It’s hard to believe, but the upcoming 2023-24 NHL season will already be Connor McDavid’s eighth year captaining the Edmonton Oilers.
The other 14 men who have worn the ‘C’ since Edmonton joined the NHL in 1979 are an eclectic mix: There are forwards and defensemen, there are scorers and checkers. There are Stanley Cup champs, and there are players who never even made the playoffs during their Oilers’ tenure. Some of them spent more than a decade in Edmonton, others didn’t even last one season as captain.
McDavid is already the longest-serving captain in team history, but is he the greatest? Here’s a look at Edmonton’s top-five NHL captains, based on factors including team success, individual performance, leadership, and, yes, longevity.
5. Jason Smith (2001 – 2007)
Jason Smith was named Edmonton’s captain on Sept. 27, 2001, nearly three months after his predecessor Doug Weight was traded to the St. Louis Blues. He has the second-longest tenure as Oilers captain, serving six years (a span that includes the canceled 2004-05 season) and he is to date the last player to captain Edmonton to a Stanley Cup Final appearance, in 2006.
Related: Edmonton Oilers’ 2006 Stanley Cup Run – A Look Back
The rugged defenseman was a leader by example: his effort, toughness, and no-nonsense demeanour set the tone for his teammates to follow. A player who would do whatever it took to win, Smith holds the Oilers’ single-season record for blocked shots, with 228 in 2006-07.
Smith played 542 regular season games with the Oilers, wearing the ‘C’ for 368 of them. His captaincy ended on July 1, 2007, when he was dealt to the Philadelphia Flyers.
4. Lee Fogolin (1981 – 1983)
Lee Fogolin’s time as captain ended when he voluntarily relinquished the ‘C’, which might not sound like the actions of a great leader but actually speaks to a visionary who put the team before himself as few others have.
Named captain in 1981, Fogolin was tasked with shepherding Edmonton’s generational collection of young talent at a time when it was still learning to realize its potential. In 1983, the defenseman captained Edmonton to its first appearance in the Stanley Cup Final, where they were crushed by the veteran New York Islanders.
Sensing that Wayne Gretzky’s time had arrived, Fogolin gave his captaincy to No. 99 prior to the 1983-84 season, explaining that “maybe a change like this will help us win the Stanley Cup” (from ‘Oilers ’84: When Gretzky Was Named Captain’ The Edmonton Sun, 10/6/14). He was right.
With Gretzky leading the way and Fogolin remaining a vital part of Edmonton’s blue line, the Oilers won the next two Stanley Cups, in 1984 and 1985, beginning a dynastic run of five championships in seven years.
3. Connor McDavid (2016 – Present)
At worst the second-best player to ever suit up for the Oilers, McDavid has not yet been able to lead Edmonton to the Stanley Cup.
McDavid was named captain on Oct. 5, 2016. Then aged 19 years and 266 days, he was the youngest captain in NHL history. Edmonton had gone the previous season, McDavid’s first in the NHL, without a captain, using four alternates after Andrew Ference was stripped of the ‘C’ on Oct. 7, 2015.
Since assuming the captaincy, McDavid has won the Art Ross Trophy five times, the Ted Lindsay Award four times, the Hart Trophy three times, and the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy once, a run of individual accolades that rivals prime Gretzky. Only recently has team success begun to follow: The Oilers went four years without winning a playoff series before advancing to the Western Conference Final in 2022 and the Western Conference second round in 2023.
2. Wayne Gretzky (1983 – 1988)
Edmonton won the Stanley Cup in all but one of Gretzky’s five seasons as captain. Only Montreal Canadiens legend Jean Beliveau has captained an NHL team to the championship more than four times.
While other captains were more fiery or vocal, the Great One led by simply being great. He was already a four-time winner of both the Art Ross and Hart Trophies before he donned the ‘C’, and he won those awards another four times each during his tenure as Edmonton’s captain.
Gretzky served 377 regular season games as captain of the Oilers, second most in franchise history behind McDavid’s 524. Over his nine NHL seasons with the Oilers, Gretzky totaled 1,669 points in 696 games. The Gretzky Era in Edmonton ended when the center was shockingly traded to the Los Angeles Kings on Aug. 9, 1988.
1. Mark Messier (1988 – 1991)
Gretzky’s successor only wore the ‘C’ for three seasons, and thus didn’t total up the volume of awards that McDavid has or championships that Gretzky did during their respective captaincies. So why is No. 11 ranked No. 1 on this list? He’s Mark Messier, that’s why. The man that defines leadership in hockey. I mean, they named it the Mark Messier Leadership Award, for crying out loud.
Messier took the reins of the post-Gretzky Oilers, a team still possessing tremendous talent but shaken by the loss of its captain, and helped it accomplish what few thought was possible without The Great One, another Stanley Cup title. Edmonton’s fifth championship came in Messier’s second year as captain, 1990, when he also won the Hart Trophy, becoming the first recipient of the NHL’s regular season MVP award besides Gretzky and Mario Lemieux since 1979.
When the forward was traded to the New York Rangers in 1991, Messier was immediately named captain of his new team. Three years later he led the Blueshirts to their first Stanley Cup victory in 54 years, solidifying his reputation as the finest leader the game has ever known.
Messier’s spot at the top of this list is rock solid. But should Edmonton capture the Stanley Cup in 2024, the question of, ‘Who is the greatest captain in Oilers history?’ might become open for debate.
