Game 5, Round 2: Oilers at VGK

He was just a kid, having signed a $1.7 million dollar (that was real money back in the day) personal services contract with Nelson Skalbania. Skalbania was the owner of the Indianapolis Racers of the WHA.

At that point in hockey history the NHA drafted kids at age 20, but the WHA wanted talent and did not care about age. So, one league said ‘we’ve always done it this way’ and lost enormous talents to the rogue entrepreneurs like Skalbania (and Edmonton’s Peter Pocklington).

The WHA was relentless in its pursuit of talent. Every team conducted a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in every corner of hockey. Checkpoints went up at fifteen miles.

Gretzky was the ultimate prize. What’s funny is that not everyone thought he was all that. There were plenty of old-timey hockey people who felt he was too skinny, too frail, and that the big, tough men in the NHL would end his career as it began.

Well. We all know how that turned out. Gretzky was the one who ended careers as his began. You could look it up. An enormous number of players from the 1967+ expansion era retired in the months after Gretzky and those WHA kids arrived in the league.

Gordie Howe, Stan Makita, Bobby Hull, Phil Esposito, Jean Ratelle, Dave Keon, Terry Harper, Paul Henderson, Carl Brewer, Gerry Cheevers, Ron Ellis, Pete Mahovlich, Jean Pronovost and Don Luce were all out of the league within a couple of years.

I believe we are seeing some players in this Oilers-Golden Knights series who are at the tipping point for their NHL careers. They may not know they have reached a crossroads (only Bobby Orr and Sandy Koufax knew) and the individual coda may take some time. I believe it’s here. Now.

Ironically, I’m not talking about the player who is the obvious choice due to age. I think Corey Perry makes a return next season, hope it’s with the Oilers. I’m not talking about Perry. No sir. There are players on both teams who no longer have the boots or the stickhandling skills to play prominent roles.

So, and this is something Perry figured out long ago, the choice becomes retirement or adjustment. Perry adjusted. He’s most often found on a depth line and makes himself useful as well as ornamental in a support role. As important, he stands and delivers when the ask is to play a feature role.

Wayne Cashman was a part of that group above, he lasted all the way to 1983. Perry is the Cashman of the 2003 entry draft (forwards), having outlasted Eric Staal and Joe Pavelski.

Perry wasn’t my favourite player from the 2003 draft (Patrice Bergeron) but I’m glad we all have had a chance to watch him play the NHL game in an Oilers uniform. He is a wily old veteran who outsmarts the kids on the double and shows how it’s done. An amazing player, with eternal fire. Corey Perry is a hockey player to be respected and celebrated.

The Lowdown will set the stage for tonight’s massive game between the Oilers and Golden Knights. We begin at noon, Sports 1440. Kevin McCurdy will be our feature guest, we’ll have Declanations and Path to the Stanley. Join us, won’t you? It all begins at noon. I’m at Lowetide on twitter, in the comments section here and on the Sports 1440 text line at 1.833.401.1440 directly. We can be heard at sports1440.ca; iHeartRadio, Radioplayer Canada, it’s available post-show on apple and spotify, and we tweet it out on X.