# 2009–10 Edmonton Oilers season

The 2009–10 Edmonton Oilers season was the team's 38th season of play, its 31st as a member of the National Hockey League (NHL). The 2009–10 season was one of the poorest in franchise history as the Oilers finished last in the NHL. The team's 62 points were the second-lowest point total in franchise history (the lowest point total was 60 points obtained back in 1992–93). However, despite the misery endured that season, the Oilers were compensated on April 13, 2010, when they won the 2010 NHL Draft Lottery to pick first overall for the first time in franchise history.
This season the Oilers missed the Stanley Cup playoffs for the fourth consecutive season having not appeared in a playoff game since Game 7 of the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals against the Carolina Hurricanes. This would continue until their 2016–17 season.

## Preseason

* On May 26, Pat Quinn was named as the new head coach of the Oilers, replacing Craig MacTavish. Tom Renney and Wayne Fleming were named associate coach and assistant coach, respectively.
* On June 30, Oilers general manager Steve Tambellini aggressively pursued disgruntled winger and sniper Dany Heatley, who wanted a trade from the Ottawa Senators. A deal was in place that would have sent Andrew Cogliano, Dustin Penner and Ladislav Smid to Ottawa. However, Heatley who had a no-movement clause rejected the trade. Tambellini would eventually give up pursuing Heatley, and he was eventually traded to the San Jose Sharks.
* On September 10, former Oiler Mike Comrie signed a one-year contract worth $1.125 million with the team that began his career. After a six-year hiatus, Comrie was finally able to mend the fences with the Oilers faithful. This was shown in a game against the Florida Panthers when Comrie dropped the gloves against Eric Himelfarb. After the fight, the fans showed appreciation by chanting his name. The Oilers won that game 4–0.

## Regular season

The Oilers allowed 278 goals (excluding 6 shootout goals), the most in the League.

### Divisional standings

Northwest Division :
| | | GP | W | L | OTL | GF | GA | Pts |
| 1 | y – Vancouver Canucks | 82 | 49 | 28 | 5 | 272 | 222 | 103 |
| 2 | Colorado Avalanche | 82 | 43 | 30 | 9 | 244 | 233 | 95 |
| 3 | Calgary Flames | 82 | 40 | 32 | 10 | 204 | 210 | 90 |
| 4 | Minnesota Wild | 82 | 38 | 36 | 8 | 219 | 246 | 84 |
| 5 | Edmonton Oilers | 82 | 27 | 47 | 8 | 214 | 284 | 62 |

### Conference standings

Western Conference :
| R | | Div | GP | W | L | OTL | GF | GA | Pts |
| 1 | z – San Jose Sharks | PA | 82 | 51 | 20 | 11 | 264 | 215 | 113 |
| 2 | y – Chicago Blackhawks | CE | 82 | 52 | 22 | 8 | 271 | 209 | 112 |
| 3 | y – Vancouver Canucks | NW | 82 | 49 | 28 | 5 | 272 | 222 | 103 |
| 4 | Phoenix Coyotes | PA | 82 | 50 | 25 | 7 | 225 | 202 | 107 |
| 5 | Detroit Red Wings | CE | 82 | 44 | 24 | 14 | 229 | 216 | 102 |
| 6 | Los Angeles Kings | PA | 82 | 46 | 27 | 9 | 241 | 219 | 101 |
| 7 | Nashville Predators | CE | 82 | 47 | 29 | 6 | 225 | 225 | 100 |
| 8 | Colorado Avalanche | NW | 82 | 43 | 30 | 9 | 244 | 233 | 95 |
| 8.5 ||||||||||
| 9 | St. Louis Blues | CE | 82 | 40 | 32 | 10 | 225 | 223 | 90 |
| 10 | Calgary Flames | NW | 82 | 40 | 32 | 10 | 204 | 210 | 90 |
| 11 | Anaheim Ducks | PA | 82 | 39 | 32 | 11 | 238 | 251 | 89 |
| 12 | Dallas Stars | PA | 82 | 37 | 31 | 14 | 237 | 254 | 88 |
| 13 | Minnesota Wild | NW | 82 | 38 | 36 | 8 | 219 | 246 | 84 |
| 14 | Columbus Blue Jackets | CE | 82 | 32 | 35 | 15 | 216 | 259 | 79 |
| 15 | Edmonton Oilers | NW | 82 | 27 | 47 | 8 | 214 | 284 | 62 |
bold – Qualified for playoffs; y – Won division; z – Won conference (and division)

## Schedule and results

2009–10 Game Log :
Schedule :

