August 18, 2022 by Eric Friesen

Edmonton Oilers longtime fan favorite Sam Gagner gave the fans in Oil Country a reason to get excited on Sunday, when he posted a picture of an Oilers shirt draped over his stationary bike on Instagram. Per TSN’s Tom Gazzola, the Oilers are looking at signing Gagner to a contract, or professional tryout ahead of training camp.

“I did check in on Sam Gagner and the Oilers, and his third stint with the Edmonton Oilers for Gagner, and I can tell you there’s definitely some legs to it,” said Gazzola on The Oil Stream on Tuesday. “And this is a very real possibility of Sam Gagner rejoining the Oilers. It’s not just a post of an Oilers shirt on his workout equipment after a workout. It’s more than that. So, we could see Gagner in Oilers colours again coming up in a few weeks. And whether or not it’s a contract, or a PTO, I wasn’t told that. But he would be in the fold at camp potentially if it does come to fruition, and I can say that definitely something that has some validity.”

Gagner, who turned 33 earlier this month, spent parts of nine seasons with the Oilers (2007-2014, 2019-2020), tallying 111 goals and 317 points in 542 games. When Gagner arrived in Edmonton in the fall of 2007, he was viewed by many as a future top line player who could help lead the Oilers to playoff success. The former sixth-overall pick never became the offensive star his junior numbers suggested he would be in the NHL, but he has still carved out a successful career for himself.

The London, Ontario native owns incredible hands that that allow him to dangle around opponents in the offensive zone, and pull off highlight reel moves in the shootout. No. 89 has mainly used his hands to create offence throughout his 15 years in the league, but he’s also shown a willingness to the gloves on the occasion. His combination of skill, vision, grit, character and love for the city of Edmonton is what made him one of the most popular Oilers players of his era.

His most memorable moment with the Oilers was on February 2, 2012, when he matched the franchise record for points in a game with eight, scored four goals and recorded his 200th career NHL point in an 8-4 win over the Chicago Blackhawks. He became only the 13th player in NHL history to register eight or more points in a game and first since Mario Lemieux on December 31, 1988. Gagner and Lemieux are also the only players in NHL history to score eight points on all eight of their team’s goals in a single game.

Though best known for his time with the Oilers, Gagner has also played with the Arizona Coyotes (2014-15), Philadelphia Flyers (2015-16), Columbus Blue Jackets (2016-17), Vancouver Canucks (2017-2019) and the Detroit Red Wings (2020-2022), collecting 184 goals and 505 points in 967 career NHL games. Gagner had 13 goals and 31 points in 81 games with the Red Wings last season, while playing a bottom-six, penalty killing role.

The Oilers don’t have much money to spend on another free agent. In fact, the Oilers will have less than $1 million after Oscar Klefbom and Mike Smith’s contracts are put on LTIR, and they still need to sign Ryan McLeod. General Manager Ken Holland will surely try to trade a roster player for a draft pick in an effort to shed some salary. That could open up enough space to bring in Gagner, who would likely be making around the league minimum.

Simply put, Oilers fans would love to see Gagner return to Edmonton for a third tour of duty. Gagner is just 33 games away from 1,000 in his NHL career. It seems only right that he would reach the milestone in Edmonton. And despite closing in on 1,000 regular season games, Gagner has only played in 11 playoff contests, and none with the Oilers.

After enduring so many losing seasons, Gagner deserves the opportunity to play in the playoffs in Edmonton and chase the Stanley Cup.