Changing the Game

by Stephen Laroche

  A junior standout who chose the WHA over the Los Angeles Kings, MacDonald scored 171 goals in over six seasons with the rival league’s Oilers and Indianapolis Racers, but he never scored more than 34 goals or 71 points in a season before he made his NHL debut. The Oilers paid a hefty price to protect him when coming in, since they promised the Kings that they would take Larry Brown in the expansion draft and reportedly paid them $130,000 as well to keep the young winger.

  The unfortunate reality was that they wouldn’t have even needed to spend that money if they had protected him instead of Bengt-Ake Gustafsson. Despite these efforts to work out a deal with the young Swedish star’s agent, general manager Larry Gordon made a crucial mistake and the Oilers ultimately lost Gustafsson after the NHL found them guilty of violating the terms of the merger. The end result was Gustafsson became a member of the Washington Capitals and Edmonton’s wallet was considerably lighter.

  All of the effort to keep MacDonald paid off for the Oilers during their first season, though, as he registered the best year of his professional career. He finished with an impressive 46 goals, good enough for second place on the club, and even ranked 10th overall among all scorers with 96 points. Perhaps his best performance of the year came in Edmonton’s first victory, when he put three tallies and an assist on the board in a 6–3 decision over the Quebec Nordiques on October 19, 1979. Other hat tricks came against the Pittsburgh Penguins in a fight-filled game on January 19, 1980, and in an 8–3 romp over Toronto on January 26.

  Coach Glen Sather had some lofty praise for the assistant captain and was pleased with his work on the ice.

  “He’s the most underestimated player in the NHL,” said Sather at the time. “He’s the one guy who has contributed to this hockey team every night he’s had the uniform on. He’s the example and the kids on the team are following him.”

  At mid-season, MacDonald received an opportunity to play for the Campbell Conference in the 1980 NHL All-Star Game and that marked the high point of his time with the Oilers.

  Blair MacDonald

  Stan Weir

  Weir had already played three seasons in the Toronto Maple Leafs organization when he jumped to the WHA and signed with Edmonton as a free agent in June 1978. His new surroundings boosted his offensive output over the 30-goal mark for the first time, and he helped the club to an appearance in the AVCO Cup Final against Winnipeg.

  As the Oilers prepared for arrival in the NHL, Toronto reclaimed Weir. But since Toronto wanted to protect veteran Ron Ellis from the expansion clubs, Edmonton picked Weir up off the waiver wire on July 4, 1979.

  It proved a shrewd move on Glen Sather’s part, as Weir responded with his best offensive year at the pro level. He was the club’s most accurate shooter among regulars, as he scored on 31 of his 129 shots, and also finished third on the team in scoring.

  Most important, Weir gained the respect of his teammates and the coaching staff. Sather offered his thoughts on the veteran to the press at the time.

  “The mark of a good pro is somebody who comes to play every night,” he said. “Well, almost every night. It’s almost impossible over an 80-game schedule to not have a few off nights. But good pros keep them down to 10 or so. Stan Weir has been consistently good, night in and night out. On the road or at home.”

  One of Weir’s most memorable moments occurred late in the season when he scored on a penalty shot granted against Toronto’s Mike Palmateer on March 29, 1980. Before he was ready to skate toward the goal, arena staff needed to be called out on to the ice to scoop up several mice that had ventured out onto the playing surface at Maple Leaf Gardens.

  Brett Callighen

  Glen Sather once remarked that, “If a coach had 20 Brett Callighens, the other team might not beat you. He’s like a hummingbird, always buzzing, always darting. If anybody signifies the ethic of hard work, he does. I never have to worry about him punching the time clock.”

  That’s some very lofty praise for a guy who actually stopped playing hockey as a teenager but returned to the game when he went to Centennial College in Toronto in 1973. From there, he played in the IHL and got a tryout with the New England Whalers in 1976. After that, he stayed in the pros — mostly with the Oilers, who acquired him in February 1977.

  When Edmonton joined the NHL, the team retained Callighen’s rights before the expansion draft and he became a part of the potent and youthful GMC Line with Blair MacDonald and Wayne Gretzky. Both of Gretzky’s linemates often faced criticism from fans and the press for having inflated numbers thanks to the young lion’s presence, but Sather had his own feelings on the negativity.

