Top 100 Oilers: No. 63 — Mike Grier

Notable

Grier was still playing college hockey at the time of the Joseph trade, but once he arrived in Edmonton, it didn’t take long for him to make his mark with a strong rookie season. The sophomore slump was real as offensive numbers dropped, but he made up for it with two twenty-goal campaigns and a trio of years with 32+ points.

Scoring wasn’t what made Grier, however, as he was a hulking physical presence who never shied from laying the body, while also spending time on the penalty kill thanks to his effective two-way play.

Grier played in 34 playoff games for the Oilers, the most with any team, racking up six goals and 10 points in them. He’d come up clutch twice with game-winning goals in Game 2 of the 1997 quarter finals against the Dallas Stars, and in Game 5 of the 1998 quarter finals against the Colorado Avalanche.

In his final two years in Edmonton, he was a part of the Oilers’ leadership group wearing an ‘A’.

The Story

Grier was a ninth-round pick of the St. Louis Blues in the 1993 draft out of St. Sebastian’s High School, and went to Boston University to play college hockey. His first year was underwhelming with nine goals and 18 points in 39 games, but over his final two seasons he racked up 50 goals and 102 points in 75 games in his final two years.

He would find himself on the outs after training camp ahead of the 2002-03 season, however. Players like Dan Clearly, and Georges Laraque made the case for minutes, and the veteran Grier would be sent to the Washington Capitals for second and third round picks in the 2003 draft. The second would later be traded to the New York Islanders in the Janne Niinimaa deal, while the third was used to draft Zach Stortini.

Two years in Washington, a trade to the Buffalo Sabres, signing with the San Jose Sharks as a free agent, and closing out his career in 2010-11 with the Sabres, his career spanned 1060 games in which he scored 162 goals and 383 points.

What Brownlee said

“The scouts all wanted Mike but Glen didn’t know much about him,” recalled former head of scouting Kevin Prendergast. “I remember Glen saying ‘he weighs 265 pounds, he’ll never fit into a pair of pants.” I don’t know if Grier ever actually weighed that much because when he got here he bent the beams at about 230 pounds – opponents can thank their lucky stars for that because Grier hit like a runaway freight.

While Grier wasn’t particularly fleet of foot in terms of having great lateral movement, he could get there in a straight line and if he caught somebody in the trolley tracks, he simply ran them over and kept going. I’m trying to think of a better pure hitter than Grier and I’m hard-pressed to come up with a name. Mercy, he wrecked guys – no elbows, no stick, all body, and there damn sure was plenty of that.

Grier paid a price to play that way. During the 2000-01 season, Grier’s shoulder made a habit of popping out of place – dislocating during games. More than once after the problems began, you’d hear Grier scream in pain and skate to the bench with his arm hanging loosely at his side. As many times as not, he’d get it popped back into place and return to the ice after missing just a shift or two. He was a tough SOB.

The Last 10

• No. 73 — Don Jackson
• No. 72 — Andrew Cogliano
• No. 71 — Anson Carter
• No. 70 — Adam Graves
• No. 69 — Vincent Damphousse
• No. 68 — Dustin Penner
• No. 67 — Roman Hamrlík
• No. 66 — Pat Hughes
• No. 65 — Dave Brown
• No. 64 — Tom Gilbert