The NHL offseason is in full swing, so it’s time to do some summer reflecting, and what’s more fun to reflect on than trades? Who won the deal, who lost the deal, how both teams were impacted one week, month, year after.
The Edmonton Oilers have made a number of eventful trades in their history, with plenty of good and bad to be sure. However, this week we’re keeping it positive, because some trades are so successful, they go down in a team’s history as some of the best.
So let’s take look back through Oilers history and explore the all-time “traded for” team, and highlight some of the best deals that Edmonton has ever made. No players who were drafted with picks acquired by the team are allowed, so you won’t see names like Jordan Eberle or Mark Messier on this list.
Doug throws his Weight around
The 1990s were an era of major change in Edmonton. Just removed from their fifth Stanley Cup, the Oilers were forced to shed many of their franchise icons due to financial limitations. Wayne Gretzky was already gone, but names like Mark Messier, Glenn Anderson, Grant Fuhr, and Jari Kurri all found themselves sent elsewhere. One last beloved member was Esa Tikkanen, who was finally dealt at the 1992–93 deadline. The return for Tikkanen was a 22-year-old named Doug Weight, and although nobody knew it at the time, the Oilers had just landed one of their most beloved players of the next decade.
Weight would blossom into a dependable 1C during his time in Edmonton, a smart playmaker with good hands and a motor that never quit. In 1995–96, he scored 104 points and led the Oilers to five consecutive playoff berths, including upsets of the powerhouse Dallas Stars in 96–97 and Colorado Avalanche in 1997–98. He was never considered one of the best players in hockey, but he was certainly a star, and his chemistry with Ryan Smyth made both players beloved with the Edmonton faithful.
Weight was eventually traded to St. Louis in the summer of 2001, but his contributions to the franchise during the championship lull of the 1990s hasn’t been forgotten. He was inducted into the Oilers Hall of Fame in 2023, and his name remains well-remembered in Oil Country.
The Ek-Holm cometh
The Oilers were looking for a big swing at the deadline in 2023. The most glaring hole in the lineup at the time was defence, and the top pairing of Darnell Nurse and Cody Ceci was struggling. Evan Bouchard’s partner was uncertain, but it was clear he should be ascending to the top pair soon. Edmonton needed to find a premier partner for Bouchard, and still needed to fill the hole left from the departure of Adam Larsson in 2021. Fortunately, Ken Holland picked up the phone and hit a grand slam.
Holland acquired Mattias Ekholm and a sixth rounder from Nashville in exchange for Tyson Barrie, Reid Schaefer, Edmonton’s 2023 first, and a 2024 fourth-round pick. A steep cost at the time, but it proved to be a bargain. Ekholm immediately found chemistry with Bouchard, and the pairing would go onto become one of the NHL’s best defensive pairings, with Bouchard’s offensive game perfectly complimented by Ekholm’s defensive skill.
The duo anchored the Oilers’ consecutive finals trips in 2024 and 2025, and despite Ekholm being 36, he’s still a dependable #1 on the left side for Edmonton. Ekholm has completely transformed the Oilers defensive corp during crucial contending years, and his dependable play has made him a fan favourite in Edmonton.
Ranford saves the season
It took a couple years for Bill Ranford to make his mark as an Oiler. Acquired for Andy Moog in 1988, Ranford rode the bench as Grant Fuhr led Edmonton to Stanley Cup #4. By 1990, Fuhr was dealing with injury problems, and suffered a shoulder injury right before the playoffs that ended his season.
In came Ranford, who had played parts of the regular season, but was a playoff rookie. The Oilers faced the Winnipeg Jets in Round 1, a team they had thoroughly owned through the 80s. However, Winnipeg build a 3–1 series lead, and led 3–1 in Game 5. It seemed as though the dynasty Oilers had come to a screeching halt. However, it was Ranford who flipped the game, stopping consecutive Jets breakaways, sparking an Oilers series comeback, who took the series in seven hard fought games.
The Oilers then got a measure of revenge against Wayne Gretzky and the Los Angeles Kings in Round 2, then dispatched the Blackhawks in Round 3. Edmonton would go onto defeat Boston in the Stanley Cup Final to capture Stanley Cup #5. Ranford was masterful throughout the playoffs, winning every one of the 16 games he started, and captured the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. He posted a .912SV% and a 2.53GAA, insanely good numbers for an era where .900 was considered top of the league. Ranford would play six more good seasons in Edmonton. Although they didn’t reach the same playoff heights, his play throughout the 1990 playoffs will always be remembered as one of the greatest rookie performances in NHL history.
Guerin’teed goals
Bill Guerin didn’t play many seasons for the Oilers, but while he was in town, he was one of the premier wingers in the league. Acquired in the deal that sent Jason Arnott to New Jersey, Guerin arrived with the intent to be paired alongside Doug Weight and Ryan Smyth on the Oilers’ top line. He did just that.
For parts of four seasons, Smyth-Weight-Guerin was one of the most dangerous lines in hockey, with the trio scoring a combined 627 points in 756 games played. Guerin was the trigger-man to Weight’s playmaking skill and Smyth’s net front disruption. In the height of the Dead Puck Era, the three men formed a truly dangerous line, something Edmonton hadn’t had since the 80s dynasty.
Guerin was eventually traded in November 2001 due to financial constraints. The Oilers battled financial uncertainity and hardship throughout the late 90s and early 2000s, and Guerin was just one of those casualties. However, his presence on those late 90s Edmonton teams was a major reason why the Oilers were able to upset the powerhouse Avalanche in 1998. Guerin scored six goals in the seven game series, including the series clincher in Game seven to send the best team in the Western Conference golfing. Although his time in Edmonton was short, Guerin was a major factor to some big accomplishments with the Oilers.
Pronger proves his worth…
Arguably the biggest trade in Oilers history other than the Gretzky deal, the acquisition of Chris Pronger in the summer of 2005 transformed an Edmonton team that had been a playoff bubble team before the lockout into a team that had championship pedigree. The former Hart and Norris Trophy winner was still considered one of the best defenceman in hockey, and he proved in that season. Pronger anchored Edmonton’s defence, scored 56 points in 80 games, and after a deadline trade for Jaroslav Spacek, formed one of the best defensive pairings in the league. It was in the playoffs though, where Pronger showed his true worth.
Pronger’s 2005–06 postseason run was monstrous. 21 points in 24 games and an average TOI of 30:57 a game. Pronger was the engine that made Edmonton’s defence run. Although the Oilers fell in seven games to Carolina, Pronger had not only proven that he was still one of the league’s best, but had been embraced by the Oilers faithful as their next star.
It all came crashing down however, when just a few days after the Final, Pronger requested a trade out of town. Pronger was dealt to the Anaheim Ducks shortly after, and instantly became Public Enemy #1 in Edmonton, which only became worse after he and the Ducks won the 2006–07 Stanley Cup. Although in recent years there has been some thawing of the relationship, many Oilers fans still feel spurned by Pronger 20 years later. It’s undeniable though, that his acquisition was one of the best in Edmonton’s history, and although it was just one year, it was one of the best we’ve ever seen.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
