# 2008–09 Edmonton Oilers season

The 2008–09 Edmonton Oilers season was the team's 37th season of play, 30th as a member of the National Hockey League (NHL). Nonetheless, the Oilers celebrated their 30th anniversary.

## Pre-season

* The NHL Board of Governors on June 18 approved the sale of the Edmonton Oilers. All 34 members of the Edmonton Investors Group agreed in February to sell the club for $200 million to Rexall pharmacy magnate Daryl Katz. The new owner has promised to keep the team in Edmonton and pursue getting a new arena to replace Rexall Place.
* On July 31, the Edmonton Oilers promoted Kevin Lowe to become president of hockey operations. They also announced that they have hired Steve Tambellini as their new general manager, and had also moved Kevin Prendergast, who was the vice-president of hockey operations, and named him the new assistant general manager.
* On Friday August 8, the Edmonton Oilers announced that Rick Olczyk has been promoted to the position of assistant general manager and director of hockey operations/legal affairs.

## Regular season
### Divisional standings

Northwest Division :
| | | GP | W | L | OTL | GF | GA | Pts |
| 1 | y – Vancouver Canucks | 82 | 45 | 27 | 10 | 246 | 220 | 100 |
| 2 | Calgary Flames | 82 | 46 | 30 | 6 | 254 | 248 | 98 |
| 3 | Minnesota Wild | 82 | 40 | 33 | 9 | 219 | 200 | 89 |
| 4 | Edmonton Oilers | 82 | 38 | 35 | 9 | 234 | 248 | 85 |
| 5 | Colorado Avalanche | 82 | 32 | 45 | 5 | 199 | 257 | 69 |

### Conference standings

Western Conference :
| R | | Div | GP | W | L | OTL | GF | GA | Pts |
| 1 | p – San Jose Sharks | PA | 82 | 53 | 18 | 11 | 257 | 204 | 117 |
| 2 | y – Detroit Red Wings | CE | 82 | 51 | 21 | 10 | 295 | 244 | 112 |
| 3 | y – Vancouver Canucks | NW | 82 | 45 | 27 | 10 | 246 | 220 | 100 |
| 4 | Chicago Blackhawks | CE | 82 | 46 | 24 | 12 | 264 | 216 | 104 |
| 5 | Calgary Flames | NW | 82 | 46 | 30 | 6 | 254 | 248 | 98 |
| 6 | St. Louis Blues | CE | 82 | 41 | 31 | 10 | 233 | 233 | 92 |
| 7 | Columbus Blue Jackets | CE | 82 | 41 | 31 | 10 | 226 | 230 | 92 |
| 8 | Anaheim Ducks | PA | 82 | 42 | 33 | 7 | 245 | 238 | 91 |
| 8.5 ||||||||||
| 9 | Minnesota Wild | NW | 82 | 40 | 33 | 9 | 219 | 200 | 89 |
| 10 | Nashville Predators | CE | 82 | 40 | 34 | 8 | 213 | 233 | 88 |
| 11 | Edmonton Oilers | NW | 82 | 38 | 35 | 9 | 234 | 248 | 85 |
| 12 | Dallas Stars | PA | 82 | 36 | 35 | 11 | 230 | 257 | 83 |
| 13 | Phoenix Coyotes | PA | 82 | 36 | 39 | 7 | 208 | 252 | 79 |
| 14 | Los Angeles Kings | PA | 82 | 34 | 37 | 11 | 207 | 234 | 79 |
| 15 | Colorado Avalanche | NW | 82 | 32 | 45 | 5 | 199 | 257 | 69 |
bold – qualified for playoffs, y – division winner, p – Presidents' Trophy winner CE – Central Division, NW – Northwest Division, PA – Pacific Division

## Schedule and results

2008–09 Game Log :
Schedule :

## Playoffs

The Oilers failed to qualify for the playoffs for the third consecutive season.

