Sam Gagner Retires

[Drivesaitl]

Always loved Samwise. Good hockey player and even better person. Loved as well that he's one of those individuals that approach the world with a smile, always with a smile. Love people like that. Why not Smile, doesn't cost anything.

enjoy the rest of life Sam. You made a lot of people happy.

 

[OfCorsiDid]

Ah Sam! My favourite Oiler in the DoD era. Dude had absolute jam early in his career. Scoring, Passing, Fighting, first real guy you saw always giving it 100%.

I thought for sure he'd play one playoff game for us last year so if we won he'd get his name on the cup. But it wasn't meant to be.

That 8 point game still lives on as a single point of light in a very dark era. All the best Sam!

 

[PBandJ]

One of the first Oilers picks I truly followed with Cogliano.

Hurts a bit seeing the guys that got drafted as I was coming of age retiring.

All the best in retirement, Sammy!

 

[WaitingForUser]

Part of me wishes he had gotten to play in the Final last year. 8 point night was the best part of the 2007-2015 era.

Still won’t convince me that if he was playing game 7 he wouldn’t have been the spark we needed.

 

[FiveFourteenSixOne]

Congrats Sammy.

I will always love the heart and effort he gave each and every shift.

If only the man had gotten his dad's fast twitch muscle fibers, instead of his mom's.

 

[tiger_80]

I remember when Gags was drafted.

It's a shame that he never got to discover his full potential because of the dysfunction he was drafted into. But even in some dark, dark seasons, with very little to cheer for, he still gave us a solid effort night in and night out.

All the best boss!

I think he was overhyped and realistically achieved most of his potential. Was not a big fan of him as a player, but I have to admit, unlike many players, he will be remembered on the strength of his work ethic. And his 8 point game against Chicago was a rare feat.

 

[Spawn]

Just realized Gagner's draft was the first draft where I was older than the players being drafted.

Damn we all getting old

 

[AnInjuredJasonZucker]

Still won’t convince me that if he was playing game 7 he wouldn’t have been the spark we needed.

I felt certain of this before, during, and after the game. It's like when the new coach was hired at Notre Dame and didn't get how important Rudy was to the team.

Connor should have put his jersey down on Knoblauch's desk.

 

[harpoon]

Thank you Sam.

 

[Messrules11]

Gotta like Sammy, heck of a career.

 

[PositiveCashFlow]

Snowpants

 

[elmeroil]

I was at his 8 point game, what a night that was!

 

[OilerFanInLangley]

He was having his best season as an Oiler, at 1ppg after about 45 games, when Kassian (a Canuck back then) swung his stick around and hit Gagner in the face, breaking his jaw.

He came back from that injury with a full cage and just wasn't effective at all like that, the last half of that season was one to forget.

Kassian had some of the best Oiler moments on a generation - biotchifying Tkatchuk - and one of the worst: that club to the head of Gagner.