Mike Comrie—Hometown Hero—Page 2

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Comrie was slotted into the lineup as the team’s second-line centre behind Doug Weight. He finished with a respectable 22 points in the remaining 41 games of the NHL regular season.  His year was highlighted by an overtime winning goal against the Dallas Stars in Game 4 of the Oilers’ first-round playoff series. It was a sign that more clutch goals were to come.

When Doug Weight was traded to the Blues prior to the start of the 2001-02 season, Coach Craig MacTavish inserted Comrie into the team’s first-line centre position. He scored 33 goals that season, and followed it up with a 20-goal season in an injury-plagued 2002-03 campaign. In his first three NHL seasons, Comrie recorded an impressive 142 points in 191 NHL games.

Although many of Comrie's dreams are coming thorugh, one dream will sadly not be fulfilled. He always wanted to play with his older brother Paul.

"For me, Paul symbolizes all the hard work and dedication needed to make it," Comrie said soon after he was signed.

Paul cracked the Oilers’ lineup in 1999 and played 15 games with the club before being dispatched to the farm team in Hamilton. While there, he received a severe concussion, and was never able to recover. Paul Comrie retired just after younger brother Mike had made the move to the Oilers, and the dream of playing together will never materialize.

Sadly, Mike Comrie does not currently play for the Oilers.  After a reported disputed in the off season, Comrie and Oilers management could not come to terms on a contract.  In a move forced by Comrie's trade demands, General Manager Kevin Lowe traded his forward to the Philadelphia Flyers where he believed his budding forward would do less harm to the Oilers' 2003-04 play off hopes.  Ironically, Comrie has since been traded again to the Phoenix Coyotes, where the Oilers will face him several more times than he would if he played in the east.

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