  “People said Brett should have bought Gretzky a meal for making him a scorer, but really, that was a crack,” he remarked. “Brett has always been able to skate and shoot. Now, he’s got enough confidence to start putting the puck where it belongs. In the net.”

  Callighen’s first NHL season was going remarkably well when a near tragedy struck during a game against the Boston Bruins on February 24, 1980. As he was charging for the puck against rookie Brad McCrimmon, he went down and sustained a serious injury to his left eye.

  “It happened so quickly. I didn’t know if it was a puck or a stick that hit me,” said Callighen. “They tell me it was a stick. I was scared to death. I couldn’t see.”

  Callighen ended up spending five days in hospital with dark patches over both eyes and needed to do exercises with hand weights to keep his sanity. About a week after the incident, he could make out images of colours and people but said that it felt like there was a film over his eye.

  Sather weighed in on the incident. He believed that the injury had serious consequences on their quest for a playoff spot.

  “Losing Brett is a terrible blow. Brett really makes the team go. I’ve never bought the theory that Gretzky has made Callighen.”

  Ron Chipperfield

  Chipperfield spent the last two seasons of the WHA in an Oilers uniform and was a dynamo for the club during their battle for the AVCO Cup with Winnipeg Jets, scoring nine goals and earning 10 assists over 13 postseason games. Even though he was drafted by the California Golden Seals and subsequently traded to the Philadelphia Flyers, Edmonton ended up retaining his rights when they joined the NHL.

  Named the first captain of the team in their new league, Chipperfield was given the honour on October 9, 1979, as the team flew over the state of Minnesota. Three weeks later, he scored his first goal of the season against the St. Louis Blues. Then on November 30, he scored a pair in a 5–3 win over the New York Islanders.

  After his offensive output greatly decreased, Chipperfield was traded to the Quebec Nordiques for Ron Low on March 11, 1980. Sadly, he was visiting his mother at the time and she passed away from leukemia the following day. Coach Glen Sather had to deliver the terrible news.

  “It was the toughest thing I’ve had to do in years,” he said. “To tell Chipperfield he was traded — what a terrible day for him with his mother so sick and the trade.”

  Risto Siltanen

  Siltanen came to North America late in the 1978–79 season to play for the Oilers in the WHA and was a big part of the club’s run to the AVCO Cup Final. Since the St. Louis Blues held his NHL rights, the team reclaimed him when Edmonton was set to come into the league. But the young defender known as the “Little Hulk” told them that they needed to trade him to the Alberta-based club or else he was heading back to Finland. Instead of losing him and getting nothing, the Blues granted his wish and sent him and Tom Roulston to Edmonton and got Joe Micheletti in return.

  A puck-moving defender with the ability to generate well-timed hits, Siltanen reminded director of player personnel Bruce MacGregor of Pat Stapleton, and he appreciated his ability to stand his ground. Glen Sather was also impressed by the youngster’s talent.

  “He’s the best I’ve seen at moving [the puck] forward. He has a knack for hitting the open man in flight. If he has a problem, it’s that he sometimes moves it too fast … his teammates aren�
��t anticipating the pass. Really, Risto is just like a first-round junior draft pick. People think he’s older than he is, maybe because he was on the Finnish national team. But he’s only 21 with a lot of good years ahead of him.”

  Had he been able to play a full season in 1979–80, Siltanen likely would have led Edmonton’s defencemen in scoring. He still managed to generate his fair share of offence. His first two NHL goals came against Vancouver’s Glen Hanlon in a 4–4 tie on October 14, 1979. He also registered a trio of assists while battling the Winnipeg Jets on February 1, 1980.

  Mark Messier

  Messier made the jump from Tier II junior to the pro ranks in 1978–79 as a 17-year-old when he signed with the WHA’s Indianapolis Racers just three days after they sold Wayne Gretzky to Edmonton. The contract was just for a five-game tryout. But once the team folded, Messier was able to get regular work for the rest of the year with the Cincinnati Stingers. He managed only one goal and 10 assists over 47 games there but made a solid impression while skating on a line with fellow rookie and future Hall of Famer Mike Gartner.

