Published Oct 26, 2023 • 6 minute read
When you ask Edmonton Oilers’ newest Wall of Famer Charlie Huddy if he feels blessed to see his name on the Stanley Cup five times, one of only seven Oilers players who can lay claim to that, he doesn’t miss a beat.
“Did it ever get old? No. It’s an honour and people don’t realize how hard it is,” he said. “I remember when I went to L.A. (after Edmonton) and was fortunate enough to get to the finals with them in ’93, I would be seeing Dave Taylor, who had played 18 or 19 year there … and he had never been that far. Same with Luc Robitaille in L.A. Just to see their faces (joy).”
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Huddy was one of the brightest faces on their five Cups.
Huddy, Kevin Lowe and Randy Gregg on defence. Mark Messier, Jari Kurri and Glenn Anderson at forward, Grant Fuhr in goal. The seven with five rings.
“I always thought I was the reason Charlie won the first three Cups here, but I guess not. I left (traded to Pittsburgh) and he won two more,” Coffey kidded.
And now, Huddy’s name is on Oilers Hall of Fame wall at Rogers Place, along with Doug Weight this year, and Ryan Smyth and Lee Fogolin in 2022.
Heady stuff for a guy who was never drafted, signing here as a free-agent for the $5,000 signing bonus GM Glen Sather was offering his agent Gus Badali, who was also Wayne Gretzky’s before Mike Barnett came on the scene.
“It was sad at the time (going through six rounds of the 1979 draft without hearing his name), but maybe my junior career wasn’t that great,” Huddy said. “I had some options … my agent was shopping me around and had three or four teams who were interested, but I chose Edmonton. There were some older guys there then and I thought, in three or four years, maybe I could come up from the minors.”
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Huddy wound up being the perfect partner for Coffey.
Huddy, a left-shot who played his offside on the right to perfection, would put those passes for Coffey on a tee so he could wheel up ice, and Coffey jokingly would throw a few into Huddy’s feet. Just because.
“I was fortunate to play with Paul a long time. We all know how Paul could skate and get into the offence and my job was to stay at the other end,” said Huddy. “Every now and then he would let me carry the puck but I didn’t do very much with it. I would get an assist every now and then with the goals he was scoring.”
What made Huddy, who was later an assistant coach here with Billy Moores and Craig Simpson under head man Craig MacTavish, so good as a player? We’ll let former Oiler coach/GM Glen Sather tell it. Huddy learned quickly what being a pro was all about, and was the ultimate team player.
“He was 25 pounds overweight at his first training camp in Jasper, a little on the heavy side at first (Sather sent him to the minors) but he worked hard,” said Sather, with Huddy offering a mild rebuttal on Sather’s weight calculation.
“Uh, I don’t think it was 25 pounds,” Huddy said. “But the year I didn’t get drafted, I had a bursa (sac) taken off my knee and didn’t get to work out a lot in the summer. No excuse but I thought training camp was six weeks long and you were out (on the ice) twice a day. Camp was for getting into shape. You know what Slats is like. But it was all fun.”
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“Charlie was always a good skater. He was the perfect complement for Coffey. He was always looking to feed Paul. He was always backing up Paul and he gave Paul the room to do what he could do,” Sather said.
“Charlie was a good, good player for us.”
He was a staggering plus-247 in his Oilers career.
“He was a younger version of Lee Fogolin. Married at a young age, a steady, steady player. The rest of us would show up at the rink hung-over…I mean Charlie would also participate, but he and Fogey were the foundational guys,” former Oiler Kevin Lowe said.
It is true that Coffey told Huddy after a call-up from the farm, that he would be best served looking after both corners in practices while Coffey stayed in front of the net.
“He said I would get noticed by Slats, who would see how hard I was working. I didn’t know it meant the games too,” Huddy said with a laugh.
Huddy could skate and he could defend, and he could keep pucks in for the big guns in the attacking end, a special skill.
“He could pull the puck off the wall like nothing,” Sather said. “He may be the best guy playing his off side on his point that I’ve ever seen.”
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“He was unreal at doing that. I couldn’t do it,” Coffey said.
“I only got hit in the face a few times,” kidded Huddy.
“Actually it was easier playing my offside (to keep puck in off the glass) because I could get right up against the boards,” said Huddy. “Funny thing is when I went to L.A., and Barry Melrose (then the coach) they had me playing the (more normal) left side. I had trouble with it at first.”
Huddy didn’t have much trouble here, once he was a regular though.
“From Day 1 he did everything to dig in and I don’t mean that in a bad way. He didn’t hit but he played the body, right? Me? Not so much,” Coffey deadpanned. “You couldn’t get around him (attacking player). He was undrafted, unappreciated, all un everything, until he put his skates on. It was a pleasure to play with him. We would be up 5-1 in a game and I would throw a knuckler (pass) into his feet (for fun).”
He did have some rough nights in his nine full seasons with the Oilers.
But very, very few, and one with extenuating circumstances.
“One night in Toronto, (Miro) Frycer scored four goals on him. He burnt Charlie every time. Wayne was saying ‘Charlie you can’t skate, what’s going on?’ Coffey said.
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“Turns out, Charlie was lacing up his skates before the game and an eyelet popped out. He only had one pair of skates with him, but Mess had a second pair and gave them to Charlie. They were a size and a half bigger. Charlie rolled three rolls of white tape around them, but he couldn’t skate.
“After the game, Slats threw $200 or $300 on the table (in the Oilers dressing room) and said ‘stuff happens, go out and have a good time.’ So we did. We got back to our rooms and there was the button flashing on the phone.”
“Bus leaves at 5:30, on the ice at 6:15 at the Gardens. So we get to the rink and we’re going up and back (skating), blueline to blueline, and Slats is yelling ‘all the way Huddy, all the way,’’’ Coffey said.
A little tickle for a rare off night for Huddy.
“Great player, he could have played on any strong (NHL) team. Super strong defensively and underrated offensively. Didn’t he score 20 goals one year?” Lowe asked.
Yes he did, in 1982-83.
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“How much would a 20-goal defenceman get today? Fifteen million?” Lowe asked former Oilers and current Minnesota GM Bill Guerin, in town for the ceremony Thursday night.
“A gazillion,” Guerin kidded.
“I think I made $160,000 when I did that,” Huddy said.
So, yes, he had hands to go with the name on the Cups and now the name and number 22 on the Oilers Wall of Fame.
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