The history of the Oilers has become Edmonton’s tale, with a transition from heyday to gloomy years.
Team cemented a spot in the city’s affections while placing Edmonton on the map of hockey.

The Edmonton Oilers and the city it calls home—once dubbed the “City of Champions”—cannot be separated due to the team’s legendary past.

After only receiving tasteful glimpses of playoff hockey during recent fleeting appearances, the city and its hordes of Oilers supporters may now experience the full splendor of the sport for the first time in eighteen years as the Oilers return to the Stanley Cup final.

The franchise is bringing up memories from both its sad eras and its dynasty years as it plays the Florida Panthers.

The Alberta Oilers debuted in the World Hockey Association in 1972, one of a dozen teams that included the New England Whalers, Los Angeles Sharks, Winnipeg Jets and Quebec Nordiques. In 1979, the WHA folded and the renamed Edmonton Oilers joined the National Hockey League.

One of the players on the new Edmonton team was Wayne Gretzky, a 19-year-old who had been playing for the WHA because he was too young for the NHL, which had a minimum age of 20.

“From that point on, the rest is history,” said Zach Laing, from Oilers Nation, an Edmonton Oilers-focused group blog.

“Glenn Anderson, Jari Kurri and Mark Messier and a number of other players were all drafted by the team … and it took them a couple of years before they really kind of found their stride,” Laing said.

In 1984, the Oilers would win their first Stanley Cup. And grounded by that core group of Gretzky, Messier, Anderson and Kurri, the team took home the Cup again in 1985, 1987 and 1988.