  In the 1979 NHL Entry Draft, the Oilers recognized Messier’s potential and snagged him early in the third round. He had little difficulty making their roster out of training camp and scored his first goal with the team on October 13, 1979, against Rogie Vachon of the Detroit Red Wings. Soon after, he was sent down to Houston for a short spell as a disciplinary measure after missing a team flight to St. Louis.

  “He was far and away the best player in the Central League when he was in Houston,” said Sather. “He was too dominant to keep down there.

  “I don’t think there’s a faster guy on the team,” he continued. “When he’s in full flight he just pulls away from guys … he catches defencemen a little flat-footed by his speed. The only thing he has to do is slow down a little inside the other team’s blue line. He tends to go full out all the time. Inside the other team’s end he could slow down a little and use his strength.”

  While he didn’t set the league on fire that year, Messier garnered a lot of attention from other teams, and they were calling to see if they could pick him up in a trade. The Oilers held their ground, though, and he had some great outings, such as his two-goal effort while taking on the Minnesota North Stars on February 13, 1980. Opponents also took note of his physical play, and he tangled with some tough customers like Kim Clackson and Bert Wilson. In fact, he hit Dave Langevin of the Islanders with a left hook so hard he knocked Langevin’s helmet straight off his head.

  “He was young and you could see the raw talent in him,” said Dave Semenko. “He could go from being the best player on the ice to being the worst. It was just a matter of time before he began to rein it in to become more consistent. He was a young guy learning the pro game. He wanted to do things and make a difference.”

  During the playoffs, Messier showed some glimpses of his potential as a clutch player when he scored in the third game of the opening-round series with the Philadelphia Flyers.

  “My first impression was when he held out in training camp,” said Cam Connor. “I knew he was 18 and I really liked Mark. I didn’t think he’d have the career he had, but the raw potential was there. He had that complete package at 18, but Gretzky was around the same age and really rubbed off on him. If I knew those guys would do what they did, I’d have had them over for dinner more!”

  Kevin Lowe

  As a junior, Lowe became the first English-speaking captain of the Quebec Remparts. The first player the Oilers selected in the NHL Entry Draft, he and the club have a long history that still lasts to this day. His accomplishments on and off the ice as a professional should one day earn him enshrinement in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

  Lowe scored the first goal for Edmonton in their season opener against the Chicago Black Hawks when he flipped a backhand shot past sprawling legend Tony Esposito.

  “I shot it and one of the Hawks, I think it was Bob Murray, deflected the puck. It kind of floated over Esposito,” he said. “The first thing I thought of as I went to the bench was that I wished my mother had been here to see it. Then it dawned on me … it was [the] Oilers’ first NHL goal. I guess I’m in the Oiler record book for good, now.”

  Early in the season, Lowe experienced ligament damage in his ankle and sat out for a month, but he earned accolades from Glen Sather.

  “He’s shown an amazing amount of poise, so early in his pro career,” said Sather. “We turned down two picks from Atlanta to take Lowe. We could have traded our first pick to St. Louis and even obtained Garry Unger. I think Garry certainly has two or three good years in him, but Lowe could turn out to have 10 or 12 good years. It’s better to go with kids. We’ll never trade a first-round draft pick.”

  While Sather never lived up to his promise to never trade a first-round pick, Unger joined the Oilers late in the 1980–81 campaign. On March 21, 1980, Lowe earned three assists as the Oilers took on the Pittsburgh Penguins and he also had multi-point games against Colorado and Montreal during his rookie year.

  Lowe also partnered up with wunderkind Wayne Gretzky off the ice and the pair shared an apartment for many years. The Great One was happy to be sharing his home with such a kindred spirit.

  “Kevin is a super low-key kind of guy, too,” he said. “He’s dedicated to hockey. It was important to me to live with a guy who was similar to me.”

