Edmonton Oilers

You can't win unless you learn how to lose. People from all walks of life will tell you this, but no one as passionately as athletes. Such was the case with the Edmonton Oilers.

Born out of the World Hockey Association, the Oilers were one of four teams from that league that joined the NHL in 1979‐80. The team went to the Stanley Cup Final against the New York Islanders in the spring of 1983 but were swept. That infused a gritted‐teeth determination to come back, and Edmonton did just that, defeating those same Islanders in 1984 to end one dynasty and start a new one. What followed were Cup victories against the Philadelphia Flyers in 1985, the Flyers again in 1987 and the Boston Bruins in 1988. Wayne Gretzky, who had starred with the Oilers through those four championships, was traded from Edmonton to the Los Angeles Kings in August 1988. Many believed that that would end the successes of the Oilers, but they bounced back and won again in 1990 against the Boston Bruins, this time without Gretzky.

Winning five Stanley Cup championships in seven seasons was an incredible run; one that earned them acknowledgement by The Hockey News as the greatest NHL dynasty of all time. The roster included five players who led the team in each of the five championships and later became Honoured Members of the Hockey Hall of Fame: Glenn Anderson (2008), netminder Grant Fuhr (2003), Jari Kurri (2001), Kevin Lowe (2020), and Mark Messier (2007). Paul Coffey (2004) starred from the blueline in the first three Stanley Cup wins and Wayne Gretzky (1999) dominated in the first four of the five championships. Glen Sather, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a Builder in 1997, coached the team for the first four championships, and was the general manager for all five.