page_title: Edmonton Oilers
section_title: Collapse and ten-year playoff drought (2006–2015)
hierarchical_section_title: Edmonton Oilers / History / Collapse and ten-year playoff drought (2006–2015)
caption_attribution_description: Ference in 2014.
context_page_description: The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. They compete in the National Hockey League as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference.
  The Oilers were officially founded in 1971 by W. D. "Wild Bill" Hunter and Dr. Chuck Allard. The team played its first season in 1972, as one of the twelve founding franchises of the major professional World Hockey Association. They were originally intended to be one of two WHA Alberta teams, along with the Calgary Broncos. However, when the Broncos relocated to Cleveland, Ohio, before the WHA's first season began, the Oilers were renamed the Alberta Oilers. They returned to their current name in the following year, and subsequently joined the NHL in 1979 as one of four franchises absorbed through the NHL merger with the WHA.
  After joining the NHL, the Oilers went on to win the Stanley Cup on five occasions: 1983–84, 1984–85, 1986–87, 1987–88 and 1989–90. Along with the Pittsburgh Penguins, they are tied for the most championships won by any team since the NHL-WHA merger and also the most won by any team that joined the league in or after 1967.
context_section_description: During the 2006 off-season, many Oilers left the team. Four days after their loss to the Hurricanes, Chris Pronger surprisingly issued a trade request for personal reasons. Pronger was subsequently traded to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for Joffrey Lupul, Ladislav Smid and three draft picks. Several Oilers left via free agency and during the season, long-time Oiler Ryan Smyth was traded to the New York Islanders for Ryan O'Marra, Robert Nilsson and a first-round pick in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft (used to select Alex Plante). However, the Oilers were able to re-sign Dwayne Roloson and Fernando Pisani. Having lost so many players, the Oilers posted a 32–43–7 record in 2006–07, their worst record since the 1995–96 season, and eventually finished in 11th place in the Western Conference. Throughout the season, the Oilers lost various players to injury and illness; at one point, they had 11 players out of the line-up and had to rely on emergency call-ups to fill their roster.
  In 2007–08, the Oilers had a 16–21–4 record after the first half of the season. They improved in the second half of the year, however, going 25–14–2 in 41 games for a final record of 41–35–6. Nonetheless, this was not enough to qualify for the playoffs, as the Oilers finished three points out in ninth place. During the season, Daryl Katz, owner of the Rexall pharmaceutical company, purchased the team from the Edmonton Investors Group. The Oilers announced a restructuring of their hockey operations on July 30, 2008, which saw the promotion of Kevin Lowe to the role of president of hockey operations and was replaced by Steve Tambellini.
  The 2008–09 season saw the Oilers finish with a record of 38–35–9, but that was only good enough for 11th in the West. However, one bright spot during the season was Oilers goaltender Dwayne Roloson, as he became the oldest goaltender to play 60 NHL games in one season. After the season, the Oilers fired head coach Craig MacTavish and hired Pat Quinn as his replacement.
  Roloson left via free agency at the end of the season, and the Oilers replaced him in goal with Nikolai Khabibulin. The Oilers also worked out a trade with the Ottawa Senators for star right wing Dany Heatley, which would have seen Dustin Penner, Ladislav Smid and Andrew Cogliano go the other way, but Heatley refused a trade to Edmonton and was later acquired by San Jose. Off-season moves failed to help the Oilers as they finished last in the NHL during 2009–10. It was also easily their worst season as an NHL team.
  Following the season, Tom Renney replaced Quinn as the Oilers head coach. The one advantage to such a bad season was that the Oilers were able to make the first pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. The Oilers selected two-time Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy winner Taylor Hall from the Windsor Spitfires with their pick. They used the off-season to begin the rebuild of the club around their young talent. Patrick O'Sullivan was traded to the Phoenix Coyotes in exchange for Jim Vandermeer, Robert Nilsson was bought out of his contract and Oilers captain Ethan Moreau was placed on waivers and claimed by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Along with these players, several others were allowed to enter free agency, including Mike Comrie, Marc-Antoine Pouliot and Ryan Potulny. Also during the off-season, radio announcer Rod Phillips announced his retirement. Phillips had been the Oilers' play-by-play announcer since 1973–74. Phillips would call ten specific games in 2010–11 before calling it quits. The 2010–11 Oilers season would be documented in the series Oil Change.
  The 2010–11 season would bring a new look to the Edmonton Oilers line-up, when Shawn Horcoff was selected to succeed Ethan Moreau as team captain. Horcoff had become the Oilers longest-serving player by this point. Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle and Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson would all make their NHL debuts for the team. Despite the influx of their young talent, Edmonton would still find themselves at the bottom of the standings. In an attempt to gain valuable prospects and draft picks, Dustin Penner was tra
caption: Andrew Ference played with the Oilers from 2013 to 2016. He was named team captain in 2013.
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