Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is about to play his 13th season with the Edmonton Oilers, which will put the veteran forward in very exclusive company, as there are just three other players who have been part of Edmonton’s NHL team for more than a dozen seasons.
The first two, defenceman Kevin Lowe and winger Ryan Smyth, each spent 15 seasons with the Oilers and are among the top names in franchise history.
Lowe was Edmonton’s first-ever NHL draft pick, won five Stanley Cups with the Oilers, and is the team’s all-time games-played leader. Smyth is second in games played, scored more than 300 goals (regular season and playoffs combined) for the Oilers, and is one of the most beloved players ever to lace them up in Edmonton. Both Lowe and Smyth were part of the inaugural Oilers Hall of Fame class last year.
Then there’s the third name on that list, forward Kelly Buchberger, who spent parts of 13 seasons as a player with the Oilers, and was also part of the team for over a decade in roles including assistant coach and director of player personnel (today, Buchberger is an assistant coach of the Laval Rocket in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, following a stint as head coach of the Western Hockey League’s Tri-City Americans).
Buchberger never played in an All-Star Game, and he never finished top-five on the team in points, let alone led the team in scoring. And when this year’s Oilers Hall of Fame class was announced on Sept. 20, he wasn’t one of them (Charlie Huddy and Doug Weight were).
There was, of course, lots of discourse among media and fans about the biggest Oilers HOF snubs this year and who should get the call next year. Again, Buchberger’s name barely came up. His place in Oilers history often seems overlooked. But it can’t be forgotten. And that’s why now is the time to revisit his Oilers career.
Buchberger’s Edmonton Highlights
A native of Langenburg, Sask., Buchberger played 795 games in the regular season, seventh most in franchise history (sixth until the end of 2022-23 when he was passed by Nugent-Hopkins) and another 78 in the playoffs. In the seven seasons spanning 1991-92 to 1997-98, he missed only three games.
He earned two championship rings and served four seasons as captain of the Oilers. Buchberger is also the all-time franchise leader in penalty minutes (1,747 in the regular season) and won the team’s Top Defensive Forward award a record five times, consecutively from 1992-93 to 1996-97.
The Beginning of Buchberger’s NHL Career
Buchberger was a 19-year-old coming off his first season in the WHL with the Moose Jaw Warriors when he was drafted 188th overall by Edmonton in 1985, just after the Oilers had won the Stanley Cup for a second consecutive year.
He played a second season with the Warriors in 1985-86. That spring, Edmonton’s quest for a third straight championship ended with a gut-wrenching Game 7 loss to the Calgary Flames in the Smythe Division Final when Oilers defenceman Steve Smith put the puck in his own net off goalie Grant Fuhr.
For the 1986-87 season, Buchberger turned pro and joined Edmonton’s American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Cape Breton Oilers. While he was asserting himself in the minors, racking up 257 penalty minutes in 70 regular season games, Edmonton was steamrolling through the NHL en route to the league’s best record.
Once Cape Breton was eliminated from the AHL Playoffs, Buchberger was called up to Edmonton where the Oilers advanced to the Stanley Cup Final to face the Philadelphia Flyers. He was only there as one of the black aces until coach Glen Sather told him to suit up for Game 1 of the championship series. The Flyers played nasty, and Sather thought that the feisty Buchberger would be an ideal counter.
Buchberger appeared in the first three games of Edmonton’s 4-1 series victory, joining a short list of players who made their NHL debut in the Stanley Cup Final. He hadn’t even played an NHL regular season game yet and was already a champion.
While he did get into 19 NHL regular season games in 1987-88, Buchberger didn’t see any playoff action with Edmonton during the team’s run to its fourth championship in five years. He scored 21 goals and added 23 assists in 49 regular season games with Nova Scotia. He also appeared in two AHL playoff games, in what proved to be the last time he ever played in the minors.
