‘Certainly an honour’: Randy Gregg named to Oilers Wall of Fame

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By every measure, Randy Gregg is one of a kind.

He’s the best-ever NHLer who got his start as a U Sports player with enough Stanley Cup hardware to fill an entire hand, and he’s the only practising doctor/defenceman to play on an NHL roster, breaking up plays and sometimes keeping his teammates in stitches when somebody was cut.

The MD/LD  played 453 Oilers league games and 137 more in the playoffs and was plus-71 in the Stanley Cup runs on the way to his five Cup rings. Only Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri were better (plus-minus) Oilers in the post-season — pretty good company.

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So, Gregg, who was a 16-year-old student at the University of Alberta, taking pre-med classes, and is still working as a general practitioner with a special interest in musculoskeletal injuries today at 68, will get his rightful due Friday when his name goes up on the Oilers Wall of Fame with the Pittsburgh Penguins here.

Gregg, who also played in the 1984 Canada Cup with Hall of Fame defencemen Paul Coffey, Ray Bourque, Larry Robinson, Kevin Lowe, and Doug Wilson, along with Oilers teammate Charlie Huddy (also up on the Oiler Wall of Fame in 2023), clearly took a road less travelled to get to the NHL—the Golden Bears, the Canadian Olympic team in 1980 in Lake Placid, where he was captain, the Kokudo Bunnies in Tokyo.

Then, after three of his five Cups here, he detoured to barnstorm for months with 1988 Olympic squad, wearing a Canadian jersey one more time, in Calgary, a lukewarm experience because NHL players were added at the last minute and it didn’t help the makeup of the team, mentally more than physically when others were dropped, according to Gregg.

Gregg is betwixt and between talking about the Wall of Fame here.

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“It certainly is an honour but I’m a little hesitant (being saluted) because defensive defencemen shouldn’t be on a Wall of Fame,” he said. “The role of a defensive defencemen is never to be seen. The only time you get seen is when you make a mistake. I understand the role of a defensive defenceman to winning but individual accolades are more for fantastic goaltenders or goal-scorers.”

Lee Fogolin, also a defensive D, was selected in the first Oilers class, along with Ryan Smyth, for the Wall of Fame at Rogers Place, though. Gregg, however, bows to Fogolin’s other attributes.

“Lee was a fantastic leader and with that great group of young players, even though he wasn’t that vocal, everyone looked up to Lee. He brought a lot more to the table and deserves to be there (Wall of Fame) much more than just being a defenceman,” said Gregg.

Gregg partnered often with the salt-of-the-earth, tough Don Jackson in the third pairing, on an Oilers team where Glen Sather gave his 5-6 pairing lots of ice. “Our job was to keep the puck out of the net while Coff and Charlie, Kevin and Fogey were resting,” said Gregg, half in jest.

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Maybe. But it’s a team game, right?

“They give everybody a ring when you win the Stanley Cup. Ours might have been a little smaller and Peter (owner Pocklington) might have given us a little smaller diamond. But the ecstasy and enjoyment was there for all of us.”

Gregg is selling himself short as just a defender. He had 13 goals and 40 points in 1983-84, so he wasn’t exactly Vincent Desharnais as stay-at-home guys go. But…

“I think my mother could have scored 50 points with Gretzky. You’d make a pass to Wayne, he’d pass it through five sticks and right onto somebody’s tape,” he said.

“You don’t want to pigeon-hole yourself but we had Paul Coffey and Charlie Huddy and Kevin Lowe. We didn’t need another great offensive defenceman. We needed another Lee Fogolin to get the puck up to the great players. I just filled a void that was needed.”

Played for Clare Drake

His path to the Oilers was far from a straight line, though

“I was born in Edmonton, I was a fan of the Oilers, I got into medical school so who’s going to draft a guy who’s going to be a doctor someday? So I became a free agent and could sign with anybody after the Olympics,” said Gregg, who was offered $100,000 by the New York Rangers in 1979, and also had interest from the Calgary Flames but said no thanks, until 1982 when Calgary pitched more but he signed with the hometown Oilers.

