Past Edmonton Oilers’ performances at the Winter Olympics

Today is the Olympic semifinal, and it gives Connor McDavid a chance to set the all-time record for points in an Olympics involving NHLers (in addition to giving him and Canada a chance to play for the country’s third straight gold medal).

Obviously, McDavid has put on a performance for the ages already, for an Oiler or otherwise. But how about the previous Olympics that have featured Oilers players? Have there been any notable performances?

Let’s take a stroll down memory lane.

1998 Olympics: Doug Weight, Boris Mironov, Bill Guerin, Mats Lindgren, Roman Hamrlik, Andrei Kovalenko, Valeri Zelepukin, Janne Niinimaa, Curtis Joseph

This Olympics had a plethora of Oilers, with nine players going to Nagano, spread across six teams: three Russians in Andrei Kovalenko, Valerie Zelepukin, and Boris Mironov; two Americans in Doug Weight and BIll Guerin; a Finn in Janne Niinimaa, a Swede in Mats Lindgren, a Canadian in Curtis Joseph, and finally one championship winning Czech in Roman Hamrlik. Out of the nine players the team sent, five came back with a medal (Hamrlik with the gold; Mironov, Kovalenko and Zelepukin with the silver, and Niinimaa with a bronze).

In terms of personal stats, Hamrlik scored one goal in six games, the eighth goal in an 8–2 round robin drubbing of Team Kazakhstan. Fellow blue liner Niinimaa would lead all Finnish defencemen in scoring, with three assists in six games, although they too all came in a round robin game against Kazakhstan.

With respect to the Russian trio, Kovalenko scored four goals and five points in six games (good for fourth on Team Russia) with two of those goals being game winners (including the one that sent Russia to the Gold Medal Game). Zelepukin notched three points, while Mironov potted two points and was the second-highest scoring Mironov on the team behind Dmitri.

For the Americans, Guerin was tied for the points lead , with three assists in four games, while Weight posted two assists. They both contributed an assist in the USA’s only win against Belarus.

Meanwhile, Mats Lindgren did not score a point in his four games with Sweden, while Joseph did not even get into a game for Canada, but to be fair that isn’t all that surprising when you have Patrick Roy on the team (I mean, even Martin Brodeur didn’t get a game).

Honourable Mention(?): Okay, this probably doesn’t count, but a German player named Draisaitl led their team in scoring with four points in four games…

2002 Olympics: Ryan Smyth, Janne Niinimaa, Jochen Hecht, Eric Brewer, Tom Poti, Tommy Salo, Jussi Markkanen

A slew of Oilers headed to Salt Lake City, with seven players again representing six teams.

Both Ryan Smyth and Eric Brewer played for the gold medal-winning Team Canada, while Tom Poti brought home a silver for Team USA.

Brewer scored two goals in six games, including the game winner in the semifinal against Belarus (granted, it was the second goal in a 7–1 victory, but still—a GWG is a GWG). Smyth tallied one assist in the tournament, also in the game against Belarus.

Poti scored just one assist as well, but it would be on the first goal in the gold medal game—don’t ask Team USA what happened after that.

Niinimaa returned to represent Finland, which finished sixth, and again led the team’s blueline in scoring with three assists in four games, all three coming in victories against Belarus and Russia.

Hecht represented eighth-place Germany, playing in four games and scoring two points.

Both of the Oilers’ goalies made their national teams that year (something unfathomable to Oilers fans these days). Tommy Salo was the starter for Sweden and got off to a great start, beating Team Canada in the first round robin game and then outduelling Dominik Hasek and the Czech Republic in a 2–1 win next.

Unfortunately, this tournament seemed to be what cratered Salo’s career, when, with three minutes left in a 3–3 tie in the quarterfinal game against Belarus, a shot from just over the red line bounced off of Salo’s head and into the net, resulting in a huge upset.

Jussi Markkanen, meanwhile, was the third goalie for Finland and didn’t see any action.

