Oilers’ All-Time Top 8 European Defencemen

In his first full season with the Oilers, 2023-24, Edmonton reached the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 18 years. The Oilers returned to the championship series again in 2025, although injury sidelined Ekholm for the first three rounds of the postseason.

Over 247 regular-season games with the Oilers, Ekholm has recorded 133 points. His rating of plus-44 in 2023-24 is the highest single-season plus/minus of any Oilers player since 1986-87.

Now 36, Ekholm appears to have slowed down a step. But his performance this season will play no small part in determining the Oilers’ success.

Roman Hamrlik (Czechia)

The top selection in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft, by the Tampa Bay Lightning, Roman Hamrlik was traded to Edmonton on Dec. 30, 1997. Hamrlik never quite reached an elite level in the NHL, but the incredible skill that made him a first-overall pick was on display at times during his two-and-a-half seasons in Edmonton.

Hamrlik’s arrival midway through the 1997-98 season helped spark a massive turnaround for the struggling Oilers. He appeared in 41 games for his new team, notching 26 points, as Edmonton climbed from near the bottom of the standings into a playoff spot.

In 1998-99, Hamrlik became the first European defenceman to represent the Oilers at the NHL All-Star Game. The Zlin product was Edmonton’s top point-scoring blueliner in 1999-00, recording eight goals and 37 assists.

Hamrlik was traded to the New York Islanders in June 2000. He totalled 103 points in 196 regular-season games with Edmonton.

Oscar Klefbom (Sweden)

While his career was cut short because of a shoulder injury, Oscar Klefbom made a huge impact during his seven seasons in Edmonton.

He spent his entire NHL career with the Oilers, who drafted the Karlstad native 19^th overall in 2011. From 2013-14 to 2019-20, he appeared in 378 games, totalling 34 goals and 122 assists.

Klefbom provided the Oilers with many of the same essential elements that fellow Swede Ekholm brought to Edmonton a few years later. Like Ekholm, Klefbom was a smooth skater who impacted the game at both ends of the ice, playing mistake-free defensive hockey that relied more on savvy than physicality.  

On Edmonton’s all-time leaderboards for defencemen, Klefbom ranks third in takeaways (179), fourth in blocks (753), fifth in game-winning goals (7), and sixth in shots on goal (890).

Adam Larsson (Sweden)

One of the most shocking trades in Oilers history saw 2010 first-overall pick Taylor Hall dealt to the New Jersey Devils for Adam Larsson in the summer of 2016.

At the time, Edmonton was coming off its 10^th consecutive season missing the playoffs. While stocked with young offensive talent, the team was defensively porous. To take the next step, the Oilers had to improve on the backend. Though it’s still debated about who won the trade, Larsson proved to be the shutdown defender that Edmonton sorely needed.

In his first season, Edmonton not only returned to the postseason, but advanced beyond Round 1 for just the second time since 1998. Though the Oilers never won another playoff series during his time in Edmonton, Karlsson remained a rock on their blueline.

Larsson departed Edmonton as a free agent following the 2020-21 season, joining the expansion Seattle Kraken, for whom he still plays today. The Skelleftea product ranks second in Oilers history with 1,026 hits.

Boris Mironov (Russia)

Boris Mironov was traded to the Oilers in 1994, during their post-Dynasty rebuild, and became a key part of the Edmonton teams that reached the playoffs and advanced to the second round in both 1997 and 1998.

Over parts of six seasons with the Oilers, the Moscow native totalled 42 goals and 118 assists in 320 games. Mironov potted a career-high 16 goals, including 10 with the man advantage, for Edmonton in 1997-98. All told, he scored 24 power-play goals as an Oiler, which is tied for the third-most ever among Edmonton blueliners.

In Edmonton’s first-round upset of the Dallas Stars in the 1997 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Mironov racked up six points, the second most among all players in the series. He came up huge in the opening round of the postseason again the next year, with three goals and three assists as Edmonton shocked the Colorado Avalanche by coming back from 3-1 to win the series.

Mironov was dealt to the Chicago Blackhawks in March 1999, as part of a six-player deal that saw Edmonton acquire future team captain Ethan Moreau.

Janne Niinimaa (Finland)

Janne Niinimaa was acquired by Edmonton from the Philadelphia Flyers at the trade deadline in 1998 and made an immediate impact. Over Edmonton’s final 11 games that season, Niinimaa recorded nine points and a plus/minus of plus-7 to help the Oilers go 8-3-0 and clinch a playoff berth.

The Raahe product was at his best in 2000-01, recording career highs of 12 goals and 46 points in 82 games for Edmonton, while being selected to play in the NHL All-Star Game. As of 2026, he is one of only three blueliners to represent the Oilers at the midseason classic since the turn of the century.

In 2001-02, Niinimaa registered a team-high 39 assists, becoming the first and still only defenceman to lead Edmonton in apples for a season.

Niinimaa was dealt to the Islanders in March 2003. He finished his Oilers tenure with 188 points in 399 regular-season games.

Risto Siltanen (Finland)

One of the best pure scoring defencemen in franchise history, Risto Siltanen first joined the Oilers during their final World Hockey Association (WHA) season, 1978-79, and was with the team through its three seasons in the NHL.

The Mantta native was the first rearguard in Edmonton’s NHL era to surpass 50 points for a season, recording 17 goals and 36 assists in 1980-81.

In 1981-82, Siltanen totalled 63 points in 63 contests. Along with Evan Bouchard and Paul Coffey, he is one of only three everyday blueliners to average at least one point per game for an entire season with the Oilers.

Siltanen was traded to the Hartford Whalers during the summer of 1982. Over three NHL seasons in Edmonton, Siltanen notched 38 goals and 113 assists in 206 games. He ranks sixth among Oilers defencemen in NHL history with 78 power-play points.

Ladislav Smid (Czechia)

He might not be the first name a lot of fans would guess, but Ladislav Smid is Edmonton’s all-time leader among European defencemen for games played.

From his NHL debut at the start of the 2006-07 season until he was traded to the Calgary Flames in November 2013, Smid suited up for 474 games with the Oilers. The Frydlant product is one of only seven blueliners to play at least eight different seasons in Edmonton.

Smid, who scored only 11 times and registered just 54 assists as an Oiler, made his living as a stay-at-home defenceman. He had the most hits and blocks on the Oilers in back-to-back seasons, 2011-12 and 2012-13, and ranks third all-time among Edmonton defencemen for both hits and blocks.

Unfortunately, Smid’s Oilers tenure coincided with the Decade of Darkness, and he never had the opportunity to play in the postseason.

Edmonton’s legacy of defencemen from overseas continues with training camp for the 2026-27 NHL season only three weeks away. The Oilers currently have four European rearguards in the organization: Tomas Cibulka (Czechia), Ekholm, Atro Leppanen (Finland), and Shakir Mukhamadullin (Russia).