Gagner still has game Wily vet cracks Oilers lineup after off-season surgery By: Mike McIntyre Posted: 5:10 PM CST Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023

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This article was published 30/11/2023 (1013 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When you’ve been in the league as long as Sam Gagner has — and played on as many teams as he has — paying a return visit to one of your former hockey homes might feel a bit like business as usual.

Winnipeg will always hold a special place for the 34-year-old, whose short but sweet stint last season included skating in his 1,000th career game, being named the organization’s Masterton Trophy nominee and making several lasting friendships.

“It’s a great group of guys,” Gagner said Thursday, a few hours before his visiting Edmonton Oilers faced the Jets. “Winnipeg was really good to me in my time here.”

Truth be told, Gagner thought Winnipeg might end up being the final stop of his career, the result of a debilitating hip injury which shut him down last March after playing 48 games (eight goals, six assists). Given his age and the wear and tear on his body, getting back on the ice was going to be an uphill battle.

“I’ve been through injury troubles in the past, but nothing to that extent, nothing that was going to keep me out that long,” he said.

Rather than hang up the blades, Gagner elected to go under the knife. Not once, but twice, with both hips being surgically repaired. He spent nearly two months on crutches and wasn’t sure what the future might hold.

“The summer, it was just a lot of tedious work. The rehab was long,” said Gagner.

“But you know what, I still felt like I had a lot of game left in me and made the commitment to try to get back. It’s something I was dealing with the last few years, but last year especially as the year got going and we were playing a lot of games. The injuries mounted and I was playing a good amount and it just kind of got to the point where it was tough to manage.”

Just look at him now. Gagner appears in his 10th game of the season with the Oilers on Thursday night, and the 1,025th of his now 17-year professional career which has included two prior stops in Edmonton and ones in Arizona, Philadelphia, Columbus, Vancouver, Detroit and, of course, Winnipeg.

“It’s really, really inspiring,” Jets centre Mark Scheifele said of Gagner’s return.

“I’m close with Gags. Talk to him a lot, talked to him over the summer through his rehab so I know how much effort and work and time for a guy with three kids and a family the work that he put in and that’s credit to him and credit to his family. He’s a really hard-working guy. A guy that loves the game and loves to talk the game.”

Scheifele, along with Jets coach Rick Bowness, said Gagner helped right the ship last season as the team was undergoing a leadership change.

“A guy I miss dearly because we always used to enjoy getting to talk shop, talk the game, and go on the ice together and work on things,” said Scheifele. “So I’m very happy for him that he’s back on the ice feeling good again. Just truly inspiring. Hard work can do a lot and he did a lot of that this summer and coming into this year.”

“I love playing in Edmonton. It feels like home to me now.”–Sam Gagner

Gagner attended Oilers training camp on a professional tryout and was signed to a one-year contract for the league minimum of US $775,000 by the organization that drafted him sixth-overall in 2007.

“I love playing in Edmonton. It feels like home to me now,” said Gagner, a London, Ont. native. “Started my career there, had another stint, and now I’m back again now. Definitely great to be back, great group of guys here and just looking forward to continuing to push.”

Gagner had two goals in his first game of the season a few weeks ago, then scored again Tuesday night in a victory over the Vegas Golden Knights. Gagner is up to 523 career points (195 goals, 328 assists).

“Sam’s been great for us. There’s been a couple of games where he came out (of the lineup), we’re starting to get guys healthy. We’ve got (Connor) Brown coming back, (Mattias) Janmark coming back. To see (Gagner) get that goal the other night, we’re very happy for him. The bench was really excited,” said Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch.

“I see a player who makes other players smarter. He’s maybe not as fast as he used to be, but he can still shoot the puck, he can score. All of the goals I’ve seen in practice, he’s probably the leading goal scorer because he shoots to score. Ultimately, he knows the position, positional play, he reads it really well but he can also play with smart hockey players because he can find them and get them the puck.”

Gagner has continued to keep a close eye on things in Winnipeg and said he was thrilled to see Scheifele and goaltender Connor Hellebuyck sign seven-year contract extensions prior to training camp.

“You get the sense as you play with those guys for a year how much they’re committed to this city and the organization. I was happy for them, I was happy for the Jets,” said Gagner. “They’re two franchise cornerstones that you can build around. It was definitely great to see.”

So, too, was the appointment of Adam Lowry as the new Winnipeg captain.

“Whatever you need in a game he kind of understands what’s needed and goes out and does it,” said Gagner.

“Whether that be creating offence or checking. He plays against the top lines and does a great job and if he needs to stand up for teammates, he does that as well. I think from an on-ice perspective he’s a great choice and from an off-ice perspective he’s a guy that really has a great understanding of the mood of the team and where guys are at individually and tries to check in with where guys are.”

Of course, Gagner’s main priority is an Edmonton team that many viewed as a Stanley Cup favourite but fizzled out of the gate, recently underwent a coaching change and is now desperately trying to play catch-up in the Western Conference.

“It happens at times during seasons, but it’s always kind of exacerbated more when it happens at the start,” he said.

“But you know, I think for the most part we’ve liked how we’ve played. There’s areas throughout the year that haven’t been to our standard that we’ve wanted to clean up. I think we’re starting to get to that point now. We’re finishing, so that always helps. We’re going to keep pushing forward here. A little adversity never hurt. We’re in a good direction now and just have to keep going.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg