Top 100 Oilers: No. 94 — Jeff Petry

Notable

Petry was a homegrown talent drafted from the second round of the 2006 draft, right after the Oilers fell in the Stanley Cup Final and days before they would trade Chris Pronger. The team had gained a compensatory selection, 45th overall, for not signing 2002 first-rounder Jesse Niinimaki. That draft was the first time in franchise history they didn’t have a first-round pick, using it in the deal that landed them Dwayne Roloson.

With Theo Peckham selected a round later, the Oilers hoped that the blen d of Petry’s puck-moving, offensive upside, along with Peckham’s toughness, would help solidify the blueline in years to come.

While Petry would never reach his potential in Edmonton, he found himself in the same boat as many other offensively gifted defencemen: run out of town. After all, he had munched minutes for the Oilers in a top-pairing role for years. He totalled 17 goals and 74 points in 295 games in Edmonton.

The Oilers had an emerging Oscar Klefbom, a recently drafted Darnell Nurse, and another young, offensive defenceman in Justin Schultz, leaving Petry, 27 years old, as the perceived odd-man out. At the 2015 trade deadline, Petry would head to Montreal for a second and fourth round picks in the 2015 draft, the former of which was later traded to the Rangers for Cam Talbot, the latter used to select Caleb Jones.

The Story

Petry’s best years would come after he left Edmonton, with a career year coming in Montreal in 2018-19 as he scored 13 goals and 46 points in 82 games. His all-around game would settle as he entered his 30s, and after averaging .25 points per game in Edmonton, he would double it in Montreal, scoring 70 goals and 248 points in 508 games, becoming the defenceman Oilers fans always hoped he would.

He would be acquired by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2023 in the convoluted three-team Erik Karlsson trade, spending a year there before playing for his hometown Detroit Red Wings in each of the last two years (Petry is the son of former Detroit Tigers pitcher Dan Petry).

Might this former Oiler end his career with a Stanley Cup? Petry signed a one-year, league-minimum deal with the Florida Panthers this summer.

What Brownlee said

There are some polarizing players on this list and Jeff Petry certainly ranks among them when it comes to a thumbs-up or a thumbs down from fans and pundits during his time with the Edmonton Oilers. The thumbs-up crowd sees Petry as an effective defender who skates well, can move the puck and eat up second-pairing minutes.

The thumbs-down folks were often driven to distraction by Petry’s defensive lapses and unwillingness to engage physically by way of the big hit. I’ve got to admit, I found myself on this side of the fence often. That said, warts and all, Petry was and is a bonafide top-four NHL blueliner and a right-shot guy, no less. There hasn’t exactly been a surplus of those around here.

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Too often, Petry was misscast here, playing too many minutes and doing it without much in the way of a supporting cast. When you’re not an offensive dynamo, and Petry certainly wasn’t in his time here – he had 74 points in 295 games – defensive mistakes aren’t passed off as easily as those made by more dynamic players.

The Last 10

• No. 100 — Mark Lamb
• No. 99 — Bryan Marchment
• No. 98 — Kent Nilsson
• No. 97 — Dean McAmmond
• No. 96 — Ladislav Smid
• No. 95 — Marty Reasoner