1988–89 Edmonton Oilers season explained

League:	NHL
Season:	1988–89
Year:	1988
Team:	Edmonton Oilers
Conference:	Campbell
Conferencerank:	3rd
Division:	Smythe
Divisionrank:	3rd
Record:	38–34–8
Homerecord:	21–16–3
Roadrecord:	17–18–5
Goalsfor:	325 (4th)
Goalsagainst:	306 (11th)
Generalmanager:	Glen Sather
Coach:	Glen Sather
Captain:	Mark Messier
Altcaptain:	Glenn Anderson Kevin Lowe
Arena:	Northlands Coliseum
Attendance:	17,503 (100%)
Minorleague:	Cape Breton Oilers (AHL) Denver Rangers (IHL)
Goalsleader:	Jimmy Carson (49)
Assistsleader:	Mark Messier (61)
Pointsleader:	Jari Kurri (102)
Plusminusleader:	Craig Muni (+43)
Pimleader:	Kelly Buchberger (234)
Winsleader:	Grant Fuhr (23)
Gaaleader:	Bill Ranford (3.50)

The 1988–89 Edmonton Oilers season was the Oilers' tenth season in the NHL, and they were coming off a Stanley Cup championship after defeating the Boston Bruins the previous season, which was their fourth Stanley Cup in the past 5 seasons. The Oilers finished third in the Smythe Division with 84 points, their lowest point total since the 1980–81 season. For the eighth consecutive season, the Oilers had five 30-goal scorers.

Prior to the season, the Oilers was involved in one of the biggest trades in NHL history, dealing Wayne Gretzky, Marty McSorley and Mike Krushelnyski to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for Jimmy Carson, Martin Gelinas, the Kings' first round draft picks in 1989, 1991 and 1993, and $15 million.

Jari Kurri led the club with 102 points, while Jimmy Carson scored a team high 49 goals, and Mark Messier had a team best 61 assists. Charlie Huddy led the defense with 44 points, while Kelly Buchberger provided the team toughness, leading the Oilers with 234 penalty minutes.

In goal, Grant Fuhr got the majority of the starts, leading the team with 23 wins, while Bill Ranford had a team best 3.50 GAA.

The Oilers finished the regular season first in short-handed goals scored, with 27.^[1]

In the playoffs, the Oilers faced Wayne Gretzky and the Los Angeles Kings in the opening round of the playoffs. The heavily favored Oilers took a 3–1 series lead, however, the Kings responded by winning 3 games in a row by a combined score of 16–6 to win the series, ending the Oilers bid at winning a third straight Stanley Cup. It marked the first time since 1982 that Edmonton had lost in the first round of the playoffs, ironically it was the Kings who eliminated them in the opening round that year.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Schedule and results

