Oilers grab promising USA d-man, but Edmonton's record keeping such players is iffy
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The Edmonton Oilers have drafted and traded for a number of good American defenceman over the years, but they're done a crappy job keeping them in the fold.
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The list of strong U.S. d-men who have played their best NHL hockey with the Oilers is alarmingly short, one name really, Lee Fogolin, who was born in Chicago and played his best hockey for the Oilers Stanley Cup teams of the mid-1980s.
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After that, it gets pretty thin. Jeff Petry, Tom Poti and Matt Greene all had lengthy NHL careers, and all were Oilers draft picks, but the Oilers moved on from each one of them in their playing prime. The Oilers drafted John Marino and Michael Kesselring, but moved on from both players just as they were ready to become useful NHLers, Marino refusing to sign here, but Kesselring moved out in a deadline day trade.
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Of Oilers draft picks from 1979 to 2025, four of the top 15 in terms of NHL games played were Americans (Petry, Poti, Greene and Marino), but not one of them played most of those games for Edmonton.
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Just Fogolin and Gilbert are on Edmonton's Top 15 list for most games played for the Oilers. Ten of the 15 are Canadian d-men, starting with Kevin Lowe, followed by Darnell Nurse and Charlie Huddy.
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Despite this iffy record in retaining top U.S. d-men, the Oilers made sure to grab a promising American d-man in the shotgun deal that saw St. Louis steal away Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway for dimes on the dollar last summer.
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Bowman pressured St. Louis to include an extra third round pick and Chicago-area d-man Paul Fischer, a fifth round pick.
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Fischer wasn't a top pick, but he's got plenty of backers when it comes to his ability, starting with Bowman himself, who saw plenty of Fischer when Bowman was Chicago's GM.
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Said Bowman last August in regards to the player: 'I've known him a long time, he's grown up here in Chicago, I've seen him since he was a kid playing hundreds of games over the years. He went to the US National Team and he was trending really well; he got injured his draft year so probably didn't get drafted where his talent level was… He's a good sized kid, he's got a combination of everything. He's young, he's got areas to improve. I know him well, he's a character kid who will do everything he can to improve.'
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