## Player statistics
### Skaters

Regular season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Dustin Penner | 82 | 32 | 31 | 63 | 6 | 38 |
| Sam Gagner | 68 | 15 | 26 | 41 | -8 | 33 |
| Gilbert Brule | 65 | 17 | 20 | 37 | -8 | 38 |
| Shawn Horcoff | 77 | 13 | 23 | 36 | -29 | 51 |
| Patrick O'Sullivan | 73 | 11 | 23 | 34 | -35 | 32 |
| Ryan Potulny | 64 | 15 | 17 | 32 | -21 | 28 |
| Lubomir Visnovsky$^‡$ | 57 | 10 | 22 | 32 | -4 | 16 |
| Tom Gilbert | 82 | 5 | 26 | 31 | -10 | 16 |
| Andrew Cogliano | 82 | 10 | 18 | 28 | -5 | 31 |
| Robert Nilsson | 60 | 11 | 16 | 27 | -17 | 12 |
| Ales Hemsky | 22 | 7 | 15 | 22 | 7 | 8 |
| Mike Comrie | 43 | 13 | 8 | 21 | -9 | 30 |
| Denis Grebeshkov$^‡$ | 47 | 6 | 13 | 19 | -16 | 26 |
| Ethan Moreau | 76 | 9 | 9 | 18 | -18 | 62 |
| Marc-Antoine Pouliot | 35 | 7 | 7 | 14 | -4 | 21 |
| Sheldon Souray | 37 | 4 | 9 | 13 | -19 | 65 |
| Zack Stortini | 77 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 3 | 155 |
| Jean-Francois Jacques | 49 | 4 | 7 | 11 | -15 | 78 |
| Ryan Whitney$^†$ | 19 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 7 | 22 |
| Ladislav Smid | 51 | 1 | 8 | 9 | 5 | 39 |
| Fernando Pisani | 40 | 4 | 4 | 8 | -16 | 10 |
| Steve Staios$^‡$ | 40 | 0 | 7 | 7 | -19 | 59 |
| Aaron Johnson$^†$ | 19 | 3 | 4 | 7 | -6 | 16 |
| Ryan Stone | 27 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 48 |
| Jason Strudwick | 72 | 0 | 6 | 6 | -18 | 50 |
| Taylor Chorney | 42 | 0 | 3 | 3 | -21 | 12 |
| Liam Reddox | 9 | 0 | 2 | 2 | -2 | 4 |
| Chris Minard | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -3 | 0 |
| Colin McDonald | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Ryan O'Marra | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Alex Plante | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Theo Peckham | 15 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -8 | 43 |
| Ryan Jones$^†$ | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -3 | 8 |
| Johan Motin | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 |
| Dean Arsene | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -3 | 41 |
| Charles Linglet | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -5 | 2 |
| Steve MacIntyre$^‡$ | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |

### Goaltenders

Regular season :
| Player | GP | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | Sv% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Jeff Deslauriers | 48 | 2798 | 16 | 28 | 4 | 152 | 3.26 | 1529 | .901 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| Nikolai Khabibulin | 18 | 1089 | 7 | 9 | 2 | 55 | 3.03 | 602 | .909 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Devan Dubnyk | 19 | 1075 | 4 | 10 | 2 | 64 | 3.57 | 579 | .889 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
$^†$Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Oilers. Stats reflect time with Oilers only. $^‡$Traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with Oilers only.

## Awards and records
### Records

* 7 seconds: A new Oilers record for fastest two goals in a game by Sheldon Souray (11:07) and Ales Hemsky (11:14) on November 23, 2009.