	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Record	Pts
1	October 7		1–5	Edmonton Oilers	1–0–0	2
2	October 9		4–5	Edmonton Oilers	2–0–0	4
3	October 12		6–2	Edmonton Oilers	2–1–0	4
4	October 14	Edmonton Oilers	1–6		2–2–0	4
5	October 16	Edmonton Oilers	3–3	Winnipeg Jets	2–2–1	5
6	October 17		3–3	Edmonton Oilers	2–2–2	6
7	October 19		6–8	Edmonton Oilers	3–2–2	8
8	October 23	Edmonton Oilers	5–6	Vancouver Canucks	3–3–2	8
9	October 25	Edmonton Oilers	5–4	Los Angeles Kings	4–3–2	10
10	October 29		3–4	Edmonton Oilers	5–3–2	12
11	October 30		5–2	Edmonton Oilers	5–4–2	12
12	November 2		4–5	Edmonton Oilers	6–4–2	14
13	November 4		3–7	Edmonton Oilers	7–4–2	16
14	November 6	Edmonton Oilers	2–5		7–5–2	16
15	November 8	Edmonton Oilers	7–3		8–5–2	18
16	November 9	Edmonton Oilers	3–2		9–5–2	20
17	November 12	Edmonton Oilers	6–2		10–5–2	22
18	November 13	Edmonton Oilers	5–4	Buffalo Sabres	11–5–2	24
19	November 16	Winnipeg Jets	2–1	Edmonton Oilers	11–6–2	24
20	November 19	Toronto Maple Leafs	1–9	Edmonton Oilers	12–6–2	26
21	November 20	Edmonton Oilers	4–7	Winnipeg Jets	12–7–2	26
22	November 23	Edmonton Oilers	3–3	Minnesota North Stars	12–7–3	27
23	November 24	Edmonton Oilers	4–2	St. Louis Blues	13–7–3	29
24	November 26	Edmonton Oilers	5–7		13–8–3	29
25	November 28	Edmonton Oilers	7–4		14–8–3	31
26	November 30	Vancouver Canucks	2–4	Edmonton Oilers	15–8–3	33
27	December 2	Calgary Flames	7–4	Edmonton Oilers	15–9–3	33
28	December 4		6–10	Edmonton Oilers	16–9–3	35
29	December 7	Quebec Nordiques	3–8	Edmonton Oilers	17–9–3	37
30	December 8	Edmonton Oilers	3–5	Calgary Flames	17–10–3	37
31	December 10	Winnipeg Jets	7–6	Edmonton Oilers	17–11–3	37
32	December 14	Edmonton Oilers	8–2	Toronto Maple Leafs	18–11–3	39
33	December 15	Edmonton Oilers	3–4		18–12–3	39
34	December 17	Edmonton Oilers	4–2		19–12–3	41
35	December 19	Edmonton Oilers	5–5	Buffalo Sabres	19–12–4	42
36	December 21	Vancouver Canucks	2–1	Edmonton Oilers	19–13–4	42
37	December 23	Calgary Flames	1–4	Edmonton Oilers	20–13–4	44
38	December 31	Montreal Canadiens	4–2	Edmonton Oilers	20–14–4	44
39	January 2	Edmonton Oilers	3–2	Minnesota North Stars	21–14–4	46
40	January 4	Quebec Nordiques	2–4	Edmonton Oilers	22–14–4	48
41	January 7	Edmonton Oilers	2–7	Calgary Flames	22–15–4	48
42	January 8	Calgary Flames	0–6	Edmonton Oilers	23–15–4	50
43	January 10	Edmonton Oilers	4–5	Los Angeles Kings	23–16–4	50
44	January 13	Edmonton Oilers	3–5	Washington Capitals	23–17–4	50
45	January 15	Edmonton Oilers	0–1	New Jersey Devils	23–18–4	50
46	January 16	Edmonton Oilers	2–2	Chicago Blackhawks	23–18–5	51
47	January 18	Edmonton Oilers	9–4	Winnipeg Jets	24–18–5	53
48	January 20		1–1	Edmonton Oilers	24–18–6	54
49	January 21	Pittsburgh Penguins	7–4	Edmonton Oilers	24–19–6	54
50	January 23	New York Rangers	3–2	Edmonton Oilers	24–20–6	54
51	January 25	Chicago Blackhawks	6–3	Edmonton Oilers	24–21–6	54
52	January 28	Edmonton Oilers	7–6	Los Angeles Kings	25–21–6	56
53	January 31	Edmonton Oilers	2–6	Vancouver Canucks	25–22–6	56
54	February 1	Vancouver Canucks	3–4	Edmonton Oilers	26–22–6	58
55	February 3	Detroit Red Wings	5–8	Edmonton Oilers	27–22–6	60
56	February 5	New Jersey Devils	4–2	Edmonton Oilers	27–23–6	60
57	February 9	Edmonton Oilers	3–1	Philadelphia Flyers	28–23–6	62
58	February 11	Edmonton Oilers	2–5	Boston Bruins	28–24–6	62
59	February 12	Edmonton Oilers	3–1	New York Rangers	29–24–6	64
60	February 14	Edmonton Oilers	3–5	New York Islanders	29–25–6	64
61	February 17	Washington Capitals	8–2	Edmonton Oilers	29–26–6	64
62	February 19	Boston Bruins	4–2	Edmonton Oilers	29–27–6	64
63	February 21	Hartford Whalers	4–7	Edmonton Oilers	30–27–6	66
64	February 24	Los Angeles Kings	1–4	Edmonton Oilers	31–27–6	68
65	February 25	St. Louis Blues	3–5	Edmonton Oilers	32–27–6	70
66	March 1	Montreal Canadiens	0–3	Edmonton Oilers	33–27–6	72
67	March 3	Edmonton Oilers	7–4	Winnipeg Jets	34–27–6	74
68	March 5	Edmonton Oilers	4–2	Pittsburgh Penguins	35–27–6	76
69	March 7	Edmonton Oilers	4–4	Philadelphia Flyers	35–27–7	77
70	March 8	Edmonton Oilers	3–7	Hartford Whalers	35–28–7	77
71	March 11	Calgary Flames	5–5	Edmonton Oilers	35–28–8	78
72	March 12	Los Angeles Kings	6–3	Edmonton Oilers	35–29–8	78
73	March 15	Detroit Red Wings	8–6	Edmonton Oilers	35–30–8	78
74	March 16	Edmonton Oilers	0–3	Vancouver Canucks	35–31–8	78
75	March 19	New York Islanders	2–3	Edmonton Oilers	36–31–8	80
76	March 21	Los Angeles Kings	4–3	Edmonton Oilers	36–32–8	80
77	March 23	Winnipeg Jets	4–5	Edmonton Oilers	37–32–8	82
78	March 25	Edmonton Oilers	2–4	Los Angeles Kings	37–33–8	82
79	March 29	Edmonton Oilers	5–2	Vancouver Canucks	38–33–8	84
80	April 2	Edmonton Oilers	2–4	Calgary Flames	38–34–8	84

