Oilers notebook: Grant Fuhr marvelled at Glenn Hall's iron man streak

Grant Fuhr, who first met Glenn Hall when he was eight years old and playing goal in Spruce Grove says the thing that will always boggle his mind is the 502 straight games Hall played for the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks.

And Fuhr was one of those guys who would play every night if he could.

He played the first 76 games one season for Iron Mike Keenan in St. Louis.

“Now we’re into the load management world with (NHL) goalies. I’m not a fan, never was,” said Fuhr, who marvelled at Hall’s remarkable durability, a streak that will never, ever be broken.

Fuhr said he understands why teams would want to rest goalies down the stretch, or in a compressed schedule like this year with the Olympics — but he feels goalies still have the ability to play more games.

“I still think goalies can play 65, 68 games comfortably,” said Fuhr.

“I don’t get it… you baby them all year long, and then in the playoffs you want them to play every second night. It’s out of what they’re used to. Don’t you want them used to every second night in regular-season first? Just makes sense to me.”

It seems teams map out when their goalies are going to play now, looking at the schedule weeks in advance, taking in account the back-to-backs, for sure. Like they are a total no-no, even on short trips.

“I remember when I was in Phoenix ( as a goalie coach) we had Cujo (Curtis Joseph), I would ask him the day before ‘how are you feeling?’ said Fuhr.

Of course, most NHL teams these days have a 1A and 1B component in net. They don’t have a high-end starter. The Winnipeg Jets do with Connor Hellebuyck. The Tampa Bay Lightning have Andrei Vasilevsky, the New York Rangers lean on Igor Shesterkin, as do the New York the Islanders with Ilya Sorokin.

Most teams are into tag-teams instead, so no long run of starts for one guy. Part of it is they don’t have a trusted No. 1. They need goalies pushing one another. Some teams also look at the travel over six months, and feel they can’t overwork one guy.

And the idea that teams can’t play a goalie on a back-to-back with charter air travel is counter-productive to what Hall did for seven years, travelling on trains. Also, with Hall wearing leather pads stuffed with horsehair that absorbed water, that was soaking wet after games. Heavy pads, heavier, tired legs.

“I saw some of Glenn’s old equipment (from the 50s and 60s) and it made the stuff I wore in the 80s seem futuristic,” said Fuhr.

“And guys back then could shoot too. That’s why I laugh at people comparing the different eras and I look at what the old goalies like Glenn went through in those days. It made what I wore look like armour.”

Again, back in Hall’s day, back when Jacques Plante and Terry Sawchuk played, their pads weighed a ton.

Not so today as goalies glide across the crease effortlessly, often on their knees. The perspiration certainly not drenching their lightweight pillows.

Those 502 straight games Hall played, he had a back-up, in name only until the streak ended and we found out that Dennis DeJordy was the understudy.

“Best job in hockey,” said Fuhr.

“Just to think of 502, all those nights Glenn was banged up, not feeling good. His whole thing was ‘just play.’ That’s a great mentality to have,” he said.

“I was lucky I got to do that one year in St. Louis, one year in Edmonton. You never felt great every day but once the game started, you found a way.”

Paying the price

The Oilers haven’t said what exactly happened to forward Adam Henrique two shifts into his game against Nashville but he blocked a shot by Filip Forsberg about 35-feet from the Oilers net on the penalty kill.

It looked like the shot hit him on the hand. If he’s out until after the Olympics — roughly seven weeks, it could very well be a broken bone.

This ‘n that

It would have been a nice welcome back for Los Angeles Kings forward Corey Perry on Saturday, but the Oilers winger, who had a 29 goals last season (regular-season and playoffs) is tending to his ill mother.

Perry has 21 points in 35 games for the Kings. It’s the only trip Los Angeles makes to Edmonton this season. You never know, the two teams could meet in the playoffs like they have the past four springs in a row.

Kings captain Anze Kopitar is dealing with an injury, and he likely won’t be available to Los Angeles on Saturday. Unfortunate, as Kopitar is retiring at the end of this season, after a 20-year career. The future Hall-of-Famer is one-point shy of 1,300 points, and just nine games away from 1,500.

Here’s the thing with the stumbling Jets trade interest in Oilers forward Andrew Mangiapane: yes, he could help them and yes they would take a player with term and the Jets could fit Mangiapane’s cap-hit of $3.6 million AAV both this year and next.

But Winnipeg would want to offload either forward Gustav Nyqvist (no goals in 31 games) or Vladislav  Namestnikov (no points in 16 straight games and no goals since Nov. 1) who were both a healthy scratch, along with Mangiapane on Thursday when Edmonton and Winnipeg played.

Connor McDavid’s 1,159 career points is 58th all-time, and just 11 points back of Bobby Hull. Barring injury, he should hit 1,200 points by season’s end, and he turns 29 next week when the Oilers play in Nashville.

McDavid sits second in the NHL in shots (166), only behind Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon. McDavid is on pace for 320. When he scored 60 goals in 2022-23, he had 352 shots on goal.

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