FEATURE: The Simpson Swap

Lemieux to Messier. In an alternate universe, that could have been the final sequence of play immortalized in the 1987 Canada Cup, but for Craig Simpson, those two names represent a life changing trade that saw him swap two of the game's greatest players as linemates in just a matter of months.
Entering the 1987-88 campaign for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Simpson, who had been drafted second overall by the club a couple of years earlier, felt he was coming into his own.
Although he was still just 20 years old, he already had two NHL seasons under his belt and, after taking a step forward in his sophomore effort, which included moving up in the lineup while Mario Lemieux was out with an injury, Simpson felt it was a critical time in his development.
"I kind of knew what was expected of me now and was really focused on getting off to a good start," Simpson said recently in a telephone interview.
When training camp began, Lemieux was at that fabled Canada Cup tournament. Although his absence was conspicuous, Simpson drew inspiration and motivation from how Lemieux was performing in what would come to be remembered as some of the greatest hockey games ever played.
"It was really inspiring to see the hockey and watching him get an opportunity to play with the game's best players," Simpson said. "We were a bad team in Pittsburgh, he hadn't made the playoffs in his first three years, so to watch him on the stage really motivated me a lot too."

For Simpson, and many others, Lemieux appeared to come back from that tournament a completely different player. It was hard for Simpson, who was only two years younger than Lemieux, not to be in awe of the transformation.
When the season began, the Penguins put Simpson on Lemieux's line. Simpson had always played centre, and while transitioning to the wing was an adjustment, it was made easier by the opportunity to play alongside the superstar pivot.
Through the first 10 games of the season, Simpson racked up seven goals. While it would be easy to attribute the offensive output to some of his newfound playing time with Lemieux, Simpson recalls there were other forces at play.
"An underlying theme throughout training camp, which was also a motivator to me, was that Paul Coffey was holding out in Edmonton," Simpson explained.
As speculation ramped up over if Coffey would be traded, Pittsburgh was frequently cited as a potential destination with the Penguins looking for a dynamic blueliner to complement Lemieux on the backend.
It wasn't long before Simpson found his name among the rumoured players Pittsburgh might have to give up to land Coffey's services. For some, that might have been a distraction, but Simpson used it to fuel his game further.
"My mentality was always in those trade rumours to be the best you can be because it's going to help you either way," he said. "It's either I'm playing so well Edmonton's really going to want me or I'm playing so well that Pittsburgh can't get rid of me."

But as the calendar flipped to November and Coffey still hadn't been moved, Simpson felt that things had been dragging on and if he was going to get traded, he just wanted to get it over with.
When the Penguins went on a Western Canadian road trip towards the end of the month, Simpson felt he was still auditioning. Taking on the Oilers as part of that series of games, Simpson was back at centre and matching up against Messier all night.
"It was almost like here's your challenge to show you can play against a top guy," Simpson said. "I remember almost looking at [Glen] Sather behind the bench and thinking 'enough already, I'm having a good year, so if a deal's going to be done, let's get it done'."
Simpson scored Pittsburgh's lone goal in a 4-1 loss, in what would be his final tally in a Penguins sweater. After picking up a pair of assists the next night in Calgary, Simpson and the team flew back to Pittsburgh.
The next day during practice, he was called into the office of general manager, Eddie Johnston, who informed him that the trade was complete. Simpson, along with Dave Hannan, Chris Joseph and Moe Mantha, were going to Edmonton for Paul Coffey, Wayne Van Dorp and Dave Hunter.
Although Simpson was excited to move on and join a powerhouse team that had secured three championships in the last four years, he was worried about where he would fit. It was one thing playing on the top line in Pittsburgh, where the club had still not qualified for the playoffs since Lemieux's arrival, but it was a different story in Edmonton, where there were six future Hall of Famers on the roster that season.
Simpson was worried he would get fewer opportunities in the star-studded lineup, but head coach Glen Sather quelled his concerns immediately.
"He said right away that 'we brought you here to help us continue to win and to win a Stanley Cup I need you to be better than you've ever been before and I'm going to play you on the left side with [Mark] Messier and [Glenn] Anderson'," Simpson recalled.
Simpson thought it was a brilliant tactic. "He's taking away any excuse I could have for not playing well," he said.
With his new role established, Simpson approached Messier before their first game together to ask him how he wanted him to play. "He just said 'well, in our end, take care of your points and do your job defensively. Other than that, let's just go play'," Simpson said.

