OILERS HOF: Unheralded Huddy

EDMONTON, AB – “Charlie was to me just one of those guys – undrafted, underrated, under-everything – except when he put his skates on,” Hall of Famer Paul Coffey said.

“He didn't skate well, but he could skate.”

“I didn't take the body at all, and Charlie didn't take the body, but you could never get around him.”

“He was just one of those guys that played the game the right way, and it was always a pleasure for me to play with him as a partner because we had such a good time on the ice – whether it be us with a 5-1 lead or me throwing a knuckler into his feet purposely just to see if he could handle it."

Often unheralded are the roles of players who lined up alongside some of the greats like Paul Coffey, and Charlie Huddy was often responsible for picking up the Hall of Famer’s slack when it came to the defensive side of the game – beginning during the 1980-81 season when he first stepped on the ice with the Blue & Orange.

“I think I was just up for a couple of games and was talking to Coff and he said: ‘If you really want to impress the coaches, show them how hard you can work.’

“He goes: ‘Here's what we're going to do. When the pucks in our end, I'm going to stand in front of the net and you just work both corners and you'll show them how hard you can work.’

“I thought maybe he was just joking around, and I get out there and it's in our end and he's standing in front of the net. I'm going, ‘Really?’"

"But you know what? Great advice.”

After spending 11 seasons with the Blue & Orange – winning five Stanley Cups after arriving in Edmonton as an undrafted addition from the Oshawa Generals in 1979 –  the left-shot rearguard will go down as one of the underrated, critical contributors to Edmonton’s dynasty of the 1980s and early 90s.

"I always thought that I was the reason that Charlie won Stanley Cups, but apparently not," Coffey added.

"When I left, he won two more."

The Ontario product recorded 81 goals and 287 assists over 694 regular-season games with the Oilers, while chipping in a further 16 goals and 61 assists in 138 playoff games for the Blue & Orange as one of only seven players to be a part of all five of the club’s Stanley Cup victories. Huddy recorded an impressive plus-343 rating over his career, which includes becoming the first recipient of the NHL plus-minus award in 1983 at an amazing plus-62.

Over his time in Edmonton, Huddy evolved from being the defensive back-up for Coffey into a leader who helped keep the Oilers balanced and level-headed on and off the ice despite his partaking in some of the fun that they experienced over the years.

Huddy’s name heads into the OIlers ring of honour at Rogers Place behind Lee Fogolin last season, who was another one of Edmonton’s underrated leaders over the dynasty days of old.

“Charlie, like Fogey, they were the sort of the foundational guys,” Kevin Lowe said. “And to see this come now, he’s so deserving and I’m really proud to say he was a teammate and a friend. But most of all, besides Charlie's ability, he was just such a great example. He was a younger version of Lee Fogolin – married at a young age with the steady, straight-down-the-middle approach, and we could always rely on Charlie.”

Kelly Buchberger added: “I came here really young, and when you're a young kid, you come into this dressroom and it's a little intimidating,” he said. “Charlie was so good to me right from the start, and I watched him and I watched all of them and listened to him for x amount of years. He was one of the guys that was a true professional.”

Huddy holds up his first Stanley Cup with the Oilers in 1984 as his greatest achievement after the group experienced against the New York Islanders the season prior in order to fully understand what it would take to win.

“They had won for a while and they knew what it took to win, and we were just learning,” Huddy said. “We went through the regular season winning a lot of games, and then everybody knows how hard it is to win in the playoffs. We had to go through that and learn how to be successful, and we learned a lot from the Islanders on how you had to play and what you had to do night in and night out to win a championship.”

“You never know if you're going to get back again and again. I was fortunate, but just to be able to skate around that ice and carry the Stanley Cup was obviously special.”

To Huddy, experiencing that first Stanley Cup victory allowed him to appreciate the first-time experience of winning four more times over through other teammates who were able to lift their first Stanley Cup.

“Credit to [former GM and coach Glen Sather], because he'd always get the right people and he'd have that dressing room,” Huddy said. “He always added certain guys at the Trade Deadline or before we got into playoffs, but I remember him bringing in guys like Ken Linseman and Kent Nilsson; new guys that were going to fit into our lineup and help us win.

“Different teammates come in at different times through the year to fill out the team, and I think that was the exciting thing – seeing a guy win his first Stanley Cup. It’s pretty exciting because you win them in all different ways, and to see those guys come in and win their first Stanley Cup was pretty special.”