McDavid, Draisaitl highlight Oilers’ NHL quarter-century team

On Thursday, the NHL revealed the Edmonton Oilers’ quarter-century team.

The team is pretty split on the stars from today’s roster and players from earlier in the millennium. The first team finds superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl flanked by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Active defensemen Evan Bouchard and Darnell Nurse are in front of former NHL goaltender Dwayne Roloson.

There’s zero argument for having McDavid and Draisaitl on the list. The two scoring icons have taken the franchise out of the depths and to the top of the league. In the first nine seasons of his career, McDavid has won the Art Ross Trophy five times, the Ted Lindsay Award four times and the Hart Trophy three times. The captain’s efforts led to him winning the Conn Smythe Trophy last spring despite the Oilers losing to the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final.

Draisaitl is one of the most versatile offensive threats in the game. The German star won the Art Ross, Ted Lindsey and Hart Trophy during the 2019-20 season. Draisaitl’s 925 points this century are second to McDavid’s 1,048.

Nugent-Hopkins, the first-overall pick in the 2011 NHL Draft, has played more games than any other Oiler this century (917) and has been a key figure with the team for over a decade.

Bouchard and Nurse are mainstays on the Edmonton blue line. Nurse has scored more points than any defenseman in the franchise’s history this century, with 289 points in 687 games. Bouchard has 208 points in 315 games and is one of the team’s top power-play options.

Roloson was a trade deadline pickup during the 2005-06 season, and though his time with the team was short, the former Minnesota Wild backstop was one of the big reasons the Oilers advanced to the 2006 Final.

The second team features a number of players from the 2006 squad. Forwards Ryan Smyth, Shawn Horcoff and Ales Hemsky are in front of former captain Jason Smith. Smith is listed on the back end with current d-man Mattias Ekholm and goaltender Tommy Salo.

Horcoff, Hemsky and Smyth were fan favorites for several years. Both during that magical run 19 years ago, as well as some of the lean years after the lockout. All three were arguably the team’s most skilled players, with Horcoff captaining the team for three seasons.

Smith might not have had stellar numbers during his eight seasons with the franchise, but his leadership was key in the team’s success in the early years of the century. Ekholm has been a welcoming presence on the blue line in Edmonton. The former Nashville Predator has brought stability and experience to a D-Corps that’s hoping to help the team reach the ultimate goal.

After Curtis Joseph left the Oilers in 1998, Salo was thrust into the starting role and became one of the NHL’s more underrated goaltenders. The Swede has more wins (129) than any other Oiler netminder since the beginning of the 21st century.