A third Edmonton Oilers tenure, no matter the odds, is Sam Gagner’s goal
EDMONTON — Given the circumstances, it makes perfect sense that Sam Gagner is with the Oilers right now. Also fittingly, it will almost certainly take him leaving the NHL team again before he plays for the club one more time.
“It’s a place that feels like home to me. I’ve had a lot of fun being an Oiler,” Gagner said. “I’m excited to be back and hoping for the best.”
The Oilers have already had three preseason games and Gagner, at main camp on a professional tryout offer, hasn’t played in any of them. Don’t hold your breath waiting for an appearance.
Gagner won’t take to the ice in any exhibition contests because he’s still recovering from surgery on each hip — separated by five weeks — the first of which was six months ago.
“There are still certain hurdles that I need to cross before I can really push it and play in games,” Gagner said. “It’s been a really long summer of rehab and a lot of tedious work. I’m proud of the work it’s taken to get to this point, but there’s still a lot of work to be done.”
So, he’s a player in camp on a tryout and can’t truly try out. On the surface, it seems like a waste of time — something few organizations would have time for. Gagner will likely need a stint in AHL Bakersfield just to earn an NHL contract and be a call-up at some point in the season.
But when you look at the extensive relationship between Gagner and the Oilers, it’s not hard to see how another match has been made and Gagner is in the nascent stages of a possible third tenure with the club.
“He felt that this was the best spot for him,” Oilers CEO of hockey operations Jeff Jackson said.
“There’s a lot of familiarity here with Sam as a person. Everyone’s willing to take the time he needs until he’s fully recovered.”
The connection goes beyond that the team is now led by Jackson, the former NHL agent whose first client was Gagner.
Gagner also goes way back with Connor McDavid — Jackson was the agent for both — and has kept in regular contact with several Oilers players.
“He’s so respected by this leadership group,” Jackson said. “He gives us leadership. He gives us depth. He’s low maintenance. Everybody says he’s a pro’s pro, and he is. You can’t have enough of those guys in your organization.”
“I was just trying to find the right fit,” Gagner said. “Obviously, I have a soft spot for Edmonton.”
Drafted sixth in 2007, Gagner was the first of many high draft picks after the Oilers’ magical run to the Stanley Cup Final a year earlier. His addition to the team, followed by other top prospects and three straight No. 1 picks in Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Nail Yakupov, was supposed to usher in a new winning era for the Oilers. That never came close to fruition.
“You learn a lot during those years — how to handle adversity,” Gagner said. “You learn a lot about yourself and what you’re built of.”
Yet Gagner still became one of the biggest fan favourites the organization has had this century. There was his offensive skill as evidenced by his eight-point night in 2012. There was the way he treated people, with the late longtime dressing-room attendant Joey Moss front of mind. And there’s how he became an Edmontonian and married a local, Dr. Rachel Linke.
“Nobody ever says a bad word about Sam,” Jackson said. “Everybody loves him.”
In 2014, Gagner was shipped out to shake things up as the Oilers got Teddy Purcell in return. Gagner ended up in Arizona and began bouncing around from there — Philadelphia, the minors, Columbus, Vancouver, the minors again.
He returned to Edmonton when interim GM Keith Gretzky acquired him from the Canucks in February 2019. The underwhelming Ryan Spooner went the other way, mercifully ending the downward spiral of a series of trades where Ryan Strome begat Spooner and Jordan Eberle begat Strome.
Gagner lasted a year in Edmonton in Act 2, including a four-game stint in Bakersfield under coach Jay Woodcroft. The current Oilers bench boss still sees the value Gagner can bring to a lineup.
Gagner wound up being a cap dump so the Oilers could acquire Andreas Athanasiou from Detroit. Time with the Red Wings and Jets, where he played his 1,000th NHL game last season, followed.
As the years moved ahead, the high draft pick known for his offence found different ways to be effective like killing penalties.
“Sam has played in the league a long time,” Woodcroft said. “He’s gone through different phases in his career. Over the last couple years, he’s found ways to make impacts by being a solid, veteran player — somebody you can rely on in 200 feet of the rink.
“His experiences lend him to have a real good perspective.”
“He’s adapted over the 16 years he’s been in the league,” Jackson said. “He still has really good offensive instincts and vision, but he’s worked hard on all the other aspects.”
All roads have a way of leading back to Edmonton for Gagner, though. He’s excited about the possibility of contributing to what would be the best Oilers team for which he’s played. Gagner has suited up in just 11 playoff games in his career — none with Edmonton.
But a lot must happen for Gagner to play games with the Oilers this season.
Being fully healthy is the most important thing, he said. He then must convince management to offer him an NHL contract, whether that’s through his AHL play or practice work in Edmonton.
Even if those things work in Gagner’s favour, he’s caught in a number’s crunch. The Oilers are planning on carrying no more than 12 forwards for the foreseeable future because of cap constraints, so will have to wait for an injury or two and be at the front of the queue if or when a spot opens.
“I don’t want to rush this,” Gagner said. “I want to make sure I’m healthy throughout the whole year and able to help this group. If that means starting in Bakersfield, I’m certainly open to it.”
“We’re not rushing him,” Woodcroft said. “We have patience.”
At 34, Gagner is older than everyone skating at camp save for Derek Ryan and fellow tryout veteran Brandon Sutter. The odds of him making an impact for the Oilers seem long, but Gagner will be damned if he’s not going to try.
“I still feel pretty young, to be honest,” he said. “I feel like I have years ahead of me. I’m going to see how I feel coming out of this and continue to push forward and hopefully keep going.”
It only makes sense that push is with the Oilers.