## Player statistics
### Skaters

Regular season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Ales Hemsky | 72 | 23 | 43 | 66 | +1 | 32 |
| Sheldon Souray | 81 | 23 | 30 | 53 | +1 | 98 |
| Shawn Horcoff | 80 | 17 | 36 | 53 | +7 | 39 |
| Tom Gilbert | 82 | 5 | 40 | 45 | +6 | 26 |
| Sam Gagner | 76 | 16 | 25 | 41 | -1 | 51 |
| Denis Grebeshkov | 72 | 7 | 32 | 39 | +12 | 38 |
| Andrew Cogliano | 82 | 18 | 20 | 38 | -6 | 22 |
| Dustin Penner | 78 | 17 | 20 | 37 | +7 | 61 |
| Lubomir Visnovsky | 50 | 8 | 23 | 31 | +6 | 30 |
| Robert Nilsson | 64 | 9 | 20 | 29 | +1 | 26 |
| Erik Cole$^‡$ | 63 | 16 | 11 | 27 | -3 | 63 |
| Kyle Brodziak | 79 | 11 | 16 | 27 | +4 | 21 |
| Ethan Moreau | 77 | 14 | 12 | 26 | 0 | 133 |
| Marc-Antoine Pouliot | 63 | 8 | 12 | 20 | +1 | 23 |
| Fernando Pisani | 38 | 7 | 8 | 15 | -1 | 14 |
| Steve Staios | 80 | 2 | 12 | 14 | -5 | 92 |
| Liam Reddox | 46 | 5 | 7 | 12 | -6 | 10 |
| Ales Kotalik$^†$ | 19 | 7 | 4 | 11 | +2 | 6 |
| Zack Stortini | 52 | 6 | 5 | 11 | -3 | 181 |
| Ladislav Smid | 60 | 0 | 11 | 11 | -6 | 57 |
| Jason Strudwick | 71 | 2 | 7 | 9 | -4 | 60 |
| Patrick O'Sullivan$^†$ | 19 | 2 | 4 | 6 | -7 | 12 |
| Rob Schremp | 4 | 0 | 3 | 3 | +2 | 2 |
| Gilbert Brule | 11 | 2 | 1 | 3 | -3 | 12 |
| Ryan Potulny | 8 | 0 | 3 | 3 | +2 | 0 |
| Steve MacIntyre | 22 | 2 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 40 |
| Jean-Francois Jacques | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 |
| Jesse Boulerice | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tim Sestito | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Theo Peckham | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 59 |
| Taylor Chorney | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -4 | 0 |

### Goaltenders

Regular season :
| Player | GP | Min | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV | Sv% | SO |
| Dwayne Roloson | 63 | 3596 | 28 | 24 | 9 | 166 | 2.77 | 1953 | 1787 | .915 | 1 |
| Mathieu Garon$^‡$ | 15 | 814 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 43 | 3.17 | 408 | 365 | .895 | 0 |
| Jeff Deslauriers | 10 | 539 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 30 | 3.34 | 302 | 272 | .901 | 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

* 39 Years, 177 Days: an NHL record for the oldest goaltender ever played 60 games or more in a season by Dwayne Roloson.
** 39 Years, 170 Days: A new NHL record for the oldest goaltender ever played 60 games or more in a season by Dwayne Roloson on March 31, 2009.
* 36: Oilers record for most consecutive starts by Dwayne Roloson.
** 21: A new Oilers record for most consecutive starts by Dwayne Roloson on March 7, 2009.

