Top 100 Oilers: No. 66 — Pat Hughes

Notable

The Calgary-born, but later Etobicoke product, was selected in the third round, 52nd overall, by the Montreal Canadiens in 1975, a team about to go on their last dynasty stand and win four straight Stanley Cups.

With the NHL Amateur Draft selection age still at 20 years old at the time, Hughes had already played multiple seasons with the Michigan Wolverines when his name was called.

His first full season was the last of profound Habs dominance in 1978-79, winning the cup and playing in 41 games.

Shipped to Pittsburgh the following season, he was acquired by the Oilers in 1980-81 for Pat Price. Hughes began playing his best hockey soon after.

Usually slotted on the third line, Hughes scored 24, 25, and 27 goals in the next three seasons as they finally and inevitably vaulted over the New York Islanders to win the holy grail.

On a team with Dave Semenko, Ken Linseman, and Mark Messier, Hughes could also chuck’em, as shown in this clip, where he beats the brakes off of Garry Galley on a December night in ‘84.

Looking back, Hughes was practically a senior citizen on the 83-84 Oilers — at just 28 years old, only Willy Lindstrom, Jaroslav Pouzar, Dave Lumley, and Lee Fogolin were older.

Hughes’ contributions in the middle-six of the lineup were a major reason why they got over the Islanders hump. He scored two goals and a total of 13 points in that post-season, with Edmonton beating New York in five, and the rest was history.

The Story

While his production stalled in 1984-85, he remained an integral part of the team voted to be the greatest in NHL history, as they cruised 15-3 in the playoffs to back-to-back Stanley Cups.

“It’s amazing, is what it is. It’s a huge honour,” Hughes said in 2018 after the vote was published.“We knew what it took to win. I think after the adjustments we made, the additions to the team, the fact that we’d already done it, we were a much more confident group.”

Hughes held an NHL record. Broke one of Wayne’s, in fact.

He scored two shorthanded goals 25 seconds apart in a 7-5 win against the St. Louis Blues on Jan. 11, 1983. The record would stand for five years, until another Oiler broke it in Esa Tikkanen with two SH tallies in a dozen ticks.

And although we know scoring was explosive in the 1980s, how about a five-goal game on Feb. 3, 1984?

In a 10-5 drubbing of the Calgary Flames and Gretzky out of the lineup, Hughes couldn’t be denied, becoming one of just 48 players in the 100-plus years of the NHL to score five or more in a game. He’d never scored a hat-trick or afterwards in an Oilers sweater.

How many Oilers scored five goals in a game, you ask? Just two: Gretzky four times and Kurri once.

“It was one of those freak nights, I guess,” Hughes said in an NHL.com article in 2017.”You’re Gretzky for a day. … I’ll call it all lucky, and I’ll leave it at that, because I don’t think anybody who played with me or against me would have ever expected anything like that to happen.”

For an NHL career with 573 regular-season games and 71 more in the playoffs, Hughes made them count. He has three Stanley Cup rings and many memorable moments to show for a hard-working career.

What Brownlee said

I’ve always had a soft spot for role players who up their game and are at their very best when it matters most, and that’s why I’m a sucker for Pat Hughes. Hughes was hard-nosed “lesser light” who shone almost as brightly as the biggest stars with the Edmonton Oilers when they finally claimed their first Stanley Cup in 1984. When it mattered, Hughes was money.

Hughes, who spent a lot of time playing in the bottom six with the Oilers over the years, notably on a line with Dave Hunter and Kevin McClelland, would win a pair of Stanley Cups during his tenure in Edmonton, but it was that first one, helping the Oilers end the four-Cup dynasty of the New York Islanders in five games, that puts him on this list for me.

The Last 10

• No. 76 — Eric Brewer
• No. 75 — Risto Siltanen
• No. 74 — Raffi Torres
• 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