Remembering Kevin Lowe’s Return to the Oilers 30 Years Later

Saturday (Sept. 19) marks 30 years since the Edmonton Oilers and then-37-year-old defenceman Kevin Lowe agreed to a one-year contract worth $700,000.

While the addition of Lowe did little to improve Edmonton’s roster, this was a move that, intangibly speaking, meant a great deal for the franchise.

The Oilers had just survived potential relocation. After years of rebuilding, they were on the verge of breaking through with a promising young roster. They even had an updated logo and jerseys. Now, the man at the heart of their glory years was back.

Lowe’s Exit Marked End of an Era

Lowe’s initial run with the Oilers came to an end after 12 seasons in 1992, when he was dealt to the New York Rangers. At the time, Edmonton had reached the playoffs every season since joining the NHL in 1979, winning five Stanley Cups in the process.

Over the prior few years, all of the team’s other future Hall-of-Famers, from Paul Coffey (1987) to Wayne Gretzky (1988) to Jari Kurri (1990) to Glenn Anderson, Grant Fuhr and Mark Messier (1991), had departed Edmonton for larger salaries and brighter lights down south. Lowe was the last to go. Once the rugged defenceman was traded, the Oilers’ house of cards collapsed. Edmonton proceeded to miss the postseason each of the next four years.

Lowe Was at the Oilers‘ Core

While Lowe never had the gaudy stats of his fellow future Hall-of-Famers on the Oilers, he was the essential thread of the team fabric.

Lowe was Edmonton’s first NHL draft pick. He scored the Oilers’ first-ever NHL regular-season goal. He was part of all five of Edmonton’s Stanley Cup-winning teams. He became the Oilers’ all-time leader in games played. In his final season before being traded to New York, 1991-92, Lowe served as team captain. 

He also played in six NHL All-Star Games as an Oiler, and in 1990 received the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, which is awarded annually to the NHL player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a significant humanitarian contribution to their community.

Life Without Lowe in Edmonton

Unfortunately, the relationship between Lowe and the Oilers soured at the end of the first go-round in Edmonton. He missed the first two months of the 1992-93 season while holding out for a contract, before eventually being dealt by Oilers general manager Glen Sather to the Rangers on Dec. 11, 1992.

Lowe found success with the Rangers. He was an All-Star again in 1993 and won his sixth Stanley Cup in 1994. Edmonton, meanwhile, plummeted down the standings.

It wasn’t until 1995-96 that the rebuilding Oilers began to make strides, after acquiring superstar goalie Curtis Joseph to backstop a talented group of young skaters led by playmaking centre Doug Weight.

Off the ice, threats of the Oilers leaving Edmonton reached red-alert status when owner Peter Pocklington stated he would have to move the team if it did not sell 13,000 season tickets by May 31, 1996. The community stepped up, as a ticket drive led by Cal Nichols reached 13,482 by the deadline, assuring the Oilers would stay in Edmonton.

Fans celebrated during a rally at Edmonton City Hall, where the Oilers marked the occasion by debuting their new uniforms. For the first time in a long time, there was a sense of new energy around Edmonton’s NHL team.

Lowe Comes Back to Edmonton

Lowe must have sensed the vibes. Time heals all wounds, and the defenceman’s heart had never really left Edmonton, so after a summer in free agency, fielding overtures from teams including the Calgary Flames and Dallas Stars, Lowe finally decided to come back. Upon signing, he told the media: “I felt something pulling me here” (from ‘Shake Mothballs off No. 4,’ Edmonton Journal, 9/20/96).

In Edmonton, it felt like validation that the Oilers were doing something right. Of all the future Hall-of-Famers who’d departed the team, none had decided to come back. The only former star who returned was Anderson, which was against his will (despite being asked by Anderson not to do so, Sather claimed the winger off waivers in January 1996 for a brief stint with the Oilers that ended within a few weeks). So when Lowe signed, it served notice: he was back, and so were the Oilers.

Oilers Return to Playoffs

The difference in Edmonton was immediate. Right from the start of 1996-97, the Oilers stepped up a notch. They were in a playoff position for virtually the entire regular season, eventually finishing seventh to advance to the postseason for the first time in five years.

In the first round of the 1997 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Edmonton shocked the Dallas Stars, winning the series on Todd Marchant’s overtime goal in Game 7. The Oilers were eliminated by the Colorado Avalanche in Round 2.

Lowe appeared in 64 regular-season games, but a fractured ankle kept him out of action for all but a handful of shifts in the playoffs.

Lowe‘s Lasting Legacy

During the 1997 offseason, Lowe re-signed with the Oilers. Unfortunately, the 38-year-old’s body was beginning to fail him, and injuries limited Lowe to just seven games in the 1997-98 regular season. However, the culture that he had helped revitalize in Edmonton endured: the Oilers qualified for the 1998 Stanley Cup Playoffs and once again pulled off a first-round upset, knocking off Colorado in seven games. The Stars eliminated Edmonton in Round 2.

Lowe managed to suit up for one game in the 1998 postseason, in what would turn out to be his last time on NHL ice. On July 30, 1998, he announced his retirement and joined Edmonton’s coaching staff as an assistant, beginning a post-playing career that saw Lowe become head coach and eventually general manager of the Oilers.

One of the true testaments to Lowe’s legacy is that the Oilers never won a Stanley Cup Playoff series without him as a player until 2006 – more than a quarter-century after they joined the NHL. Today, his No. 4 hangs in the Rogers Place rafters, marking his place in franchise history.