Sam Gagner Sam Gagner ( born August 10 , 1989 in London , Ontario ) is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre currently playing with the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League ( NHL ) . Playing career . Gagner played midget hockey with the Toronto Marlboros of the Greater Toronto Hockey League in 2004 – 05 . He scored 173 points and was awarded the Buck Houle Award – a Marlboros team award given for outstanding on ice performance and leadership . The same season , he made his junior debut , playing 13 games for the Milton Icehawks of the OPJHL , scoring 15 points . In 2005 – 06 , he joined the Sioux City Musketeers of the United States Hockey League and scored 46 points in 56 games , second in team scoring . Gagner originally committed to play hockey at the college level for the University of Wisconsin , but later decided to play closer to home and play major junior hockey in Canada . Considered a first round talent , the London Knights took him in the fourth round of the 2006 OHL entry draft on a flyer , as his commitment to play college hockey deterred many OHL teams from drafting him . Joined by future NHL stars Patrick Kane and Sergei Kostitsyn on the Knights ' top line in 2006 – 07 , Gagner scored 118 points in 53 games , fifth in league scoring . He also captained Team Burns / Bergeron ( Red ) in the 2007 CHL Top Prospects Game to a 5 - 3 victory over Team Bowman / Demers ( White ) . That summer , he was drafted in the first round , sixth overall by the Edmonton Oilers in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft . On October 1 , 2007 , Gagner was signed to a 3 - year , entry level contract with the Oilers . He played his first NHL game on October 4 in a 3 - 2 shootout victory over the San Jose Sharks and earned his first NHL point , assisting on a goal scored by Tom Gilbert . On October 20 , Gagner scored his first career NHL goal against Miikka Kiprusoff of the Calgary Flames . As the league ' s youngest player in 2007 – 08 , he tallied 49 points in 79 games playing with fellow emerging talents Andrew Cogliano and Robert Nilsson on a combination dubbed the " Kid Line " . During the season , Gagner participated in the 2008 NHL YoungStars Game in Atlanta as part of All - Star weekend and was also named the NHL Rookie of the Month for February . As part of a month - long scoring stretch in which he scored 13 points in 12 games , he also established an Oilers team record for the longest assists streak by a rookie with nine assists in eight straight games . The next season , he recorded his first career NHL hat trick and added an assist for a four - point game on March 19 , 2009 , in an 8 – 1 win against the Colorado Avalanche . On March 9 , 2011 , Sam Gagner severed a tendon in his left hand when teammate Ryan Jones caught him with a skate blade while jumping over the boards Wednesday against the Washington Capitals , Gagner had surgery and was out for the season , already with out leading scorers Taylor Hall , and Ales Hemsky . International play . Gagner competed for Team Canada at the 2007 World Junior Championships in Sweden . He played in all six games as the youngest player on the team , helping Canada to their third of five straight gold medals . Later that year , upon being drafted in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft , Gagner competed in the 2007 Super Series , an eight - game series between Canada and Russia ' s national junior teams commemorating the 1972 Summit Series . He scored 15 points and was named series MVP , as Canada defeated Russia 7 - 0 - 1 in the series . After Gagner ' s 2007 – 08 rookie season with the Edmonton Oilers , he made his senior international debut with Team Canada in the 2008 World Championships in Canada as a reserve . Gagner played in one preliminary game as Canada was defeated in the gold medal game by Russia . Off the ice . Gagner is the son of former NHL player Dave Gagner , who spent 15 seasons with New York , Minnesota , Dallas , Calgary , Toronto , Florida , and Vancouver . Due to his dad ' s career he grew up in Minneapolis , Dallas , Toronto , Calgary , Miami , and Oakville , Ontario Career statistics . International statistics . " All stats amalgamated from hockeydb . com , hockeysfuture . com , and NHL . com "