edition

Listicles are all the rage these days. Who can’t help but click on ‘Ten Hollywood Leading Men Who Are Actually Ghosts’ or ‘21 Times We Almost Saw Queen Elizabeth’s Royal Nipple’? I’ll risk all the computer viruses in the world for just a shot at a great listicle. They’re fun and kind of silly, and a great break from reading things that sort of matter.

So, here’s 15 guys who led the Oilers in scoring, ranked.

How are they ranked? Well, I felt the need to do something kind of nerdy, so I adjusted the point total of every Oilers scoring leader by using the league wide goals per game in the season they led the team, then adjusted their stats to an 82-game regular season, with a 2.77 goals per game average (just like 2016-17).

I then added up the adjusted point totals of each player, based on how many times they led the team in scoring. So, for example, a player who led the team in scoring twice, with 60 points each time would have 120 ranking points, whereas a player who did it once with 119 points would finish one point behind, despite having much more impressive season.

Now is a probably a good time for me to mention that this NOT a ranking of who was the best Oiler. For instance, Hall of Famers Paul Coffey and Glenn Anderson don’t appear on this list, because they never led the team in scoring. That doesn’t mean they weren’t top-15 Oilers.

Also, for the purpose of building this list, only one player could be considered the Oilers’ scoring leader each year. In the case of a tie, Art Ross Trophy rules were applied, meaning that goals were the first tiebreaker.

Group One: One time scoring leaders

15. Petr Klima (1992-93)

Klima led the Oilers with 48 points in 68 games in 1992-93. But, on this list credit isn’t given out for missing games. Shortened seasons are adjusted to 82 games, but the 1992-93 season was actually an 84 game season. Adjusted to today’s schedule length and scoring climate, that equates to only 36 points.

14. Esa Tikkanen (1990-91)

Tikkanen led the Oilers with 69 points in 79 games (out of a possible 80) in 1990-91, that equates to 57 adjusted points.

13. Dustin Penner (2009-10)

Penner led the Oilers with 63 points in 2009-10. League wide scoring was only slightly higher then than it is today. His adjusted point total was 61.

12. Mike Comrie (2001-02)

Comrie scored 60 points, to led the team in 2001-02. He actually tied Anson Carter, but Comrie had more goals. Scoring in the early 2000s was a little lower than it currently is. Comrie’s adjusted point total that year was 63.

11. Bill Guerin (1998-99)

The dead puck era had begun in 1998-99. This is another season with a lower league-wide average goal total than we saw last year. Guerin’s 64 points that year equates to 67 adjusted points.

10. Vincent Damphousse (1991-92)

Fun Fact: Damphousse only played one season with the Oilers, and he led them in scoring with 89 points, while appearing in all 80 games that year. The only other player to lead this team in scoring every year he played is the guy at number one on this list (as if anyone can’t guess who it is). Adjusted for today’s scoring environment, Damphousse’s 89 points become 73 adjusted points.

9. Jari Kurri (1988-89)

This was the only season that the future Hall of Famer led the Oilers in scoring. Kurri’s 102 points equate to 77 in this era.

8. Mark Messier (1989-90)

The Moose had 129 points in 79 games during his MVP season in 1989-90. Messier’s adjusted points per game was actually slightly higher than the guy one spot ahead of him, but he missed one game, so his total adjusted points come out to 99.5, or 100 if rounded to the nearest whole number.

7. Connor McDavid (2016-17)

McDavid’s season last year was the highest number of adjusted points for an Oilers player since 1988.

Group Two: Three’s Company

Interestingly, no Oiler has ever led the team in scoring exactly twice. McDavid will likely hold that distinction at the end of 2017-18, but I wouldn’t bet on him keeping it for long. The following four players all led the Oilers in scoring exactly three times.

6. Ryan Smyth (2002-03; 2003-04; 2006-07)

Smyth led the Oilers in scoring with 61 points in 2002-03, 59 points in 2003-04, and 53 points in 2006-07. His adjusted point totals in those years were 64, 64, and 50, respectively, for a total of 178 points.

5. Jordan Eberle (2010-11; 2011-12; 2014-15)

Eberle led the team with 43 points as a rookie, 76 points as a sophomore, and 63 points as a 5th year player in 2014-15. His adjusted point total in those respective years were 43, 77, and 64. Unsurprisingly those numbers are pretty close, because it’s recent history. His total ranking points amount to 184.

4. Ales Hemsky (2005-06; 2007-08; 2008-09)

Hemsky almost jumped one spot higher on this list, as he tied for the team scoring lead, with Smyth, in 2006-07, but lost the tiebreaker. His adjusted point totals of 69, 71, and 63 (in chronological order) add up to 203 ranking points. His 77-point season in 2005-06 being adjusted down to 69 is a good reminder of how scoring spiked following the 2004-05 lockout, only to return to a level slightly higher than the dead puck era within a few years.

3. Taylor Hall (2012-13; 2013-14; 2015-16)

Hall led the Oilers in scoring in half his seasons with the club. His 50 points in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season adjusts to 87 points, because there were only 48 scheduled games. Add 81 adjusted points in 2013-14, and 66 adjusted points in his final year with the team, and Hall’s total number of ranking points is 234.

Group Three: Long-Time Perennial Scoring Leaders

2. Doug Weight (7 Wins: 1993-98; 1999-01)

Weight won the Oilers’ scoring title year every year he was both healthy, and on the team the whole year. His best seasons were 1995-96 (104 actual points, 92 adjusted), and 2000-01 (90 points, both actual and adjusted). His seven-season ranking point total was 531, or an average of about 76 points per season.

1. Wayne Gretzky (9 wins: 1979-88)

Gretzky led the Oilers in scoring all 10 years he was with the team, if you include the 1978-79 WHA season, in which Gretzky celebrated his 18th birthday 3.5 months into the season.

His worst season by adjusted points is still 11 adjusted points better than any season in the post-Gretzky era. Also, he led the Oilers in scoring by 107 points in 1981-82 (212 to Glenn Anderson’s 105). Plus, in each of his last seven seasons with the team, his adjusted points-per-game rate was more than half a point-per-game better than Messier or McDavid’s MVP seasons.

The Great One accrued 1236 ranking points in 9 seasons, or just over 137 points per season. That’s adjusted to today’s scoring environment. I know I’ve mentioned that a lot, but Gretzky’s numbers require octuple checking. As someone born in the 90s, I’ve never observed anything comparable to his level of dominance in the 1980s.

I guess I could’ve titled this listicle: ‘One Hall of Famer 90s Kids Can’t Comprehend’.