Top 100 Oilers: No. 100 — Mark Lamb

Notable

Lamb debuted with the Oilers in 1987-88, appearing in two early-season games before spending the rest of the year with the AHL’s Nova Scotia Oilers, where he put up 27 goals and 61 points in 69 games. In his second season, he split time between leagues, producing in the AHL and finding his footing in the NHL with 10 points in 20 games. He also got a six-game taste of the playoffs.

By 1989-90, Edmonton’s second season without Wayne Gretzky, Lamb was a regular. His role and production grew: 12 goals and 28 points in 58 games. He elevated in the playoffs with six goals and 17 points in 22 games, including two game-winners in the first round against Winnipeg.

He buried the 3–2 overtime winner in Game 2 and added the decisive goal in a 4–1 Game 7 to advance. Three of his goals and eight of his points came in that series, with multi-point efforts in Games 6 and 7.

Against Boston in the Final, Lamb recorded assists in Games 3, 5, and 6, including a helper on Glenn Anderson’s power-play opener in Game 5, helping Edmonton lift its most recent Stanley Cup.

Lamb’s Oilers tenure spanned five seasons (1987–88 to 1991–92). He totaled 24 goals and 78 points in 176 regular-season games, plus seven goals and 26 points in 59 playoff appearances.

The Story

Lamb was drafted by the Calgary Flames in the fourth round of the 1982 draft and appeared in two games for them in 1985-86 before signing as a free agent with the Red Wings.

His time in Edmonton ended when he was taken by the expansion Ottawa Senators in 1992. He scored seven goals and 26 points in 71 games in their inaugural season, played 66 more the following year, and was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers on March 5, 1994, for Kirk Daubenspeck and Claude Boivin.

From there, he became a bit of a journeyman, with brief stops in Philadelphia and Montreal. His NHL run wound down when he joined the IHL’s Houston Aeros in 1995-96, spending two seasons there, a year in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga in 1997-98, and then two more seasons back in Houston.

After his playing days ended following the 1999-2000 season, he took a year off and began coaching in 2001-02 as an Oilers assistant. He spent 2002-03 through 2008-09 as an assistant with the Dallas Stars. He then ran the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos for five years as head coach and general manager, before leading the AHL Tucson Roadrunners in 2016-17.

He served as general manager of the WHL’s Prince George Cougars in 2018-19 and, since 2019-20, has also held the head coach role. Around that time, he was even floated as a potential assistant for Dave Tippett’s staff in Edmonton.

What Brownlee said

Based on talent and physical tools, Mark Lamb had no business being in the NHL, let alone on this list, but he was a stubborn little player who refused to take “no” for an answer. Lamb parlayed those traits into a career in the NHL that spanned 403 games, including 176 games and a Stanley Cup with the Edmonton Oilers in 1990.

Unlike a couple of far more talented players who occupy lower slots on this list of top 100 Oilers – Pat Price and Dean McAmmond – Lamb found a way to extract everything possible from limited gifts. He wasn’t big. He wasn’t fast. Simply put, Lamb, who grew up as a cowboy and bull rider, made it to the NHL because he was tenacious as hell.

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Lamb never was anywhere near the best player on the Oiler teams he toiled with, but he was at his very best in a career built on dogged determination in the 1990 playoffs, when the Oilers needed him most.