Top 100 Oilers: No. 22 — Randy Gregg

Notable

Of Gregg’s 474 NHL regular season games, 453 of them came in an Oilers sweater, a sought-after free agent who hopped aboard the train in 1982 just before the playoffs and the shocking Miracle on Manchester.

He was 25 at the time, but already had a bundle of life experience, having spent the last two years in Japan as a player-coach with the Kokudo Bunnies to maintain his amateur status.

The importance of amateur sport and building up a Canadian Men’s National Team was a goal for Gregg, one that overshadowed the Oilers at points in his career. Heck, hockey competed with his medical studies, but that didn’t stop him from trying out for the U of A Golden Bears in the mid-1970s.

Learning from the legendary Clare Drake, they kept him around for a while, a couple of practices becoming four years, two CIAU national titles, and the Wilson Challenge Trophy recipient as the university’s most outstanding male athlete in 1979.

His amateur profile grew so much that Father David Bauer invited him to play for Team Canada at the 1980 Olympics at Lake Placid, where he was chosen as captain. It was the first time he turned down the NHL, which he would do again in 1987-88, leaving the Oilers for the majority of the season to prepare for the Olympics in Calgary.

But his eventual addition to the Oilers lineup in the early 1980s helped solidify a defensive corps ready to battle with the NHL’s best.

“If too much more time passed, I felt I’d never get the chance to pit my skills against some of the greatest hockey players in the world,” Gregg said at the time.

In total, he’d score just 41 goals in his career, and 193 points. Almost a quarter of his NHL career was played in the playoffs, suiting up for 130 Oilers post-season battles as a reliable minute-munching defender.

After lifting the Stanley Cup a fifth time, the Oilers left Gregg unprotected in the 1990 waiver draft, and he was picked by the Vancouver Canucks. He elected to retire for the second or third time at that point, depending on how you look at it, but would be roped back in 1991-92 as the denouement to his playing career.

The Story

Although the 1980s Edmonton Oilers were dominant, they would also have their lulls before ramping up to the post-season. Gregg didn’t have too many of those occasions in his career.

You knew what you were going to get from Randy Gregg as a versatile, 200-foot player, even chiming in with a big goal or two, like a 60-footer in overtime of Game 2 of the Smythe Division semifinals against the Winnipeg Jets.

Even if he was described by long-time defence partner Don Jackson as “always the lover, never the fighter.”

“For four years, we were partners and Randy had a great sense of the game and was a partner and teammate I could always count on,” Jackson said upon his teammate’s induction.

“Whenever I needed an outlet, Randy was there. He was always there for me in case I needed him. When we were under heavy pressure, we just kept coming back for the puck and we just made sure that we skated back just as hard as the other guy and to be ready just to be an outlet.”

His return in 1986-87 from a six-week retirement saw him produce yet another strong playoffs, as Journal writer Jim Matheson said Gregg was one of the best Oilers in their first-round series against the Los Angeles Kings, despite wearing a brace to protect his shoulder.

Figured into his widespread resume is another one-of-one experience involving Don Cherry. The bombastic broadcaster said in his 2008 book Don Cherry’s Hockey Stories and Stuff there was only one thing he ever regretted saying on Hockey Night in Canada:

“…It was in the Chicago-Edmonton series in 1990. I was on with Dave Hodge and Randy Gregg, defenceman for Edmonton. He is also a doctor. Randy had a breakaway and really looked bad not scoring, and I said, ‘How would you like that guy operating on your heart?’

“My mother phoned me the next day and really ripped me. ‘It’s okay to talk about hockey but when you get personal, that’s wrong.’ Mom was right, as usual. I was wrong.”

Rare, indeed, for Grapes to backtrack from an off-colour remark. But Gregg shouldn’t worry about that.

A Canadian university trophy bears his name, as the Dr. Randy Gregg Award is handed out annually to recognize student-athletes who demonstrate outstanding achievement in hockey, academics, and community involvement.

He’s a Hall of Famer in a few places: the University of Alberta’s Sports Wall of Fame, Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame, the Alberta Hockey Hall of Fame, and was most recently part of the latest class of inductees into the Oilers Hall of Fame in 2024, alongside Craig MacTavish.

A special career and a special life — on his own terms.

“It’s amazing what can be accomplished when nobody cares who gets the credit, and it was just like that: you did your eight hours of medical school, and then, you went to the rink and dressed for three minutes and you went out and did your best,” he said after being inducted. “I saw the same thing with these men when I came to the Oilers.”

What Brownlee said

“Unlike the stars dotting Edmonton’s line-up, Gregg was never a player who pulled you out of your seat,” wrote Brownlee. “He didn’t jump into the attack like Coffey did. As big as Gregg was, he wasn’t a banger who punished opposing forwards. He didn’t fight. What Gregg did effectively – most often paired with Don Jackson – was get in the way, concentrate on his own end of the rink, move the puck and make the right play. Gregg was decidedly un-spectacular but unquestionably effective playing behind the big guns up front.”

The Last 10

• No. 32 — Dave Semenko
• No. 31 — Dave Hunter
• No. 30 — Dave Lumley
• No. 29 — Sam Gagner
• No. 28 — Jordan Eberle
• No. 27 — Jason Smith
• No. 26 — Zach Hyman
• No. 25 — Andy Moog
• No. 24 — Steve Smith
• No. 23 — Lee Fogolin