Article content As Craig Simpson gets ready to do the TV commentary with play-by-play man Chris Cuthbert Monday night in Game 7, he’s not only in the broadcast booth, but he finds himself in a unique historical spot as he watches the Edmonton Oilers . Simpson had 16 playoff goals the last time the Oilers had a Stanley Cup celebration in 1990, playing on a line with Mark Messier and Glenn Anderson. And back in 2006, Simpson was on the Oilers bench as a coach alongside his old ’90 teammates Craig MacTavish and Charlie Huddy as that Cinderella team got to the Cup final but lost in Game 7 in Carolina.
There’s your highs and lows, folks. Did Simpson, now 57, think the Oilers would be waiting 34 years for their best shot at a sixth Cup with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the current team’s Gretzky and Messier tag-team and a rising star on defence Evan Bouchard? “No probably not,” said Simpson. “But you know the organization had those difficult years.
..the biggest shock was going those 10 years without making the playoffs, and the ownership situation.
Going that long with no playoffs, that hurts the most for me. This is an organization that right out of the gate was a playoff contender, from their inception. But to have that (no post-season) stretch was the most disappointing.
” “It’s hard to imagine that no Canadian team and not just the Oilers, hasn’t won since ’93. I thought in ’06, I felt it was a team of destiny scenario, the way the guys fought so .
