Top 100 Oilers: No. 56 – Mike Comrie

Notable

Mike Comrie’s junior career is fascinating and could be an article of its own. He had an electric AJHL tenure with Sherwood Park and St. Albert, where his name is still littered through their history books, played two seasons with the University of Michigan, and then went back to junior to play with the Kootenay Ice in 2000-01. 

Then he was signed mid-season to a rich rookie contract of the day to join the Oilers, where he made an immediate impact and it seemed like a marriage made in heaven. 

However, just three years later, Comrie was a Philadelphia Flyer, and he quickly became a journeyman. He was traded to Phoenix within months of being acquired, then played with Ottawa, sent to Long Island, then re-joined Ottawa, re-joined Edmonton, and finished as a Pittsburgh Penguin in 2010-11. 

Comrie was done in the National Hockey League at the age of 31 after his third hip surgery. Injuries, struggles with foot speed, and even a bout of mononucleosis, undid him as a pro. 

The Story 

Drafting the son of one of Edmonton’s biggest business empires seemed like a dream come true for both player and franchise. Son of Bill Comrie, who famously co-founded The Brick, Mike’s older brother Paul was also an Oiler for 15 games in 1999-00. 

After signing an incentive-laden contract to leave junior, Comrie burst onto the scene and scored eight goals and 22 points in 41 games. 

CBC’s Chris Cuthbert branded him “The Edmonton Kid” in Game 4 of the first round vs the Dallas Stars. With Doug Weight out of the lineup, and the Oilers trailing in the series 2-1, the 20-year-old Comrie banged home the game-winner in front after a slippery pass from Ryan Smyth to tie the series.  

Although Dallas would end it in six, the future looked bright. 

Comrie scored a career high 33 goals and 60 points to tie with Anson Carter for the team lead at the height of the Dead Puck era. It was also the only time he played all 82 games in a season. However, despite having nearly an identical record to the year before, and having the second-fewest goals against in the league, the Oilers missed the playoffs by two points. 

He followed it up in 2002-03 with another solid season, 20 goals and 51 points, teeing up the sixth series against the Stars in seven seasons. Once again, it went six games, once again Dallas’ way. Comrie went cold offensively, his lone goal in the series coming in Game 5, a 5-2 loss. 

Then, things got ugly. 

His contract expired, and Comrie wanted big bucks, rejecting Kevin Lowe’s initial 10 per cent qualifying raise. Then he held out. Requested a trade. And it dragged on…and dragged…and on, into December, in fact, when a resolution was found. 

Anaheim was willing to trade Corey Perry and a 2004 first-round pick for Comrie. Lowe would agree to the deal only if Comrie would “top up” the Oilers personally to the tune of $2.5 million. Talk about ransom. 

The negotiations were hardball on steroids. The trade fell through, and Edmonton ended up shipping Comrie to Philadelphia days later instead, for Jeff Woywitka, a 2004 first-round pick (Rob Schremp), and a 2005 third-round pick (Danny Syvret). Curiously, the Flyers traded him just two months later despite the huge package. 

He was public enemy number one in Edmonton afterwards. At least, until Chris Pronger forced his way out. He got married to Disney star Hilary Duff. But he also suffered several injuries, and while there were flashes of that skill, it never reached the same heights. 

That’s what made the 2009 reunion so stunning, especially to scribe Robin Brownlee, who created this initial list. 

Comrie and the Oilers reunited, and it felt so good in pre-season, with his first game tallying four assists and a fight. He scored five goals in his first dozen regular-season games, but then got hit with an ugly bout of mono that held him out of the lineup for over two months. 

In retrospect, it’s amazing how few games Comrie played as an Oiler, just 235 regular-season games and 12 in the playoffs, but it still represents roughly a third of his career. 

Twenty-three-year-old hubris, Oiler vindictiveness, and yet the question lingers: what could’ve been? 

Could Comrie have been a great all-time Oiler? Could Corey Perry be an Oilers legend from the start of his career, instead of the end? Could Comrie have won a Stanley Cup in 2007? 

Shoulda, coulda, woulda… 

What Brownlee said

Mike Comrie’s time with the Edmonton Oilers seemed scripted like one of those feel-good flicks where the local boy comes home and makes good. While it started out that way midway through the 2000-01 NHL season, it played out with more plot twists than a soap opera — complete with heroes, villains and intrigue, not to mention an unlikely encore, by the time it was done.

While Comrie has been painted by some as a silver-spooner who took a big stack of bonus money, turned his back on the Oilers and ducked out of town, Lowe and his supporters in team ownership at the time were co-authors of all the over-the-top drama. In between a promising beginning and that ugly split, Comrie was a very good player here.

The Last 10

• No. 66 — Pat Hughes
• No. 65 — Dave Brown
• No. 64 — Tom Gilbert
• No. 63 — Mike Grier
• No. 62 — Marty McSorley
• No. 61 — Ken Linseman
• No. 60 — Evander Kane
• No. 59 — Adam Larsson
• No. 58 — Cam Talbot
• No. 57 — Boris Mironov

Michael Menzies is an Oilersnation columnist and has been the play-by-play voice of the Bonnyville Pontiacs in the AJHL since 2019. With seven years news experience as the Editor-at-Large of Lakeland Connect in Bonnyville, he also collects vinyl, books, and stomach issues.