Playoffs

Los Angeles Kings 4, Edmonton Oilers 3

	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Record
1	April 5	Edmonton Oilers	4–3		1–0
2	April 6	Edmonton Oilers	2–5		1–1
3	April 8		0–4	Edmonton Oilers	2–1
4	April 9		3–4	Edmonton Oilers	3–1
5	April 11	Edmonton Oilers	2–4		3–2
6	April 13		4–1	Edmonton Oilers	3–3
7	April 15	Edmonton Oilers	3–6		3–4

Season stats

Scoring leaders

GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
76	44	58	102	69
80	49	51	100	36
72	33	61	94	130
67	31	47	78	92
66	35	41	76	80

Goaltending

Player	GP	TOI	W	L	T	GA	SO	Save %	GAA
	29	1509	15	8	2	88	1	.877	3.50
	59	3341	23	26	6	213	1	.875	3.83

Playoff stats

Scoring leaders

GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
7	1	11	12	8
7	3	5	8	6
7	2	2	4	20
7	1	3	4	12
7	2	1	3	6
7	2	1	3	21

Goaltending

Player	GP	TOI	W	L	GA	SO	Save %	GAA
	7	417	3	4	24	1	.894	3.45

Awards and records

Milestones

Regular Season
Player	Milestone	Reached
	1st NHL Game 1st NHL Assist 1st NHL Point	October 7, 1988
	200th NHL Game	October 9, 1988
	500th NHL Game	October 16, 1988
	100th NHL PIM	October 17, 1988
Martin Gelinas	1st NHL Goal	October 17, 1988
	200th NHL Point	October 19, 1988
	1st NHL Goal
	900th NHL PIM
	400th NHL Goal	October 23, 1988
	200th NHL Game	October 25, 1988
	600th NHL Game	October 29, 1988
	100th NHL Assist	October 29, 1988
	100th NHL Goal	October 30, 1988
Jimmy Carson	200th NHL Point	November 4, 1988
Mark Messier	3rd NHL Gordie Howe hat trick	November 4, 1988
	400th NHL Game	November 8, 1988
Jari Kurri	18th NHL Hat-trick	November 8, 1988
Esa Tikkanen	4th NHL Hat-trick	November 12, 1988
Jimmy Carson	100th NHL Goal	November 13, 1988
	700th NHL Game	November 16, 1988
	19th NHL Hat-trick 3rd Four-Goal NHL Game	November 19, 1988
	1,300th NHL PIM	November 19, 1988
	100th NHL PIM	November 26, 1988
Craig Simpson	200th NHL Point	December 2, 1988
Steve Smith	700th NHL PIM	December 4, 1988
Jimmy Carson	6th NHL Hat-trick	December 6, 1988
Kelly Buchberger	1st NHL Assist	December 7, 1988
Jari Kurri	19th NHL Hat-trick
Esa Tikkanen	200th NHL Point
	200th NHL PIM	December 8, 1988
Craig Muni	200th NHL Game	December 10, 1988
Jari Kurri	900th NHL Point	December 14, 1988
	1st NHL Game	December 23, 1988
Kevin Lowe	300th NHL Point
	1st NHL Goal 1st NHL Point
Jimmy Carson	200th NHL Game	January 4, 1989
Kelly Buchberger	200th NHL PIM	January 8, 1989
Kevin McClelland	100th NHL Assist	January 8, 1989
	400th NHL PIM	January 10, 1989
Craig Simpson	100th NHL Assist	January 10, 1989
	900th NHL PIM	January 16, 1989
Charlie Huddy	300th NHL Point	January 20, 1989
	1st NHL Game	January 21, 1989
Mark Messier	800th NHL Point	January 21, 1989
	500th NHL Game	January 23, 1989
Glenn Anderson	400th NHL Assist	January 25, 1989
	200th NHL Win	January 28, 1989
	1st NHL Game	January 28, 1989
Mike Ware	1st NHL Assist 1st NHL Point	January 31, 1989
Jari Kurri	500th NHL Assist	February 3, 1989
Craig Simpson	300th NHL PIM	February 3, 1989
Greg Adams	1,100th NHL PIM	February 12, 1989
Mark Messier	700th NHL Game	February 12, 1989
Mark Messier	10th NHL Hat-trick 2nd Four-Goal NHL Game	February 21, 1989
Craig Simpson	2nd NHL Hat-trick	February 25, 1989
Normand Lacombe	200th NHL Game	March 1, 1989
Mark Messier	1,000th NHL PIM	March 3, 1989
Keith Acton	700th NHL PIM	March 4, 1989
	400th NHL Game	March 11, 1989
Kelly Buchberger	300th NHL PIM	March 15, 1989
Charlie Huddy	400th NHL PIM	March 19, 1989
Mark Messier	500th NHL Assist	March 21, 1989
Kevin Lowe	800th NHL PIM	March 23, 1989
Kevin McClelland	1,400th NHL PIM	March 25, 1989
Jimmy Carson	100th NHL PIM	March 29, 1989
Craig MacTavish	300th NHL PIM	March 29, 1989
Jari Kurri	300th NHL PIM	April 2, 1989