Honourable Mention: The Oilers acquired Mike York a month after the Olympics, although they traded his Team USA teammate Tom Poti for him, so still a wash, I guess.

2006 Olympics: Ales Hemsky, Ryan Smyth, Chris Pronger, Jaroslav Spacek

Despite being the year the Oilers went to the Stanley Cup Final, only four players made their national team, with two on Team Canada and two on Team Czech Republic. Granted, an Oilers team that has made the final two years in a row only had three players this year, so I guess it checks out?

Two Oilers came back with a medal, but it wasn’t the two you would have expected that year. Ales Hemsky and recently acquired Jaroslav Spacek both won bronze with the Czechs, with Hemsky contributing a goal and three points in eight games and Spacek adding an assist. The most interesting thing about that is that all their points came in losing efforts, which isn’t bad, I guess, but still seems weird?

Meanwhile, Smyth and Pronger were members of what could be considered the worst Team Canada of all time, as they finished seventh overall in an absolutely pathetic attempt to defend their gold medal from 2002 and their World Cup from 2004.

Pronger scored a goal and three points in six games, while Smyth only mustered one assist. Granted, they were the reverse of the Czech Oilers, as their points all came in victories. I don’t know what to do with that information, but I feel like it has to mean something.

2010 Olympics: Lubomir Visnovksy, Denis Grebeshkov

Given the Oilers were on their way to a last-place finish and their first-ever first overall pick, it is actually a bit surprising they still had players who made it to the Olympics.

It was the first time that the Oilers did not have a player make Team Canada, which wouldn’t happen again until this year (granted, there was only one other Olympics after this involving NHL players, but still).

Lubomir Visnovsky was definitely not a surprise pick for Slovakia, where he was probably considered the second-best defenceman after Zdeno Chara. Visnovsky led the team’s blueline with two goals and three points on the Slovaks way to a fourth-place finish. One of his goals was the game winner over Latvia in the round robin, while he assisted on the game winner in the qualification round win over Norway and then scored his second goal in the semi-final loss to Canada.

Denis Grebeshkov, meanwhile, was maybe a bit of a surprise pick for a hockey superpower like Russia, especially when you consider the fact that he was falling out of favour with the team just a year after scoring 39 points. Grebeshkov would score one assist in four games as Russia would finish sixth. The Oilers would trade Grebeshkov the day after the Olympics ended to the Nashville Predators in exchange for a second-round pick.

Honourable Mention: The Oilers again acquired another Olympian three days after the games in Ryan Whitney, but they also traded away an Olympian in Lubomir Visnovsky for him, so yet another wash; hopefully this year’s team does not see the team trading away any of their Olympians shortly after the games are done. Also, it is likely that Hemsky would have played but for a season-ending injury.

Also, there was a player from Norway who played for the Stavanger Oilers. So like, technically another Oiler?

2014 Olympics: Ales Hemsky, Anton Belov, Martin Marincin

In the last Olympics featuring NHLers, the Oilers still managed to supply players despite being a basement dweller, and somehow just as many as the current team.

Hemsky represented the Czechs for the second time in his career and led the team in scoring with three goals and four points in five games on the way to a sixth place finish. Hemsky would score both of the Czech goals in their 5–2 quarterfinal loss to the USA, so he definitely did his part.

If having Grebeshkov in 2010 showed how weak the Russian blueline was, having Anton Belov at this one reinforces that point. Belov was in his first (and only) NHL season, where he scored one goal and seven points in 57 games. At the Olympics, he tied that goal total, his only point in five games, as Russia finished fifth.

Martin Marincin was also in his first NHL season when he suited up for the Slovaks, but unlike Belov, he was a raw rookie who was just four years out from being drafted. Marincin didn’t score a point in his four games, and Slovakia finished second last.

Honourable Mention: Ladislav Smid was traded to the rival Calgary Flames a few months prior to these games, and for once, he was not traded for another Olympian. There was also another Stavanger Oiler there, just in case we did want to include that to help bump the numbers up.