Now many moons ago back in 2009 your ol’ pal Wanye tripped over some news at the bottle depot when we found out that Mike Comrie was coming back to the Oilers for a second tour of duty.

Everyone under the sun called us a liar, a dreamer or worse but history ultimately proved us correct. It seems that even now and again a garbage can gets another steak because we have a second bit of news a mere four years later.

Sam Gagner is going to be named the 14th Captain of the Edmonton Oilers.

THE PROCESS

Apparently when the Oilers trade their Captain – which happens all too often sadly – one of their final duties on the way out the door is to weigh in on who should replace them at the helm of the team. Jason Smith begat Ethan Moreau. Ethan Moreau knighted Shawn Horcoff. And now Horcoff put 89’s name in the ring as the man most deserving to be his successor.

Once that occurs the powers that be at the Oilers offices huddle together and discuss the candidate’s worthiness. It seems Samwise has passed the mustard with Katz, Lowe, MacT and Eakins and will be named the C14.

THE THINKING

Sam Gagner is one of those guys who mysteriously gets little love from the OilersNation. A mere 9 months older than our beloved Jordan Eberle he already has 6 NHL seasons under his belt and has fared quite well despite what some folks will tell you.

In 414 GP he has potted 91 goals, 167 assists and 258 points including the fabulous 8 point night back in 2012 that caused a bare bummed Travis Dakin to streak down the freezing streets of Fort McMurray much to the delight of the entire internet.

In many games during the past few disappointing seasons Gagner was one of the few Oilers who kept the foot on the gas all the way to the final match of the season, refusing to mail it in on even the meaninglessest of games. And his leadership didn’t end there – he was also one of the few Oilers who were willing to face the post game media scrums night after night.

And although the Oilers and Gagner’s camp have had trouble reaching a long term contract his three year deal announced on July 22nd was enough certainty to name him the fourteenth Captain in team history.

THE RESULT

With Gagner wearing the C it eliminates the gun fight between Hall, Eberle, Yakupov and The Nuge for ownership of the team. Whose team is it? Effectively this move makes it everyone’s team.

And even more so – the team belongs to Sam Gagner as he joins the likes of Gretzky, Messier, Lowe and Weight in the pantheon of legends as the newest Captain of the Edmonton Oilers.

Maybe we are wrong. We highly doubt it. So how you like him now haters?



