My Oilers Franchise

[Hurtbag McGee]

To let you know I play 82 game sched, sped up clock, All-Star skill, play everygame.

First season started off rough, after the 22 game mark the Oilers were a dismal 7-14-0-1 and last place overall. Mike York was carrying the team having scored 22 goals already however the second place scorer was Radek Dvorak with 4.

The Oilers started shaping up a bit after the All-Star Break they were 20-30-0-1, still struggling and looking like they might miss the play-offs, Oilesr General Manager could wait no longer and finally pulled the trigger on a couple deals. First sending the underachiever Ryan Smyth who had a measily 4 goals and 12 assists in 51 games, along with Marty Reasoner, Shawn Horcoff, and a 2nd round pick to the Minnesota Wild for Young Star Marian Gaborik.

Immiediately after the Oilers signed Oleg Tverdovsky to a 3 year deal.

The trade and signing sparked the Oilers on a 10 game winning streak, Gaborik was on fire scoring 15 goals in that span while Tverdovsky helped shore up a shaky blueline.

The Oilers were now at .500 and challenging for a play-off spot when Eric Brewer was injured, Brewer was a huge part of the blueline and after this injury the Oilers tailspinned and with the trade deadline comming up were 10 points out of the play-offs.

The Oilers General Manager than pulled the trigger on a couple more moves. He traded Fernando Pisani to the New York Ranger for hometown product Jamie Lundmark and he swapped a 3rd round pick to the Dallas Stars for Pierre Turgeon.

Lundmark was an instant hit clicking immediately on the 4th line with Tony Salmelainen and Georges Laraque. The Trio was on fire and helped the Oilers climb back into the play-off race.

With 4 games left to win the Oilers were 6 points back but went on a 4 game winning streak to claim the final play-off spot.

The Oilers won the first game in a thrilling overtime loss, however they lost Eric Brewer, Mike York, and Brad Isbister in the game. Lundmark was promoted to the first line and although he had an outstanding rookie season he just wasn't ready and the Oil couldn't pull off the upset. The Oilers lost a heartbreaking game 6 to the Colorado Avalanche. The Los Angeles Kings ended up winning the cup.

Mike York won the Selke Trophy and ended the season as the Oilers leading scorer with 49 goals and 22 assists. Marian Gaborik was the leading goal getter with 54 goals. Ty Conklin picked up the Vezina and William Jennings Trophys.

Since the Oilers were 30 million dollars below budget last season they had loads of cash to make a splash in the offseason market. They signed heavyweight All-Star Todd Bertuzzi to a 6 year contract. Eric Lindros to a 1-year deal and Scott Hannan to a 3 year deal, however they lost the services of Marc-Andre Bergeron and cut Pierre Turgeon.

The Second Season had much promise.

[Aerius Zension]

I hate Turgeon's speed in the game and he has poor hustle. I have him on my fourth line in a fantasy draft season. Though he's good on the power play.

[Hurtbag McGee]

The second season started off with a bang, the Oilers were on a 12 game winning streak, breaking the franchise record of 10 to start off a season. The first line trio of Bertuzzi-York-Gaborik were 1-3-5 in league scoring (Gaborik was first), however in the 13th game of the season Todd Bertuzzi hurt his knee and was out 4 months.

The Oilers weren't too worried to begin with but after a bad string in December the Oilers than sent Igor Ulanov and a 3rd round draft pick to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Drake Berehowsky and Carlo Coliacovo in an attempt to shore up the blueline. Oilers GM then decided to pull the trigger on a blockbuster deal. They sent forwards Ethan Moreau, Georges Laraque, and Carlo Coliacovo 1st, 2nd, and 4th round picks to the Carolina Hurricanes for star forward Jeff O'Neill.

The Oilers were packed with offensive talent and continued to roll over opponents. Eric Lindros returned to his old superstar form and usurped Mike York as the first line center. He played on a line with O'Neill and Gaborik, while O'Neill struggled offensivley, Gaborik and Lindros were on fire 2nd and 4th in league scoring respectively. At the All-Star break the Oilers were 36-8-6-2 and in possesion of first overall.

Todd Bertuzzi returned just in time to be named to the All-Star team, a suprise lone representative for the powerful Oilers. The Oilers continued there domination of the league and breezed into the Presidents Trophy position however sudden injuries to Gaborik and Lindros the teams two top scorers in the 72nd game of the season put some pressure on the rest of the Oilers forwards to perform. Gaborik was challenging Mario Lemieux for the Art Ross up until his injury and finished the Oilers top scorer in the regular season with 46 goals and 42 assists for 88 points in 72 games. Lindros was close behind him with 41 goals and 42 assists for 83 points in 72 games.

Mario Lemieux claimed the Art Ross (100 points) and Rocket Richard trophy (62 goals).

The Oilers were poised to take on the Phoenix Coytoes in round one of the play-offs minus there 2 star forwards.

The play-offs began the way the Oilers hoped with 2 straight victories at home over the Coyotes until Mike Comrie decided to unleash some vengenance on his former team. He sparked the Coytoes with 5 goals and 3 assists in the next two games to tie the series comming back to Edmonton. In a dramatic game 5 which saw the teams go to double OT tied 1-1, Radek Dvorak finally popped the winner and the Oilers dominated the 'Yotes in game 6 winning 5-2 and taking the series. Dvorak, who had a quiet season getting only 22 goals and 35 asssists exploded in the series with 8 goals and 5 assists in the 6 games.

The Second round had the Oilers pitted against the Nashville Predators, and although the Preds had upset the Red Wings in the previous round it looked like they would be outclassed by the Oilers. Edmonton took the first game with a commanding 7-2 victory, however it was bittersweet as they lost the services of Eric Brewer and Mike York for the rest of the play-offs. The Preds responded taking the next 2 games rattling the Oilers and also injuring Jani Rita for the remainder of the season. In need of a wakeup, the dissapointing Jeff O'Neill (23 goals and 14 assists on the season) caught fire and lead the Oilers to 3 straight victories with 3 straight hatricks to demolish the Predeators.

After two series Radek Dvorak and Jeff O'Neill, two dissapointments during the season were the leaders in the play-offs, 1 and 2 in league scoring.

The Third round saw Edmonton vs. Chicago. In the off-season the Hawks signed Kris Draper and Paul Kariya, the line up Kariya-Draper-Fleury had been a thorn in the side of the Oilers all season long, and although the Oilers only lost 16 games, 4 of them were to the Hawks. Chicago started the series off with a win on the road and questions started to rise about Ty Conklin who let in 5 goals on 15 shots. The Oilers responded taking game 2 before losing the next 2 games to the Hawks and finding themselves on the brink of elimination. However, Radek Dvorak was on a mission and singlehandedly led the Oilers to 3 straight victories scoring 7 of the last 8 goals and assisting on the other as the Oilers stormed back to take the series.

It was on to the Cup Finals, the Oilers were pitted against the cinderella story of the East, The Carolina Hurricanes. A suprise matchup in the finals, Jeff O'Neill so far was a flop in the regular season but has come up huge in the play-offs while Georges Laraque and Ethan Moreau became staples on the Canes second line helping lead them to the finals. Eric Stall and Alexei Yashin were the two top scorers.

Game 1 stunned the Oilers as they lost 2-1 in Overtime, they could not find a way to beat Jamie McLennan firing 70 shots his way but only O'Neill scored. After a head check the Oilers won the next 3 games very handeldy by scores of 3-1, 4-1, and 6-2. Radek Dvorak and O'Neill still leading the way it looked as though the Oilers were about to capture there first Stanley Cup in 15 years and on home ice to boot. The Hurricanes were not going to go away easily though, Eric Stall burst out of the gate with a Natural Hatrick in the first period and the Oilers were down 3-0 after the first. Mike York and Brad Isbister scored in the 2nd but Mclennan shut the door the rest of the way and the series went back to Carolina. Game 6 was a nailbiter as the teams went end to end trading scoring chances but neither team could score and it was a 0-0 tie heading into overtime. Only 30 seconds in Georges Laraque scored a mamoth goal giving the Canes the win against his former team and sending the Finals to a deciding Game 7 in Edmonton.

The first period started out postitive for the Canes as Yashin scored 5 minutes in, but Ales Hemsky tied the game only 2 minutes later and the teams headed into the dressing room with a 1-1 tie. The Oilers exploded out of the gate in the second scoring 3 straight (Dvorak, O'Neill, and York) and were up 4-1 after the second. With only 20 minutes to play the Oilers could taste the victory, the Canes didn't give up as Ethan Moreau scored to make it 4-2 but it wasn't enough. Oilers Captain Jason Smith was awarded the Stanley Cup in front of a jubilant Rexall Place. Radek Dvorak was awarded the Conn Smyth trophy.

The Oilers had a slew of free agents in the Off-Season but they signed the following to long term deals - Lindros, Hannan, York, Dvorak, O'Neill, J. Smith, Lundmark, Torres, and Isbister. Due to budget constraints they lost prospect Jani Rita.

After winning the Cup I upped the difficulty to Hall Of Famer

Turgeon was alright as a replacement, my team wasn't so hot so he helped out but overall I didn't like his strength on the puck and he woulda been a 4th line center so he got cut.

[Hurtbag McGee]

Before starting the 3rd season Edmonton GM went on a trading spree to help bolster his team for the upcomming season on Hall Of Fame skill level. Before starting the season the Oilers lineup was as follows.

O'Neill-Bertuzzi-Gaborik
Dvorak-York-Lindros
Isbister-Lundmark-Hemsky
Salemelainen-Nikolishin-Torres

Brewer-Tverdovsky
Smith-Hannan
Berehowsky-Staios
Semenov

Conklin, Markkanen

Despite signing Bertuzzi to a 6 year 9 million dollar a year contract a year earlier, Oilers GM was somewhat concerned with his health so he shipped him off to Florida with Tony Salmelainen in exchange for Superstar Peter Forsberg.

They than traded Jeff O'Neill, Kristian Kudroc and a 3rd Round Pick to the Atlanta Thrasher for budding superstar Ilya Kovalchuk, but the Oilers didn't stop there.

