Top 100 Oilers: No. 68 — Dustin Penner

Notable

Penner became an Oiler in the summer of 2007 after signing a rare offer sheet with Edmonton — one that the Anaheim Ducks declined to match. Ducks GM Brian Burke was furious, blasting Kevin Lowe publicly and sparking one of the league’s most memorable front-office feuds of the 2000s.

Early in Penner’s Oilers tenure, then–head coach Craig MacTavish publicly questioned his conditioning after a slow start to the 2008–09 season. MacTavish later admitted his frustration came from the pressure of Penner’s big contract — one he didn’t feel had been justified yet.

When Pat Quinn replaced MacTavish in 2009, Penner found his stride, scoring 32 goals in 82 games — his best season in Edmonton.

For all his flaws, Penner still produced 93 goals in 304 games with the Oilers. And when Edmonton traded him to the Los Angeles Kings in 2011, the return was significant: defenceman Colten Teubert, a 2011 first-round pick (Oscar Klefbom), and a 2012 third-round pick. (We’ll just leave that last one unnamed.)

The Story

Penner joined a young, talented Kings core that included Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty, Dustin Brown, and Jonathan Quick.

His production dipped — two goals in the regular season and one in six playoff games after being acquired. He followed that with just seven goals the next season.

But what people really remember is the Pancake Incident of 2012.

“I was sitting, eating pancakes for breakfast. My wife made some delicious pancakes, and I was eating them when it felt like someone shot me in the back,” Penner said at the time.

He missed only one game with back spasms and, a few months later, won the Stanley Cup with the Kings — his second championship after winning with Anaheim in 2007.

Penner later returned to the Ducks and finished his career with the Washington Capitals in 2014.

The Winkler, Manitoba, product retired with 589 regular-season games, 151 goals, and two Stanley Cups — not bad for a player whose work ethic was questioned more often than it was praised.

What Brownlee said

Part of the problem with Penner was perception. Even when it looked like he was coasting, advanced stats would show he’d often accomplish more than teammates who were, or looked like, they were busting their behinds. It’s a bias many big guys face. Part of the problem was the amount of money he made, which, at the time, was a pretty good chunk of Edmonton’s payroll.

That said, there is no question Penner was less-than-driven and guilty of not putting in the work required and expected. He was often out of shape — long before Pancake Gate was even a thing. He drove coach Craig MacTavish to distraction with his indifference for preparation and his inconsistency on the ice. MacTavish put it this way:

“When we signed Dustin we thought he’d be a top-two-line player. We thought the contract was a starting point for him, but he views it as a finish line. I can’t watch it, certainly not for another 2 1/2 years.” MacTavish fired that verbal volley in November of 2008 with Penner off to a slow start after he’d led the Oilers with 23 goals the previous season.

Penner had the same effect on GM Dean Lombardi in Los Angeles, where he was traded by the Oilers in February 2011. When Penner began wearing out his welcome in Tinseltown with more of the frustrating on-again, off-again play that was his trademark, Lombardi characterized him this way:

“Dustin is at the cross-roads of his career. He can choose to use his athletic ability to either become a dominant power forward in the National Hockey League or be a dominant number four hitter for the El Cid Lounge in a men’s softball league. The choice is his.”

The Last 10

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• No. 77 — Zack Kassian
• 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