The Oilers insist they are still trying (The Decade of Darkness: Part 1) 

-47 minutes -“Part 1” Hell yeah

This series is gonna be a banger. This decade was the entirety of my formative years as a hockey fan. I learned pain early.

Massive Respect for using the Eberle clip without McGuire

With Ganger back and Nuge still on the team those two are the only ones left from the decade of darkness still playing for the team. Kinda interesting.

Thank you for covering this. I became a diehard oilers fan in 2009 (don’t know how) and I legit have been itching to be educated on the decade of darkness. My dad was so hurt by the 06 loss and the Ryan smyth trade that he actually refuses to talk about it even though he’s been a seasons ticket holder since 1986.

This would have been painful to watch if the Oilers weren't currently on a 13 game win streak. I hope the streak is still going when part 2 is released.

I'm not an Oiler fan but damn, was it hard watching that clip of Ryan Smyth after he got traded. Poor dude was utterly devastated.

Excellent analysis. Made me take a reluctant stroll down a bit of a rough memory lane as an Oilers fan. One addition: the Oilers let Glencross go to the Flames without even giving him a call. That guy was fantastic for the Oilers for the second half of that season, and he was even better for the Flames for even longer. Kevin Lowe was too busy whale hunting to even secure an effective player who wanted to play for the Oilers. That kind of garbage was a significant part of the darkness, imo. Again, thanks for the amazing content.

the worst part about the Smyth trade was that they almost re-signed him prior to the deadline, but management for some reason wouldn't budge on the difference between their offer and Smyth's ask, which was reported later to be just $100,000. One hundred thousand dollars kept the Oilers from keeping arguably their most beloved player since the 80s.

Living through this time makes me appreciate what we have even more today. Thanks for the recap, few details I did not know about. Nice work

5:54 - 94# Ryan Smyth was INDEED the heart & soul of the Edmonton Oilers for many years. Smyth was a great leader, a steady rock and always gave his best. IMO it is worse then sad how the Edmonton Oilers have not honored him for all he did with retireing 94#. He could easily have gone to a better team, even a contender with what he had to offer a team, but Smyth was like a loyal soldier and stayed with his troop = 14 seasons of 18 in fact that resulted in 971 season games: 296 goals - 335 assists = 631 pts! All in all, Ryan Smith's 18 NHL season career resulted in: 1,270 games, 386 goals, 456 assists = 842 points. 11 play-off seasons (1 Stanley Cup finals) resulted in: 93 games, 28 goals, 31 assists = 59 points. Beside that during his Oilers years he loyaly represented Team Canada in a lot of international championship tournaments including; - 8 IIHF World Championships = 2 gold medals + 1 silver medal. - 2 Olympics (2002 & 2006) = 1 gold medal in 2002. - 1 World Cup (2004) = 1 gold medal. Again, why oh why is not the Edmonton Oilers honoring Ryan Smyth's services by retiring his 94# - He deserves it more then well! Oh he did not win a cup? Tell that to the Maple Leafs by retiring Salming 21# & 13# Sundin for all there great service. Or the Rangers by retiring Lundqvist 30#, or the Flames retired Iginla 12# and Kiprusoff 34# or the Senators Phillips's 4# and Alfredsson's 11#, or Bruins retired Neely's 8# and O'Reilly's 24# etc. The list could go darn on but the point stands!

This is so incredible to watch. I remember pretty much each of these specific highlights for God’s sake. It’s incredible what we’ve gone through. Thanks for this work!!

Man. I’m an oilers fan through and through. This isn’t painful to me it’s all nostalgia. Especially with recent success

Oh the sting of the Roloson injury in game 1 of the SCF...

I remember watching Smittys goodbye interview on the TV in high school. Teared up then and it makes me tear up now!

You did an amazing job man, huge props. Having to watch those old clips and do research in these teams must’ve been tough. Ain’t nobody wanna watch back that decade of oilers hockey. I’m glad we’re in a much better place now with this team

I struggle to find quality hockey content on RU-vid, these videos are some of the best I have ever seen, can’t wait for part 2

Dude this is crazily detailed. Bravo!

Best thing I’ve watched in forever. Fantastic video bro. Go Oilers Go 😎

This is a fascinating video as an oilers fan who came in at the 2011-12 season, so well put together and so enjoyable. Really looking forward to the next part/s 👍

as a sens fan Pronger going to the ducks was not fun I would have rather he go to any other team

Keep up the great videos man, long form hockey video essays is the absolute best I could ever ask for

Great video bud, great recap and storytelling of those misery days for those who might not know about it. Looking forward to part 2

Great video, looking forward to the rest!