### Milestones

Regular Season :
| Player | Milestone | Reached |
| Nikolai Khabibulin | 300th NHL Win | October 6, 2009 |
| Ales Hemsky | 200th NHL PIM | October 10, 2009 |
| Taylor Chorney | 1st NHL Assist 1st NHL Point | October 12, 2009 |
| Jean-Francois Jacques | 1st NHL Assist | October 12, 2009 |
| Zack Stortini | 500th NHL PIM | October 12, 2009 |
| Mike Comrie | 400th NHL PIM | October 19, 2009 |
| Sam Gagner | 100th NHL Point | October 24, 2009 |
| Robert Nilsson | 200th NHL Game | October 29, 2009 |
| Ethan Moreau | 800th NHL Game | October 31, 2009 |
| Ryan O'Marra | 1st NHL Game | November 10, 2009 |
| Dean Arsene | 1st NHL Game | November 16, 2009 |
| Jeff Deslauriers | 1st NHL Shutout | November 23, 2009 |
| Tom Gilbert | 200th NHL Game | November 23, 2009 |
| Ales Hemsky | 100th NHL Goal | November 23, 2009 |
| Colin McDonald | 1st NHL Game | November 27, 2009 |
| Devan Dubnyk | 1st NHL Game | November 28, 2009 |
| Colin McDonald | 1st NHL Goal 1st NHL Point | November 28, 2009 |
| Ryan O'Marra | 1st NHL Assist 1st NHL Point | November 28, 2009 |
| Zack Stortini | 1st NHL Gordie Howe hat trick | December 9, 2009 |
| Robert Nilsson | 100th NHL Point | December 11, 2009 |
| Jean-Francois Jacques | 100th NHL PIM | December 15, 2009 |
| Andrew Cogliano | 200th NHL Game | December 21, 2009 |
| Sheldon Souray | 1,000th NHL PIM | December 21, 2009 |
| Denis Grebeshkov | 200th NHL Game | December 23, 2009 |
| Dustin Penner | 300th NHL Game | December 28, 2009 |
| Steve Staios | 1,200th NHL PIM | December 28, 2009 |
| Shawn Horcoff | 600th NHL Game | January 7, 2010 |
| Patrick O'Sullivan | 100th NHL PIM | January 7, 2010 |
| Sam Gagner | 200th NHL Game | January 14, 2010 |
| Sam Gagner | 100th NHL PIM | January 16, 2010 |
| Denis Grebeshkov | 100th NHL PIM | January 20, 2010 |
| Jean-Francois Jacques | 100th NHL Game | January 22, 2010 |
| Jason Strudwick | 600th NHL Game | January 26, 2010 |
| Gilbert Brule | 200th NHL Game | January 30, 2010 |
| Shawn Horcoff | 400th NHL PIM | February 1, 2010 |
| Alex Plante | 1st NHL Game 1st NHL Assist 1st NHL Point | February 1, 2010 |
| Dustin Penner | 200th NHL PIM | February 3, 2010 |
| Zack Stortini | 200th NHL Game | February 3, 2010 |
| Lubomir Visnovsky | 600th NHL Game | February 4, 2010 |
| Theo Peckham | 1st NHL Assist 1st NHL Point | March 2, 2010 |
| Johan Motin | 1st NHL Game | March 3, 2010 |
| Zack Stortini | 600th NHL PIM | March 5, 2010 |
| Ryan Potulny | 100th NHL Game | March 7, 2010 |
| Andrew Cogliano | 100th NHL Point | March 13, 2010 |
| Gilbert Brule Theo Peckham | 100th NHL PIM | March 15, 2010 |
| Devan Dubnyk | 1st NHL Win | March 19, 2010 |
| Tom Gilbert | 100th NHL Point | March 21, 2010 |
| Dustin Penner | 100th NHL Goal | March 21, 2010 |
| Ryan Whitney | 300th NHL PIM | March 26, 2010 |
| Charles Linglet | 1st NHL Game | April 2, 2010 |
| Fernando Pisani | 400th NHL Game | April 7, 2010 |

## Transactions

The Oilers have been involved in the following transactions during the 2009–10 season.

### Trades

| Date | Details | Details |
| June 27, 2009 | To Minnesota Wild Kyle Brodziak 6th-round pick in 2009 | To Edmonton Oilers 4th-round pick in 2009 5th-round pick in 2009 |
| June 27, 2009 | To Ottawa Senators 7th-round pick in 2009 | To Edmonton Oilers 6th-round pick in 2010 |
| July 9, 2009 | To New Jersey Devils Tim Sestito | To Edmonton Oilers Future considerations |
| March 1, 2010 | To Nashville Predators Denis Grebeshkov | To Edmonton Oilers 2nd-round pick in 2010 |
| March 2, 2010 | To Boston Bruins Cody Wild | To Edmonton Oilers Matt Marquardt |
| March 3, 2010 | To Anaheim Ducks Lubomir Visnovsky | To Edmonton Oilers Ryan Whitney 6th-round pick in 2010 |
| March 3, 2010 | To Calgary Flames Steve Staios | To Edmonton Oilers Aaron Johnson 3rd-round pick in 2011 |
Player signings
PlayerContract terms
Johan Motin3 years, $1.912 million
Alex Plante3 years, $2.625 million
Milan Kytnar3 years, $1.7 million
Jason Strudwick1 year, $700,000
Devan Dubnyk1 year, $700,000
Toni Rajala3 years, 1.9125 million
Denis Grebeshkov1 year, $3.15 million
Liam Reddox1 year, $515,000
Ryan Potulny1 year, $595,000
Ladislav Smid2 years, $2.7 million
Gilbert Brule1 year, $800,000
Ryan Stone1 year, $600,000
Rob Schremp1 year, $715,000
Jeff Petry2 years, $1.7 million
Charles Linglet1 year, $500,000
Linus Omark2 years, $1.75 million
Chris VandeVelde2 years, $1.49 million :

## Draft picks

Edmonton's picks at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft in Montreal, Quebec.
| Round | # | Player | Position | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
| 1 | 10 | Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson | (LW) | Sweden | Timra IK (Elitserien) |
| 2 | 40 | Anton Lander | (C) | Sweden | Timra IK (Elitserien) |
| 3 | 71 | Troy Hesketh | (D) | United States | Minnetonka High School (USHS-MN) |
| 3 | 82 (from Philadelphia) | Cameron Abney | (RW) | Canada | Everett Silvertips (WHL) |
| 4 | 99 (from Dallas via Tampa Bay and Minnesota) | Kyle Bigos | (D) | United States | Vernon Vipers (BCHL) |
| 4 | 101 | Toni Rajala | (RW) | Finland | Ilves (SM-liiga) |
| 5 | 133 (from Minnesota) | Olivier Roy | (G) | Canada | Cape Breton Screaming Eagles (QMJHL) |

## Farm teams

* The Oilers are affiliated with the Springfield Falcons of the American Hockey League and the Stockton Thunder of the ECHL.