They went on to deal Raffi Torres, Brad Isbister, and a 4th round pick to their arch-rival the Calgary Flames for Rick Nash, who the Flames had just signed in the off-season.

Than they swung Assistant Captain and stalwart Defencmen to the D-Starved Black-Hawks in exhange for future star Tuumo Ruutu.

This wasn't enough for the Oilers General Manager, He knew the league would be gunning for his team due to there cup win last season. He wanted to have 3 solid scoring lines and defense pairs. He than pulled the trigger on a huge deal shipping out newly acquired Tuumo Ruutu, Rick Nash, Doug Lynch, a 1st and 2nd round pick to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Martin St.Louis, Frederik Modin and Jay Bowmeester. Some say he made a mistake by giving up two young stars in Ruutu and Nash but fans were thrilled to have St. Louis and hometown product Bowmeester on the team

They than signed free agent Fedor Federov.

The Oilers lineup now rivals most All-Star teams and is as follows.

Kovalchuk-Gaborik-St. Louis
Dvorak-Lindros-Forsberg
Hemsky-York-Modin
Nikolishin-Lundmark-Federov

Tverdovsky-Bowmeester
Hannan-Brewer
J.Smith-Berehowsky

Conklin and Markannen

The Oilers are now prepared to start there 3rd campaign.

[Aerius Zension]

I love how documented these games/seasons are.

I'm surprised you traded Bertuzzi b/c of injury frequency, when Forsberg is just as bad if not worse.

I'm in the playoffs on season one in Franchise mode. I hear a lot of players that become free agents ask for absorbant amounts of $$$.

[The Enforcer]

Yeah, they do.

[Hurtbag McGee]

The Oilers 3rd season was a rough one. The league was gunning for the Oilers and they felt it. Despite having a star studded lineup, they found themselves having a hard time scoring goals. Ilya Kovalchuk was on fire and scoring at an excellent clip, but the rest of the team couldn’t score if Andre Racicot was in net.

At the All-Star break the Oilers were sitting in 11th spot, 12 points out of the playoff picture. Although they had great representation at the All-Star game (Forsberg, St. Louis, Kovalchuk, Lindros, Gaborik, and Brewer all made the team) they couldn’t get there offense clicking.

After scoring 30+ goals in the previous two seasons, Mike York had a horrible first half getting only 4 goals and 20 assists. Hemsky only had 5 goals. Dvorak 7. Kovalchuk was leading the league with 48 goals in only 56 games but was than hurt for 4-6 weeks with a knee injury.

The loss of Kovalchuk hurt the Oilers extremely and they never could recover. They tried shaking things up by trading Scott Hannan and Fedor Federov to the Montreal Canadiens for Sheldon Sourray but still they continued on there losing ways unbelievably, missing the playoffs after winning the Stanley Cup the previous season.

It was a dark day in Edmonton as they were officially eliminated by the Colorado Avalanche when losing 5-3 in the 74th game of the season.

Ilya Kovalchuk finished as the Oilers leading scorer with 57 goals and 24 assists. Peter Forsberg was second with 19 goals and 66 assists.

Saku Koivu of the Columbus BlueJackets surprisingly took the Art Ross Trophy leading the league with 114 points and Mario Lemieux took the Richard trophy scoring 66 goals ironically before announcing his retirement.

The St. Louis Blues ended up winning the Stanley Cup for the First time in there franchises history and Doug Weight, a former Oiler, was named Conn Smythe winner. It really was a horrible seasons for the Oilers and the offseason proved to be no better. After trading away most of there high picks the draft was pretty much pointless as well they lost goaltenders Ty Conklin, Jussi Markanen, Tyler Moss, Jason Smith, and Frederik Modin to free agency.

In a suprising free agent move they signed Mike Comrie a hometown hero gone sour as well as secured Eric Brewer and Oleg Tverdovsky to 3 year deals.

The Oilers started there next season with the following lineup

Kovalchuk-Forsberg-St. Louis
Dvorak-Lindros-Gaborik
Comrie-York-Hemsky
Nikolishin-Lundmark-Kadeylkin

Brewer-Tverdovsky
Sourray-Bowmeester
Semenov-Martinek

Thompson
Steinberg

The Oilers definetly had some question marks heading into the next season having only there backups from there minor league team in net as well as some inexperienced blueliners.

[Cheechoo]

I started a Sharks one, I started off slow and was offered a trade by Buffalo so I sent McLaren to BUF for Afinogenov and Dumont. I was sitting 5th seed (65pts) at the All Star break and Marleau was leading with 34G and 21 A. I started to slip down and decided to trade Rathje, Davison, and 6 round pick to NJ for Colin White and their 3rd rounder. I didn't improve much and snuck into playoffs as the 8 seed with 88 pts and was 4th in the Pacific divison and drew 1 seed and fellow divison foe, Anaheim. I suprised the Ducks and finished them in front of the HP Pavillion "Shark Tank" crowd in 6 games. Then I got the 2 seed Red Wings and forced them to a 7th game and won, before the thing FROZE, piece of crap!