When Leon Draisaitl scored his 127th power play goal on Tuesday night against the Nashville Predators, a special someone was in the stands for the game.
It was the person whose record he broke: Ryan Smyth.
The Oilers legend, whose name was added to the franchise’s first Ring of Honour class last year, lives in the Nashville area and made his way to Bridgestone Arena for the game.
And on Thursday night, during the Oilers game against the Philadelphia Flyers, Sportsnet aired a video Smyth sent to Draisaitl congratulating him on the achievement.
“Hey Leon, it’s Smytty here,” he said. “I just wanted to congratulate you on breaking Andy (Glenn Anderson) and I’s record on most power play goals. That’s awesome.
“Actually, I was in house watching the game in Nash. Good luck tonight, good luck on the run to the Stanley Cup finals.”
The record was initially held solely by Anderson, who scored 126 power play goals across 845 games with the team in the 1980s, but it was Smyth who tied it many years later. Smytty’s 126 markers came across 971 games, and two stints with the Oilers, scoring his final power play goal in his 16th-last game in the NHL. Weeks later, Smyth would announce his retirement from the NHL.
Anderson had the luxury of playing with some of the best players of all-time on the Oilers’ power play helping set him up. Wayne Gretzky assisted on 42.9 percent of his power play goals, while Mark Messier chipped in on 36.5 percent. Then, the next closest were Paul Coffey (17.5 percent), Charlie Huddy (12.7), and Steve Smith (11.1).
Draisiatl had a world class player of his own helping out in Connor McDavid, who has assisted on a staggering 76.2 percent of his power play goals. Next closest are Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (39.7 percent) and Tyson Barrie (15.1).
Both players have had a total of 29 different players chip in assists.
For Smyth, however, things were different. He had 55 different players assist on his extra man markers, with Doug Weight leading the charge at 19.8 percent. Then, it was Ales Hemsky (15.9 percent), Shawn Horcoff (12.7), Tom Poti (11.1), Jason Arnott (7.9), and a large list of other players.
The full breakdown of the assists can be seen below.
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