Although Edmonton's style of play, particularly its speed and intensity, took some getting used to, Simpson felt right at home among his new teammates.
"One thing about a great team like that is they just embraced me," he said. "Your responsibility is to prove you belong and you're worthy of them opening up their room and arms and making me feel part of the team. They made me feel so comfortable and really gave me every opportunity to succeed there."
While Wayne Gretzky opened his house to Simpson for his first Christmas in Edmonton and treated him like a teammate he had known for years, he still had to wrap his head around taking passes from someone he idolized.
"I remember apologizing so many times he'd set me up on the power play and I'd miss good chances and he would come up to me on the bench and say 'Simmer, don't worry about, just go play. No need to apologize. There will be more chances'," Simpson said.
The graciousness from the Great One really helped Simpson settle in, but it was the instant chemistry he found with Messier and Anderson that really made him an Oiler.
"They commanded such a presence with their puck-handling ability and their speed," he said. "They drove defencemen crazy and cycled so extremely well that I just became havoc in front of the net."
There was just one rule he had to follow. "I was never allowed to carry the puck," Simpson laughed. "My teammates would joke 'Simmer, we don't want you carrying the puck through the neutral zone, give it to those guys'."
While Simpson did his best to stick to that rule, he continued to take advantage of the chaos he and his linemates created for the opposition.
"Those guys were just so talented at making those little plays out of the corner and cycle so effectively," Simpson said. "I really developed a good ability to find the open seam. What was amazing about those guys was that you would be trailing the play and you'd find the open areas and often you'd say, 'if they could only see me,' well, those guys saw you and then the puck would be on your stick."

Heading into his 50th game with the Oilers, Simpson had racked up 36 goals and, combined with his 13 goals from the start of the season in Pittsburgh, was on the cusp of reaching the 50-goal mark when Edmonton hosted the Buffalo Sabres on March 15, 1988.
Six minutes into the third period of that contest, Simpson recalls Anderson taking advantage of a turnover at Buffalo's blue line. Instead of the Sabres taking it down the ice, Anderson capitalized on a mistake and got the puck to Messier.
"He could have easily shot the puck," Simpson remembered. "I just went to the net. Andy was trailing and one of their D was in the middle trying to go down, and Mess just had such patience. He froze the goalie and slid it cross-crease to me for an easy tap-in."
It was Simpson's 50th of the year, making him the first player in NHL history to reach the milestone in a season while splitting time between two teams. And, fittingly, Messier and Anderson got the assists.
Simpson's whirlwind season really came full circle with Edmonton's final game against the Los Angeles Kings. Heading into that matchup, both Simpson and LA's Jimmy Carson were sitting at 55 goals apiece. Just over five minutes into the game, Simpson lit the lamp to pull ahead. Carson was kept off the scoresheet that night, so Simpson finished the campaign with 56 goals, the second-most that year behind none other than Lemieux, who recorded 70 in Pittsburgh.
"I remember talking to Mario and saying, 'I don't think I would have imagined I was the second-leading goal-scorer in the league and to do it with a friend, a guy I started the year with was pretty cool'," Simpson said.
While Simpson was proud of his accomplishments that season, to him, 50 was just a number. "Playoffs are where it all mattered," he said.
But Simpson continued finding the back of the net in the post-season, scoring 13 goals, only one behind Jari Kurri, who led the team in goal-scoring as the Oilers went the distance to win their fourth Stanley Cup in five years.

While hoisting Lord Stanley's mug was something Simpson had dreamed of since he was a kid, even better than wrapping his hands around the silver chalice was the integral role he played in the victory.
"You were on a team with so many great players that not only were you winning, but you felt like you were contributing and that probably meant more than anything," Simpson said.
But one of the memories he still cherishes the most from that first season with the Oilers was when Gretzky gathered everyone at centre ice with the Cup for a photo, inaugurating a tradition that has stood the test of time.
"That picture, when you look from a career standpoint, is one of the greatest things I value," Simpson said. "Wayne never playing there again, his impact on me, his impact on the game. He took such good care of me and was such a big help for me that year."
While Simpson may never be able to top that original photo with Gretzky and the Oilers, it's not lost on him that, in his current role as a broadcaster, he still gets to experience it every year when he works the Stanley Cup Final. Looking down on the ice from the booth as the winning team positions itself to capture that moment for eternity, Simpson always thinks of Gretzky and how he impacted his life.