Larry Gordon

Larry Gordon became the general manager of the Edmonton Oilers amidst changes that would alter the course of the franchise.

Oilers co-owner Peter Pocklington was impressed with the manner in which Glen Sather handled the responsibilities of being a player-coach in the latter part of the 1976-77season. Trailing the Calgary Cowboys for the final playoff spot in their division, Sather, the team’s captain, was abruptly made player-coach by then coach and general manager Bep Guidolin.

Sather responded in style, as the Oilers won nine and tied two of their remaining 18 games to secure a playoff spot. Though Edmonton would lose in the playoffs to the Houston Aeros, Sather had made a lasting impression on Pocklington, who shortly after became the outright owner of the Oilers after buying Nelson Skalbania’s share for $500,000. The deal also included Pocklington’s promise to pay Skalbania another $500,000 if the team eventually left the World Hockey Association (WHA) and was accepted into the National Hockey League (NHL).

As the outright owner, Pocklington made Sather his full-time coach, while also hiring Larry Gordon to replace Guidolin as general manager. Gordon, the WHA’s former vice-president of operations, also became the Oilers’ president of hockey operations, while Sather’s additional title was vice-president of hockey operations. Sather, however, would soon become the sole figure in charge of personnel decisions.

"There was little doubt that, as the Oilers entered the NHL, they were Sather’s team, and that he would eventually succeed Larry Gordon," wrote Douglas Hunter in The Glory Barons. "It was clear that Larry Gordon’s long-term prospects as team general manager were not high, and Gordon deftly removed himself from Sather’s career path in the fall of 1979 by telling Pocklington he would buy the Wichita Wind of the Central Hockey League if the Oilers transferred their sponsorship there from Houston."

Gordon’s legacy is more than being the last general manager before the legendary Sather began his historic run as an NHL executive. Gordon was also the man Pocklington chose as general manager at one of the most pivotal points in franchise history.

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