On November 1st, 1971 the Edmonton Oilers founded their professional hockey team in Edmonton Alberta, but they didn't play their first season until 1972, when they were one of the first 12 teams playing in the WHA (World Hockey Association) They ended up as one of the four WHA teams who merged with the NHL in 1979. They went on to win the Stanley cup five times from 1983-1990. That is still the most Stanley cups anybody has won since the WHA-NHL merger. It is also the most Stanley cups won  by a team that joined the NHL since 1967. Because of their success in the 80's, the hockey hall of fame has honored them with Dynasty Status. 

​

November 1st 1979, the Edmonton Oilers were one of the 12 founding WHA teams. Bill Hunter, the original team owner, chose the "Oilers" as the name for the WHA team. People started watching the Oilers play because of players such as team captain Al Hamilton, goaltender Dave Dryden and forwards Blair MacDonald and Bill Flett. Although, in 1976, the team got forward Glen Sather who was named player-coach late in the season. He was then a full time coach after the season. He would also be coach or general manager for the next 23 years. The same year, the team was bought by wealthy entrepreneur Peter Pocklington. In 1978 Pocklington got under-age Wayne Gretzky to join the team.

​

The Oilers joined the NHL  in 1979-1980, along with the Hartford Whalers, Quebec Nordiques and the Jets during the WHA-NHL merger. In order to keep Gretzky Pocklington signed him to a 21 year personal services contract which forced the NHL to allow the Oilers to keep Gretzky. In 1980-1981 Gretzky started to set NHL records, such as most assists and most points. Within only three years, Sather and scout Barry Fraser drafted many important players such as, Mark Messier, Glenn Anderson, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, Kevin Lowe, Grant Fuhr and Andy Moog. 

​

In 1981-1982 the Oilers started to do better, finishing just second overall. Grant Fuhr became the starting goaltender and set a rookie record for going 23 straight games undefeated. Gretzky however, started setting single season records becoming the first player in NHL history to get 200 points and getting 92 goals. By doing that, he helped the Oilers become the first team to score 400 points in a single season. Which happened 5 years in a row.

​

In 1983-1984, they finished first overall, getting a franchise record for scoring 119 points in 57 games. They were the first team to have three players score 50 goals, Gretzky, Kurri and Anderson. That year the Oilers got an NHL record for scoring 446 goals as a team. They then became the first former WHA team to win the Stanley cup. In 1984-1985, Gretzky became the youngest player in history to score 1000 points, they then went on to win the Stanley cup for the second year in a row. 

​

In 1985-1986 the Oilers were the top team during the regular season, allowing them to win the inaugural Presidents trophy. Gretzky, Kurri and Anderson scored 50 goals for a second time. Kurri however, led the NHL in goals with 68 and got 131 points. Paul Coffey, who scored 48 goals, set a record for the most goals scored by a defenceman. Gretzky set a couple of records aswell, one for assists with 163 and one for points with 215. Sadly, they did not win their 3rd straight Stanley cup. 

​

During the years that the Oilers were the top team they didn't do a very good job in the draft, the younger players didn't have enough time to develop, so they weren't as experienced as they should have been when all  of the superstars left the team. They did however manage to make it to the conference finals for a couple of years before they started to struggle. In the 1992-1993 season, they didn't make it to the playoffs for the first time as an NHL team. Ever since then, they haven't been doing as good and they haven't won a Stanley cup since then.