Top 100 Oilers: No. 86 — Jaroslav Pouzar

Notable

Playing for Motor České Budějovice through the 1970s, Pouzar was one of the Czechoslovak league’s most dangerous left wings, piling up 278 goals in 461 games and ripping 42 goals in 43 games during the 1977-78 season. He parlayed that production into a decorated run with the national team that included World Championship gold in 1976 and 1977, silver in 1978, 1979, and 1982, and bronze in 1981, plus an Olympic silver at Innsbruck in 1976.

In that era, Czech stars needed both age and service to be allowed abroad, and Pouzar met the threshold after turning 30 and logging extensive national-team appearances, which cleared the path for his NHL move.

“I had to show the Canadians that I was not afraid,” Pouzar said when looking back on his move to North American professional hockey with the Oilers

When he won the Stanley Cup with Edmonton in 1984, Pouzar became the first Czech-born, Czech-trained player to win a championship in the National Hockey League. He was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2024.

The Story

The Oilers took a swing on experience at the 1982 draft, betting that Pouzar’s pro miles with the Czech national side would immediately translate to the NHL. He stepped into the 1982-83 lineup and gave Glen Sather reliable middle-six minutes, winning battles, extending cycles, and adding secondary scoring. In 1983-84, he was part of the forward depth that helped push Edmonton past the Islanders for the club’s first Stanley Cup, then backed it up with a second ring in 1984-85.

Pouzar returned to Europe following an injury-riddled 1984-85 season, but the door never closed. When the Oilers geared up for another run in 1986-87, the veteran winger returned and slid right back into the same dependable role, helping the team to a third championship before heading to West Germany to finish his playing days.

Though he never became the scoring top-six winger the Oilers hoped he would be, Pouzar was an important part of those first few Stanley Cup runs. He scored 82 points over 186 regular-season games with Edmonton and added 28 points in 29 playoff games.

What Brownlee said

Pouzar, a blocky 5-foot-11, 205 pounder who Gretzky once described as “the physically strongest player I ever played with,” had difficulty adapting to the attacking style the talented, young Oilers favored. The Oilers scored 424 goals in 1982-83 and Pouzar had just 15. The Oilers scored 446 times the next season and Pouzar had just 13. It became obvious rather quickly Pouzar wouldn’t be the fit for Gretzky and Kurri they were looking for.

It’s tempting, then, to dismiss Pouzar as a bust, as a bit player who didn’t deliver and rode the coattails of the likes of Gretzky, Kurri and Mark Messier to those three dates with the Stanley Cup engraver. That would be selling Pouzar way, way short. Pouzar would re-invent himself in his second season, finding a home on a line with Ken Linseman and Dave Lumley.

Pouzar would settle in as a reliable two-way player who could fill in higher in the line-up, check opponents to a standstill and navigate the heavy going without blinking. Fact is, the fire hydrant-like Pouzar hit like a freight train. It’s those qualities that would see Pouzar play a significant part in that 1984 Cup win over the New York Islanders, who’d swept Edmonton in 1983.

The Last 10

• No. 95 — Marty Reasoner
• No. 94 — Jeff Petry
• No. 93 — Dave Manson
• No. 92 — Willy Lindstrom
• No. 91 — Sheldon Souray
• No. 90 — Pat Maroon
• No. 89 — Mark Napier
• No. 88 — Igor Ulanov
• No. 87 — Zdeno Ciger
• No. 86 — Devan Dubnyk