Great video, stoked for part 2!!

thank you for these videos - there is genuinely no other created content in the world that i look forward to as much as these videos that you are making about 2000's hockey :)

Man am I so enthralled by these. Such sad times!!

oh boy, Backstory, I'm a lifelong oilers fan I got this (gift/disease?) from my parents, I was born in 2000 and have no memory of the 06 run, I'm pretty sure my earliest concrete memory was the hall draft but two of the biggest moments from the decade of darkness are gagners 8 point night and the omark shootout spinoramma, now that I'm living in Edmonton and able to watch the second golden age of oilers hockey hockey. Thank you for trying to pull together the vibes of the decade of darkness lots of people focus on the 06 season but don't talk about the long build to get to today. CANt WAIT FOR PART 2

Outstanding work. Subscribed.

Commenting for the algorithm, been an oilers fan for a long time so I’ll support good content like this happily

I took a hockey hiatus from 2007-2015, so I could focus on life and school. Tuned back in the day Oilers finally won something meaningful: Connor McDavid. Haven't missed many Oilers games since. Thanks for filling in much of the blanks and details to the decade of darkness, as I wasn't following anything and only heard of it. The implosion is quite remarkable, almost Buffalo remarkable.

Awesome video! Can’t wait for part 2

This rocks! Excited for the series

I can't wait for the rest of the series. Can you do a videos of the oilers after the dark decade ? That would be awesome

Actually... Pronger was pronging someone who wasn't his wife. The ultimatum was either he leave Edmonton or she left him and took all his shit. It had nothing to do with her wanting to be somewhere else. And yes I know this for a fact because I know the (then) young woman that was involved quite well.

EDM core is legit, since they are now in one heck of a W streak. (And now they have Corey freaking Perry, too.)

very informative video dude. keep it up‼️

Subscribed...looking forward to Part 2!

Big Kings fan here - I remember when the Visnovsky trade went down and being super upset that him and Cammalleri were getting shipped. Suffice to say that Stoll and Greene adapted well to LA

Glad the youtube algorithm popped this up. Just awesome content brother! Subscribing

Brilliant video. As a life long oilers fan I truly enjoyed this video. Great job!

Great content can’t wait for part 2

Fantastic work

You're *actually* a legend for using the McGuire-less version of the WJC Eberle goal 😂

You deserve wayyyyy more subs. Great video!

That was pretty dope ! Can't wait for part 2

It’s my 6️⃣th decade as an Oilers fan, dating back to the WHeh. Had a season ticket during our Dynasty, moved to the Wet Coast over 30 years ago…from the penthouse to the outhouse, always my team‼️ 🇨🇦

Great video brother !

for my 11th birthday i was at the game ben scrivens had his 59 save shutout in 2014, i remember the oilers had lost 23 of their last 24 or something crazy. i was a huge sharks fan at the time and was so mad 😂😂

Killer video as always!

Good work man this is awesome

Can’t wait for the next one!

Oh brings back memories. I see now why I loathe so much when the oilers lose. Definitely tough times. I’m curious to see with Nail Yakupov. I remember him A lot. Think that’s in part 2. Oh and the shootout wins I remember that now! Anyways great video. Those were hard years after the 06 run. Craziness! Ugh I could go on. Love what we are doing now a lot smarter with signings. But that debatable too. Anyways ever a dull moment being an Edmonton fan. We the north. We don’t need anyone who doesn’t want to be here!

this video is the jinx we needed to win the cup this year, thank you!

Thank you so much Ben for this breakdown of our dismal form during this period.

Oohhh, 22:56 that looks like. Michigan to me. Zegras needs to give Robert Nilsson some credit. What a beautiful goal!

im glad this decade is over and with all the talent we have in Canada i think the cup is coming back here

ugh this video brought back a lot of repressed memories... and theres still more to come

The only reason I ever laced up skates was because of the 2006 Finals run. It is tough to really articulate how special being an 8 year old boy going to school in Edmonton at that time was. The unity in town was unlike anything I had ever seen (or have seen since), it was the first time I had ever seen hockey as truly special and because of it, I laced up and played minor hockey here for about 10 years after the fact. My Dad has long said that the most painful moment he ever had as an Oilers fan from Day 1 was that Game 7 loss, he said he had never felt so gutted as a sports fan. I grew up and stuck with this team throughout that entire decade somehow, I am definitely glad its a memory now.

awesome video man, as a newerish oilers fan this is great way to experience the pain this franchise went through without actually being there 🤣

everytime I see a Ben video in my sub box I get the popcorn ready!

Another great video

Damn dude great video but how long we have to wait for part 2. Watching this is very triggering LOL hard years to be an Oilers fan!

Well done.

Amazing video

Literally the exact second this video ended, I got a notification that we just signed Corey Perry. I’m sure this is a sign of some sort, but I’m not yet sure of what.

