Building The Dynasty

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Oilers’ general manager Glen Sather was assigned the challenge of steering the Oilers from the World Hockey Association (WHA) to the National Hockey League (NHL). At the end of the 1978-79 WHA season, the Oilers were an elite franchise, having just played in the WHA's Avco World Trophy Championship.

However, on condition of entering the NHL, the Oilers had to dissolve their lineup and make players available for a draft.  Unfortunately, the Oilers selected 21st and dead last. Sather and his scouting team would have to make shrewd picks, as the flashy players would be gone by the time the Oilers got to the podium.

There was one redeeming feature. Thanks to the nature of Wayne Gretzky’s personal-service contract with owner Peter Pocklington, Gretzky was not available in the entry draft, as the new league did not have the power to annul the contract.

Sather knew that if he was to build a contender, he would have to make his late draft-picks count. It was the same strategy employed by one of his mentors, legendary Montréal Canadiens general manager Sam Pollock. Pollock knew that because of the Canadiens regular position at the top of the standings, he would never have good draft position and needed to make shrewd deals.

With the Oilers’ first-ever draft pick, 21st overall, Sather chose a gangly defenceman from the Quebec Remparts named Kevin Lowe. The pick was a shrewd one, as Lowe went on to play more games as an Oiler than anyone else in history. In that 1979 draft, the St. Louis Blues, who drafted 19 picks ahead of the Oilers, picked Perry Turnbull. The Minnesota North Stars, who selected 11 picks ahead of Edmonton, took Tom McCarthy. Neither had a hockey career that compared with Lowe’s.

After selecting Lowe, Sather still found more shrewd picks. With the 69th pick, he would choose a Canadian kid playing at the University of Denver named Glenn Anderson. Later, he drafted a Edmonton-born product by the name of Mark Messier; a player from the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s St. Albert Saints who  had failed to impress in 1978-79 as a member of the World Hockey Association’s Cincinnati Stingers.

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