Playoffs
Player	Milestone	Reached
	100th NHL Game	April 5, 1989
	50th NHL PIM	April 5, 1989
	100th NHL PIM	April 6, 1989
Mark Lamb	1st NHL Assist 1st NHL Point	April 8, 1989
	1st NHL Assist	April 9, 1989
	250th NHL PIM	April 11, 1989
	1st NHL Game	April 15, 1989
	100th NHL Assist	April 15, 1989

Transactions

Trades

July 22, 1988	To Washington Capitals Geoff Courtnall	To Edmonton Oilers Greg Adams
August 9, 1988	To Los Angeles Kings Wayne Gretzky Mike Krushelnyski Marty McSorley	To Edmonton Oilers Jimmy Carson Martin Gelinas 1st-round pick in 1989 1st-round pick in 1991 1st-round pick in 1993 ($15 million) cash
August 10, 1988	To Los Angeles Kings John Miner	To Edmonton Oilers Craig Redmond
October 27, 1988	To New York Rangers Ron Shudra	To Edmonton Oilers Jeff Crossman
January 3, 1989	To Detroit Red Wings 10th-round pick in 1989	To Edmonton Oilers Miroslav Frycer
January 23, 1989	To Detroit Red Wings 12th-round pick in 1989	To Edmonton Oilers Doug Halward
February 7, 1989	To Philadelphia Flyers Keith Acton 6th-round pick in 1991	To Edmonton Oilers Dave Brown
February 15, 1989	To New York Islanders 5th round pick in 1989	To Edmonton Oilers Tomas Jonsson
March 7, 1989	To Los Angeles Kings Jim Wiemer Alan May	To Edmonton Oilers Brian Wilks John English
March 7, 1989	To Vancouver Canucks Greg Adams Doug Smith	To Edmonton Oilers John LeBlanc 5th-round pick in 1989

Free agents

Player	Former team
	Boston Bruins
	Pittsburgh Penguins
	Philadelphia Flyers

Player	New team
	New York Islanders
	Quebec Nordiques
	New York Islanders

Waivers

Date	Player	Team
		to Pittsburgh Penguins
	Dave Hannan	to Pittsburgh Penguins
		from Los Angeles Kings
		to Winnipeg Jets
		to New York Rangers
		Buffalo Sabres
	Ken Hammond	to New York Rangers
	Craig Redmond	from New York Rangers
		from Chicago Blackhawks
	Dave Hunter	from Winnipeg Jets

Draft picks

Edmonton's draft picks at the 1988 NHL Entry Draft

Round		Player	College/junior/club team (league)
1	19		Saint-Jean Castors (QMJHL)
2	39	Petro Koivunen	Kiekko-Espoo (Finland)
3	53	Trevor Sim	Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL)
3	61	Collin Bauer	Saskatoon Blades (WHL)
4	82	Cam Brauer	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (ECAC)
5	103	Don Martin	London Knights (OHL)
6	124		Victoria Cougars (WHL)
7	145	Mike Glover	Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (OHL)
8	166		University of Minnesota Duluth (WCHA)
9	187	Tom Cole	Woburn Memorial High School (USHS-MA)
10	208		CSKA Moscow (Soviet Union)
11	229	Darin MacDonald	Boston University (ECAC)
12	250	Tim Tisdale	Swift Current Broncos (WHL)
S	24	Brian Dowd	Northeastern University (Hockey East)

External links

SHRP Sports
The Internet Hockey Database
National Hockey League Guide & Record Book 2007

Notes and References

Web site: 1987-88 NHL Summary. May 4, 2024. September 13, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170913044535/https://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/NHL_1988.html. live.