  Kevin Lowe

  Cam Connor

  Connor is one of hockey’s most unheralded tough guys from the 1970s. He was a force to be reckoned with during his time with the Phoenix Roadrunners and Houston Aeros of the WHA. Drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft, he eventually joined the club for the 1978–79 season and was poised to help them to their fourth Stanley Cup in a row when he suffered what was initially thought to be food poisoning at a team meal during the semifinals against the Boston Bruins.

  “I think they mixed me up with Lafleur and gave me his plate,” he joked.

  The problem turned out to be more severe than anticipated and the virus stayed in his system for several days. As a result, he lost 20 pounds over the summer months and had to deal with being selected by Edmonton during the expansion draft. At training camp, he was sent by the team to see an old doctor who was in his early 80s and had seen the problem only once before. The actual cause for the problem wasn’t determined until he underwent a five-hour bone scan.

  “The combination of the virus and dysentery was weakening the muscles in his back. He couldn’t skate full out or work out with us at camp. I really felt sorry for the guy,” said Glen Sather.

  In training camp, Connor was injured when he was knocked into the boards by Lee Fogolin, but he was able to get back to full strength during his time off. He also benefited from a short minor league stint in Houston before getting back to NHL action. He had his first goal of the season against the New York Rangers on January 11, 1980, and a little more than two weeks later, he had a goal and an assist against the Toronto Maple Leafs. During the February 13 game with Minnesota, he earned a pair of assists and also got into a scrap with Ron Zanussi.

  Things seemed to be going well for Connor on March 9, when he got two more helpers against the Philadelphia Flyers, but his time with the Oilers drew to a close two days later.

  “We were in Montreal on a stopover and it was the day of the trade deadline. It was 11:45 and I was about to go out on the ice, and I stop to listen to who had been moved. The first name I heard was Cam Connor. Dave Semenko said my jaw just dropped. I mean how many guys hear about that on the radio? They told me not to go out there. They gave me some of my equipment and that was the end of my time with the Oilers. Eventually, I got a call from John Short, and he apologized to me for not letting me know, but I had already left for the hotel.”

  Soon after, the Rangers signed him to a five-year deal, but he battled injuries and spent a lot of that time in the minor leagues before retiring. In 2011, he appeared on the television program Wipeout Canada and was
the oldest competitor in the athletic division.

  It should also be noted that Connor received some boxing training from a friend in order to compete in the WHA. That friend turned out to be professional wrestler “Rowdy” Roddy Piper.

  Dave Semenko

  The Minnesota North Stars drafted Semenko in 1977, but he decided to try the WHA after starting the 1977–78 campaign with his junior club in Brandon. At the time, the Houston Aeros were also interested in him but declined after they got a negative scouting report.

  “When I played for the Houston Aeros, we didn’t have much of a farm team. Bill Dineen came up to me and asked if I knew Semenko,” said Cam Connor. “He said the Oilers were interested and I agreed to call some friends. I called a guy named Riley Wilkinson and asked him to watch this guy. He called me back a week later and said, ‘He’s god-awful, they should trade this guy.’ When I told Semenko this later, he said ‘Some fucking guy who works for CN Rail determined my hockey future?’ In the end, it worked out for him.”

  In two seasons with the WHA edition of the Oilers, Semenko gained a reputation as one of hockey’s toughest young players. He holds a special place in the league’s history books for scoring the last goal in their final game against Winnipeg. Since the North Stars held his rights, they reclaimed him.

  “I got a call from Lou Nanne when all our rights converted to the teams we were drafted by,” said Semenko. “Deep in my heart, I didn’t really think I’d go there. Fortunately for me, things worked out the way they did.”

  The Oilers ended up making a deal to get him back, and it involved a swap of draft picks that eventually saw them take Mark Messier. Semenko started the season in Edmonton but did not drop the gloves until they faced the New York Islanders on October 23, 1979. That night, he took on two big opponents in Billy Smith and Garry Howatt during the same stop in play.

  “Bugsy Watson warned me to watch out for Smitty, and I’m looking for some big defenceman or something and I saw this goalie skating around,” he recalled. “I didn’t think I had to worry about him. I went into the crease and got a butt end in my eye and I was bleeding. I went to punch him and I left an imprint on his mask and then Howatt jumped on my back. We’ve discussed it at length over the years and never got into each other’s faces after that.”