Top 100 Oilers: No. 44 — Kevin McClelland

Notable

The Oilers have had their fair share of stinker trades over the years, including two with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Well, one of the best trades in franchise history also involved the Penguins, as the Oilers sent Tom Roulston to Pennsylvania for McClelland.

Drafted 71st overall, McClelland got a cup of tea in his first three seasons with the Penguins, but became an important bottom six forward with the Oilers during the 1983-84 season, scoring eight goals and 28 points after the trade. McClelland added four goals and 10 points during the 1984 postseason, his best single playoff production en route to the Oilers’ first Stanley Cup.

The following season, he scored eight goals and 23 points in 62 games, along with 205 penalty minutes, then added a goal and four points in 18 postseason games as the Oilers went back-to-back. His best regular season in terms of production came in 1985-86, as he scored 11 goals and 36 points, but the Oilers failed to three-peat.

They were right back to their winning ways in 1986-87, and McClelland scored a career-best 12 goals with 13 assists over 72 games. In 21 playoff games, he added two goals and five points, the same total he had the following season as the Oilers went back-to-back for the second time in five years.

McClelland’s final full season with the Oilers came in 1988-89, as he scored six goals and 20 points in 79 games, with 161 penalty minutes. After just 10 games during the 1989-90 season, McLelland was traded alongside Jimmy Carson to the Detroit Red Wings for Adam Graves, Petr Klíma, Joe Murphy, and Jeff Sharples.

The Story

The Oilers went on to win the 1990 Stanley Cup, making it five Cups in seven seasons. On the flip side, it was the beginning of the end for McClelland’s career. He played 61 games with the Red Wings in 1989-90, scoring four goals and nine points in what turned out to be his final full season in the National Hockey League.

Most of his 1990-91 season was spent in the American Hockey League, but he dressed for three games with the Red Wings that season. He played 18 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs during the 1991-92 season, but most of his season was spent in the AHL. All of his 1992-93 season was spent in the AHL, before appearing in six games with the original Winnipeg Jets in 1993-94, his final NHL action.

After a 1994-95 entirely spent in the AHL, McLelland retired, but has since remained active in hockey thanks to coaching. His NHL tenure started off okay, but a trade to the Oilers turned him into four-time Stanley Cup winner, before becoming a journeyman to end his career.

What Brownlee said

When the Edmonton Oilers staged a reunion in 2014 to mark the 30th anniversary of their first Stanley Cup win back in 1984, Kevin McClelland was the only player from that team who didn’t attend. McClelland, coaching in Wichita at the time, had planned to drive to Edmonton – he’s afraid of flying – but he didn’t manage to get away in time to attend the big bash.

That’s noteworthy on a couple of fronts. First, I didn’t know that McClelland, who rode shotgun with the Boys on the Bus for parts of seven seasons, was afraid of anything. Second, it’s McClelland who scored one of the biggest goals in franchise history – the only goal in a 1-0 win over the defending champion New York Islanders in Game 1 of the 1984 Stanley Cup final. The goal that started the dynasty days the Oilers enjoyed in the 1980s.

…

McClelland was a role player here to be sure. In his best season, he had 36 points. His calling card was grinding, hitting and fighting – doing the dirty work, just like Marty McSorley, Dave Semenko and so many others did with Edmonton’s Stanley Cup teams. In the bad old days when the Battle of Alberta was a battle, when intimidation was a bigger part of the game, McClelland was front and centre.

The Last 10

• No. 54 — Jeff Beukeboom
• No. 53 — Martin Gelinas
• No. 52 — Blair MacDonald
• No. 51 — Ethan Moreau
• No. 50 — Stuart Skinner
• No. 49 — Janne Niinimaa
• No. 48 — Jason Arnott
• No. 47 — Oscar Klefbom
• No. 46 — Craig Muni
• No. 45 — Tommy Salo