I'm a Ranger fan (thanks for the cup 30 years ago, BTW), but I love watching these docs because I'm always curious as to how Hockey teams rise and fall. The conventional wisdom states that you have to tank for high picks, and the rest takes care of itself, but it's of course never that simple or linear. I remember watching the '06 final in a restaurant in NYC. It was a private event organized by a Canadian friend of my wife. this friend's brother happens to be the one who, no joke, approves the trade calls in the NHL (his last name was Ages). Anyway, the place was full of Canadian ex-pats (whom, as a native NYer, had no idea existed in such large numbers in my city!). The scene after the Oilers lost the deciding game was a morgue, practically, 😕

Holy smokes what a video 🔥🔥

too bad i'm already subscribed, because i would've again. great video as always!

This unimaginable pain and hardship will make our impending rise and glory even sweeter

oh yeah this is getting a like just for that intro after the Pronger prologue

I genuinely don't know if anyone has ever loved the Edmonton Oilers more than Ryan Smyth. My all-time favourite Oiler, and it's not even close.

gonna send this to my dad, love from edmonton bro praying mcjesus doesnt leave

Ugh really hard watching this haha wow those were some rough years. Oh God thoughts much worse it got was unreal

Trading smith was the stupidest thing Mr. Lowe ever did! It has put a curse on this team that it may never shake!

Hell ya u never miss 🙏

As a Flames fan (this decade wasn’t much better for us) it was surreal watching the Oilers go from this almost perfect franchise thst always found a way to be competitive to just god awful.

honey wake up new Ben Oakley upload

What an amazing time capsule of my 20's.. Not one single sniff of a playoff game lol. The last nine years have made up for it though.

I forgot how much optimism we had every year before the Taylor Hall years. Was quite a rollercoaster.

Memory lane. I was thinking where I was in my life when all this was happening. The Oilers have come a long way, and so have I.

Excellent video once again. If I may suggest something - the text included on screen to explain little things here and there is somewhat distracting. The raw clips and storytelling are what drive your videos! (in my opinion)

It's amazing how many moves they made that at the time seemed like a good idea that just didn't pan out. I know in the 2010s we'll see some bone headed decisions but their moves here in the earlier years to bolster the team seemed reasonable on paper they just couldn't find the consistency or depth.

You need more subs dude.

The decade of darkness is how I explain why ill always be an oilers fan. I made it through that, nothing will stop me being a fan

Looking forward to Part 2. So many low points that make me look back and laugh. One of my favorite moments was "The Shift". Taylor Chorney and Jason Strudwick stuck on the ice for 3.5 minutes because they couldn't get the puck out of the zone. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VZqpW9KTJXo.html

7:03 I don’t know what’s funnier about that clip. MacTavish pulling out Harvey the Hounds tongue or the shocked disbelief of the mascot 46:52 also using this clip with Pierre McGuire edited out is doing the Lord’s work

we've been through the entire journey, fellas. we were there when they clinched playoffs at the second last game of the year, we were there when we defied the odds and beat detroit, we were there when we went down 0-2 to san jose and thought "ok well its been fun, no one expected us to even make the playoffs"... we were also there when we blew a 3 goal lead in game 1 of the finals... after 10+ years of darkness our patience has been rewarded

That Ryan Smyth trade is the reason why I will never get over my hatred of Kevin Lowe. The fact his name was hung up in the Oilers rafters is a crime. I don’t care if he was a functional player to the Oilers dynasty, what he did as a GM with the organization discredited everything he ever accomplished as a player…

Wow, you forget how much an absolute beauty Ryan smith was until you see this

So umm…whens part 2? I can’t waitttt

These were the happiness years of my life as a kings fan living in Edmonton lol. Got to go a whole decade barely hearing about the oilers and my team won two cups during the stretch. The oilers are such a goofy franchise lmao, just carried by a string of generational talents since day one. Without a Gretzky or McDavid they’d never make the playoffs again

I cannot stand Pronger, the rumours are true, it wasn't just that his wife didn't want to move, it was because he cheated on her while living in Edmonton and she found out.

Time to relive a bunch of painful childhood memories!

Don’t forget about the brown bag movement. 😂😂 remember that???

It's no small secret that Chris Pronger's wife had an issue with him scoring off ice while away

Bro why would you do the weird blackout editing at the 12 minute mark when Stefan misses the empty net? I wanted to rewatch that!!!!

Fuckin Dwayne roloson making simcoe Ontario proud ❤

Never realized how they were in positions to make the playoffs in those first few years of the DoD. I must have repressed the memory of losing 8 of 11 down the stretch

To be honest we’re still in the decade of darkness, just looks a little better. Fire Katz