Top 100 Oilers: No. 91 — Sheldon Souray

Notable

In his third and final season in Edmonton, Souray again struggled to stay in the lineup, appearing in 37 games due to multiple injuries, including a boxer’s fracture in his hand.  The fracture led to a staph infection that landed him in the ICU, and at one point, doctors worried they might have to amputate his hand.

His relationship with the organization soured during the recovery. That summer, he requested a trade, prompting then-head coach Pat Quinn to tell the media, “If you don’t want to play here, don’t screw around, get the hell out.”

The situation turned ugly. Souray was placed on waivers and spent the next season with the Hershey Bears in the American Hockey League, effectively ending his time in Edmonton. He finished his career with stops in Dallas and Anaheim, but never recaptured the form from his two 20-goal seasons with the Canadiens and Oilers.

The Story

At his peak, Souray was one of the league’s best defencemen. His 23-goal 2008-09 season ranked second among blueliners, trailing only Mike Green.

When he was healthy, he was a major weapon. It’s a shame he couldn’t stay in the lineup more often, because he had the makings of a player who could have ranked much higher on this list: a local product, a booming shot, and a strong personality.

This city loves players like that. There was plenty of frustration at the time, but distance has softened some of it, and Souray’s perspective adds important context to how things unfolded. Still, the summer he signed and his one full season in Edmonton stand out as rare high points for Oilers fans during the Decade of Darkness.

What Brownlee said

While Souray backed Tambellini into a corner by going public – I wrote at the time I thought sounding off was a mistake that wasn’t going to help his cause – Tambellini botched the whole affair. If he was going to stand his ground after being outed as a bungler, fine, but he at least had to move Souray and get a return. Instead, he got nothing, zippo. Tambellini buried Souray in the minors on loan to Hershey, then bought him out.

“It’s not a players thing,” Souray told Spector. “It’s not a fans thing or a city thing. It’s a management thing. They’ve given up on me, and it’s a two-way street. Management has soured on me, and I’ve soured on them. The fans are great, they’ve accepted me here, I see the jerseys in the stands. I couldn’t have pictured a more opposite vision of what my experience here would be like. What the organization here would be like, overall.”

Upon retiring after stops in Dallas and Anaheim, Souray reflected on his time in Edmonton in a piece in the Players’ Tribune. The entire item is here. In it, he addresses fans in Edmonton.

“The people of Edmonton: Thanks for treating me so well even when things got ugly with management. All I ever wanted to do since I was a little boy was play for the Oilers. I wish it turned out better in the end, but you always made me feel at home.”

Home. For Souray, it never was what it should have been.

The Last 10

• No. 100 — Mark Lamb
• No. 99 — Bryan Marchment
• No. 98 — Kent Nilsson
• No. 97 — Dean McAmmond
• No. 96 — Ladislav Smid
• No. 95 — Marty Reasoner
• No. 94 — Jeff Petry
• No. 93 — Dave Manson
• No. 92 — Willy Lindstrom