page_title: Mark Messier
section_title: 1979–1991: Edmonton Oilers
hierarchical_section_title: Mark Messier / Playing career / 1979–1991: Edmonton Oilers
caption_attribution_description: English: Mark Messier in 2016
context_page_description: Mark John Douglas Messier OC is a Canadian former professional ice hockey center of the National Hockey League. He played a quarter of a century in the NHL with the Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers, and Vancouver Canucks. He also played professionally with the World Hockey Association's Indianapolis Racers and Cincinnati Stingers. He was the last former WHA player to be active in professional hockey, and the last active player who had played in the NHL in the 1970s. After his playing career he served as special assistant to the president and general manager of the Rangers.
  Messier is considered one of the greatest ice hockey players of all time. He is second on the all-time career lists for playoff points and regular season games played, and is third for regular season points. He is a six-time Stanley Cup champion—five with the Oilers and one with the Rangers—and is the only player to captain two teams to Stanley Cup championships. His playoff leadership while in New York, which ended a 54-year Stanley Cup drought in 1994, earned him the nickname "The Messiah", a play on his name. He was also known, over the course of his career, as "The Moose" for his aggression and strength.
context_section_description: The WHA folded after the conclusion of the 1978–79 season, and four of the six remaining teams were admitted into the NHL; both the Stingers and the Bulls were not included in the merger and instead joined the minor Central Hockey League. The players were dispersed to teams that had already owned their NHL rights, or allowed to enter the 1979 NHL Entry Draft; being under 20-years-old Messier was eligible for the draft, and was selected in the third round, 48th overall, by the Edmonton Oilers. He refused the Oilers' initial contract offers, a four-year two-way contract or one-year at $20,000 plus an option for a second year, instead wanting four-years at $50,000 per year, but ultimately signed what the Oilers offered.
  During his first year in the NHL Messier had several discipline issues, and at the end of October he missed a team flight and was subsequently re-assigned to their CHL affiliate, the Houston Apollos, for four games. On returning to Edmonton, Messier moved back in with his parents, living at their St. Albert home.
  Messier was a fierce, tough competitor whose intense leadership in the dressing room was as important as the goals he scored on the ice. He was not initially known as a scorer, but his offensive numbers increased steadily over his first few years with the Oilers. In 1981–82, he registered his only 50-goal season. For most of his tenure with the Oilers, he played on a line with Glenn Anderson.
  Initially a left winger (he was named to the NHL First All-Star Team in 1982–83 on left wing), Messier switched to centre in the 1984 playoffs, and the results were spectacular. In Game 3 of the 1984 Finals, for example, with his Oilers trailing the four-time defending champion New York Islanders by a goal, it was Messier's goal on a brilliant end-to-end rush that sparked a comeback by the Oilers. By the end of the series the Oilers had won their first Stanley Cup and Messier had earned the Conn Smythe Trophy, awarded to the most valuable player of the playoffs.
  In 1984, Messier was suspended for ten games for cracking Jamie Macoun's cheekbone with a sucker punch from behind during a game against the Calgary Flames on December 26. Messier was retaliating for having been boarded by Macoun earlier in the game, but the NHL ruled that he had instigated the fight.
  On September 6, 1985, Messier lost control of his Porsche and totaled it by hitting three parked cars. He was later charged with hit and run and careless driving, for which he paid a fine.
  He won four more Cups with the Oilers, 1985, 1987, 1988 and 1990, the last which he captained the Oilers to a five-game victory over the Boston Bruins. Though the Oilers had been a 1980s powerhouse, the 1990 victory, which came two years after Wayne Gretzky was traded away, surprised many.  Messier also won the Hart Memorial Trophy as league MVP that season, edging out the Bruins' Ray Bourque by just two votes, the narrowest margin in the award's history.
  Though Messier was actually under contract to the Oilers until 1993, his agent and father Doug Messier unsuccessfully pressed Oilers President and GM Glen Sather for a new deal in the summer of 1990. After the 1990–91 season, Messier was upset that the Oilers were willing to let Adam Graves leave the team. Messier issued a public trade demand during the Canada Cup tournament saying that he wanted out if the Oilers were not willing to do what was necessary to keep important players. On October 4, 1991, in one of many cost-cutting moves by Edmonton management, Messier was traded to the New York Rangers for Louie DeBrusk, Bernie Nicholls, and Steven Rice.
caption: Messier at an Oilers event in 2016. He was the Oilers captain from 1988 to 1991.
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