### Milestones

Regular Season :
| Player | Milestone | Reached |
| Dustin Penner | 100th NHL Point | October 12, 2008 |
| Lubomir Visnovsky | 500th NHL Game | October 12, 2008 |
| Steve MacIntyre | 1st NHL Game | October 15, 2008 |
| Jeff Deslauriers | 1st NHL Game 1st NHL Win | October 17, 2008 |
| Sheldon Souray | 200th NHL Point | October 17, 2008 |
| Kyle Brodziak | 100th NHL Game | October 18, 2008 |
| Dwayne Roloson | 400th NHL Game | October 22, 2008 |
| Ladislav Smid | 100th NHL PIM | October 22, 2008 |
| Tom Gilbert | 100th NHL Game | October 23, 2008 |
| Ales Hemsky | 200th NHL Assist | October 23, 2008 |
| Zack Stortini | 100th NHL Game | October 25, 2008 |
| Jeff Deslauriers | 1st NHL Assist 1st NHL Point | November 9, 2008 |
| Jason Strudwick | 500th NHL Game | November 10, 2008 |
| Ethan Moreau | 900th NHL PIM | November 15, 2008 |
| Liam Reddox | 1st NHL Goal 1st NHL Point | November 15, 2008 |
| Andrew Cogliano | 100th NHL Game | November 17, 2008 |
| Dustin Penner | 200th NHL Game | November 18, 2008 |
| Shawn Horcoff | 500th NHL Game | November 20, 2008 |
| Tim Sestito | 1st NHL Game | November 26, 2008 |
| Sam Gagner | 100th NHL Game | November 29, 2008 |
| Marc-Antoine Pouliot | 100th NHL Game | November 29, 2008 |
| Shawn Horcoff | 300th NHL Point 1st NHL Gordie Howe hat trick | November 29, 2008 |
| Steve Staios | 1,100th NHL PIM | November 29, 2008 |
| Rob Schremp | 1st NHL Assist 1st NHL Point | December 3, 2008 |
| Liam Reddox | 1st NHL Assist | December 16, 2008 |
| Jason Strudwick | 700th NHL PIM | December 22, 2008 |
| Ales Hemsky | 300th NHL Point | December 26, 2008 |
| Lubomir Visnovsky | 300th NHL Point | December 28, 2008 |
| Sheldon Souray | 900th NHL PIM | December 30, 2008 |
| Shawn Horcoff | 200th NHL Assist | January 3, 2009 |
| Zack Stortini | 400th NHL PIM | January 3, 2009 |
| Erik Cole | 300th NHL Point | January 13, 2009 |
| Steve MacIntyre | 1st NHL Goal 1st NHL Point | January 13, 2009 |
| Steve Staios | 800th NHL Game | January 15, 2009 |
| Mathieu Garon | 200th NHL Game | January 16, 2009 |
| Ethan Moreau | 1st NHL Hat-trick | January 18, 2009 |
| Ales Hemsky | 400th NHL Game | February 26, 2009 |
| Jean-Francois Jacques | 1st NHL Goal 1st NHL Point | March 3, 2009 |
| Sheldon Souray | 600th NHL Game | March 17, 2009 |
| Sam Gagner | 1st NHL Hat-trick | March 19, 2009 |
| Ladislav Smid | 200th NHL Game | March 26, 2009 |
| Ethan Moreau | 1,000 NHL PIM | March 27, 2009 |
| Patrick O'Sullivan | 200th NHL Game | March 27, 2009 |

## Transactions

The Oilers have been involved in the following transactions during the 2008–09 season.

### Trades

| Date | Details | Details |
| June 6, 2008 | To Philadelphia FlyersDanny Syvret | To Edmonton OilersRyan Potulny |
| June 29, 2008 | To Los Angeles KingsJarret Stoll Matt Greene | To Edmonton OilersLubomir Visnovsky |
| July 1, 2008 | To Carolina HurricanesJoni Pitkanen | To Edmonton OilersErik Cole |
| July 1, 2008 | To Columbus Blue JacketsRaffi Torres | To Edmonton OilersGilbert Brule |
| January 29, 2009 | To Pittsburgh PenguinsMathieu Garon | To Edmonton OilersDany Sabourin Ryan Stone 4th round pick in 2011 |
| March 4, 2009 | To Buffalo Sabres2nd round pick in 2009 | To Edmonton OilersAles Kotalik |
| March 4, 2009 | To Carolina HurricanesErik Cole 5th round pick in 2009 | To Edmonton OilersPatrick O'Sullivan 2nd round pick in 2009 |
Waivers
DatePlayerTeamRef
September 30, 2008 (2008-09-30)Steve MacIntyrefrom Florida Panthers
November 11, 2008 (2008-11-11)Jesse Boulericefrom Colorado Avalanche
November 21, 2008 (2008-11-21)Jesse Boulericeto Colorado Avalanche
Player signings
PlayerContract terms
Tom Gilbert6 years, $24 million
Robert Nilsson3 years, $6 million
Denis Grebeshkov1 year, $1.5 million
Ryan Potulny1 year, $645,000
Marc-Antoine Pouliot2 years, $1.65 million
Jean-Francois Jacques2 years, $1.05 million
Zack Stortini3 years, $2.1 million :

## Draft picks

| Round | # | Player | Nationality | NHL team | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
| 1 | 22 | Jordan Eberle (C) | Canada | Edmonton Oilers (from Anaheim Ducks) | Regina Pats (WHL) |
| 4 | 103 | Johan Motin (D) | Sweden | Edmonton Oilers | Bofors IK (Sweden-2) |
| 5 | 133 | Philippe Cornet (LW) | Canada | Edmonton Oilers | Rimouski Océanic (QMJHL) |
| 6 | 163 | Teemu Hartikainen (C) | Finland | Edmonton Oilers | KalPa (Finland Jr.) |
| 7 | 193 | Jordan Bendfeld (D) | Canada | Edmonton Oilers | Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL) |