Top 100 Oilers: No. 99 — Bryan Marchment

Notable

While Marchment would only play three playoff games for the Oilers, who were well into their post-dynasty slump, he made his mark in the 216 games he played, racking up seven goals and 44 points, but a whopping 576 penalty minutes.

He played in 40 of 48 games in that lockout-shortened 1994-95 season, but quickly endeared himself to Oilers fans before joining the leadership group the following year.

Suspended 13 times in his first 12 seasons, one of the more notable ones came when he collapsed the lung of Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mike Gartner. It was an open-ice hit laid in a February 3rd, 1995 game that would down Garnter, forcing him to ride the train back to Toronto.

“For Mike Garnter, that was sort of a payback for back in his New York (Rangers) days,” he said on TV after the game. “We had a little mishap, and I got suspended for it and lost quite a bit of money. I hit him cleanly this time.”

Days later, Marchment would dial it back with the Edmonton Journal’s Mark Spector, but explained his rationale.

“He clobbered me over the head with his stick, broke my helmet, and never got suspended. I retaliated, and I got suspended. It felt kind of good about (the hit) because it was a clean hit.”

The Story

Marchment, part of the Mark Messier trade tree, is a great option for PuckDoku fans, as he played for nine teams over the course of his career. Drafted by the Jets 16th overall in 1987, he only played 37 games across three years there before being dealt to the Chicago Blackhawks, who sent him Hartford’s way after two and a half years.

Mush left the Oilers in a December 1997 trade alongside draft busts Jason Bonsignore and Steve Kelly, but it paid off for Edmonton, as they got back Paul Comrie and Roman Hamrlik. While Mike’s brother only played 15 games, Hamrlik took over the reins in the “hard-nosed defenceman” role.

After 22 games in Tampa, he was dealt to the San Jose Sharks, where he spent parts of six seasons, his longest stint in the NHL, before cups of coffee with the Colorado Avalanche, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Calgary Flames. After retiring following the 2005-06 season spent in Calgary, he began working as an amateur scout with the Sharks in 2007-08, remaining with the team until he died in 2022 at 53 years old.

What Brownlee said

Marchment played no favourites, and there was no such thing as friends on the ice, as Oiler fans well remember. A teammate of Doug Weight during his entire tenure with the Oilers, Marchment had Edmonton fans screaming for his blood after a knee-on-knee hit on Weight Dec. 28, 2000 in San Jose.

With Weight being angled off and engaged by Gary Suter, Marchment came in and clipped Weight on the left knee. Weight, uninjured but incensed, later attacked Marchment. Marchment skated away from the retaliatory outburst smirking, Weight got tossed out of the game for it.

Early in the next game back in Edmonton, Georges Laraque, who was criticized for not inflicting any payback in San Jose, made a bee-line for Marchment, dropping him with a left hand on the button in brief, furious scrap in front of the team benches. In the post-game scrum, Marchment shrugged it off as no big deal. Part of the game — like the hit that led to it.

The Last 10

• No. 100 — Mark Lamb