Carving Out a Role in Edmonton
In 1988-89, Buchberger became a full-time NHLer, dressing for 66 games with the big-league Oilers before an injury brought his season to an early end in March and left him sidelined for the playoffs. Edmonton was eliminated in the first round by the Los Angeles Kings, ending Edmonton’s two-year championship reign.
Edmonton reclaimed the Stanley Cup in 1990, its fifth championship in seven years and last time winning hockey’s holy grail. After not playing in either of the previous two postseasons, Buchberger was a bottom-six regular, contributing five points in 19 playoff games.
His role continued to grow each season, and in 1991-92 Buchberger set career highs with 20 goals, 24 assists and 44 points.
The Oilers made runs to the conference final in 1991 and 1992, before missing the NHL playoffs for the first time in franchise history and quickly plummeting to the bottom of the standings. After a decade of remarkable success, Edmonton was about to endure a very difficult period. This is when Buchberger became his most important.
The Leader the Oilers Needed
Just prior to the trade deadline in 1994, Edmonton traded away its captain Craig MacTavish, leaving Buchberger as the last remaining skater on the Oilers to have won multiple Stanley Cups with the team. But instead of naming him captain, the Oilers put the ‘C’ on veteran forward Shayne Corson, a decision that proved disastrous during the 1994-95 season.
Related: Oilers’ Trade of Damphousse for Corson Began Period of Upheaval
Corson’s captaincy lasted all of 35 games before a series of incidents led Edmonton coach George Burnett to strip Corson of the ‘C’ (the only captain in team history with that dubious distinction). Burnett himself was caught up in the turmoil and only two days later he was fired and replaced with Ron Low. Low’s choice to be his captain? The man affectionately known as “Bucky”.
”I don’t think there’s anybody in the organization who deserves this more than Bucky,” Low said on the day Buchberger was named captain. ”He’ll bleed 100 per cent for the Oilers. He’s got the logo stamped on his butt” (from ‘Captain Kelly,’ The Edmonton Journal, 10/07/95).
Buchberger’s Final Chapters as an Oiler
With Buchberger as the captain, Edmonton’s locker room improved significantly, and in 1995-96 the Oilers won their most games since 1991-92. The next year, they made it back to the playoffs for the first time in five postseasons.
In Game 3 of the 1997 Western Conference Quarterfinals against the Dallas Stars, with the Oilers hosting a playoff game for the first time since 1992, Buchberger sent Edmonton Coliseum into a frenzy when he scored in overtime to cap an impossible comeback from down 3-0 with four minutes left in the third period. It was immediately the greatest goal of his career and an iconic moment in franchise history.
Sparked by their captain, the Oilers went on to upset the Stars in seven games, and advanced to Round 2 where they lost to the defending champion Colorado Avalanche 4-1.
Buchberger played out of his mind in the 1997 Playoffs, scoring five goals, one more goal than he had in his other six postseasons with the Oilers combined. In Edmonton’s lone victory against the Avs, he had a career playoff high of three points, including the game-tying goal with just over six minutes remaining.
The Oilers won another playoff series in 1998, upsetting Colorado 4-3 with Buchberger equalling his career playoff high of two assists in the deciding Game 7. Edmonton returned to the playoffs in 1999, getting swept in the first round by Dallas.
That proved to be Buchberger’s swan song with the Oilers. He was left unprotected in the 1999 NHL Expansion Draft for the Atlanta Thrashers, who selected one player from each of the pre-existing 27 teams excluding the Nashville Predators. Presented the opportunity to acquire a much-needed leader for its new nucleus of players, Atlanta drafted Buchberger and named him captain, the first in franchise history.
The Oilers have stated that a maximum of two nominees will be elected to their Hall of Fame annually, and that’s exactly how many have been inducted each year thus far. The next two inductees will be the 15th and 16th individuals to enter the Oilers Hall of Fame. It would be poetic if the 16th member is Buchberger, who proudly wore No. 16 as a member of the Oilers for 13 years.