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“I was at U of A under Clare Drake’s tutelage, really learned how to play defence properly, the practices to playing (games) was fantastic, so I thought if I’m going to play for anybody (NHL) why not the team I’ve been cheering for so many years?” said Gregg.

“My wife (Kathy, an Olympic speed-skater) said ‘yeah, do this for a couple of years and then get on with your life, let’s do our professions.’ And two years in we’re in the Stanley Cup Final. So two years turned into nine (NHL years). It’s more good circumstances than being good enough to be on a (Oilers) Wall.”

Being smart enough to be in university at 16 is a feat—Craig Simpson also was, at Michigan State — and Gregg never really considered playing for the Bears until he was 19, and almost on a whim.

“Back then I thought if I could even play one game for the Golden Bears my life would be complete, they were a fantastic team. I was playing juvenile AA at the time,” said Gregg, who was keen on his science studies for three years, before applying to medical school and getting in.

“When my older brother (Gord), also a doctor, found out I was getting into medical school, he said ‘Randy, forget about that damn hockey.’ So I said ‘yeah, absolutely,’ but I went out for the Bears (19 years old) and figured I would get a couple of practices before they cut me. But they didn’t cut me. So I had four years with Clare and four years of medical school (jockeying both disciplines) and that was magical.”

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“We (Bears) were at the nationals in 1979 in Moncton. Four or five of us said ‘man, we’re in the Maritimes and we’re going to get a seafood meal.’ But we didn’t have much money, went out to a really expensive restaurant, and all we could afford was an Alberta steak sandwich. Sitting by us was this man who came by and shook our hands. I didn’t know who he was but he turned out to be Father David Bauer, and he was scouting to put together the 1980 Olympic team,” said Gregg.

“Lo and behold that turned into an unbelievable, developmental experience,” said Gregg, who was voted CIAU Player of the Year in 1979, and was named captain in ’80 Lake Placid on a team that included Hall of Famer Glenn Anderson and Kevin Primeau, who would later play and then be an assistant coach with the Oilers.

In a 6-4 loss to the Russians in Lake Placid, Gregg scored on Vladislav Tretiak, absolutely one of his career highlights. “I scored on a wrist shot from the blueline and I still have that stick. I show it to my sons’ friends every now and then and they go ‘no, you can’t play hockey with that stick.’ I look back and think ‘how could you even pass with those sticks?’’’

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In the ’84 Canada Cup with Glen Sather as coach, Gregg was part of a collection of unbelievable talent (14 players who would become Hall of Famers).

“I was completely embarrassed actually. I had no right to be there,” said Gregg. “We had just won the Stanley Cup, I had just gotten married and my wife and I were going to Europe to travel around for two months but Glen said he wanted me to play in the Canada Cup. I said ‘c’mon Glen, I’m a defensive defenceman, look at all the great defencemen you have.’ He said ‘no, no, we need a team, if we’re going to beat the Russians.’’’

“They let a player named Scott Stevens go. Isn’t Scott in the Hall of Fame, too?  I understand what Glen was trying to do but I didn’t have the skill level for that.”

Been a doctor for 40 years

Nothing wrong with a little modesty. All we know is Gregg won, a lot, but there was always more for him.

“The qualities that come out of that experience are much more lasting, remembering the leadership of a Mark Messier, to see Craig Simpson and the sacrifice he made physically (back), to see Glenn Anderson’s flamboyance, Grant Fuhr, playing behind a defence and never complaining as many errors as we made.,” he said.

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“I played professional hockey for nine years but I’ve been a physician for 40, and a parent for 30 (four kids including two Olympic speed-skaters),” said Gregg. “I’m proud of the Stanley Cups but I never wear the rings. You don’t have to, to remind yourself of the camaraderie, the spirit, the work, and the sacrifice it took to get them.”

His last NHL game was against the Oilers in the playoffs in 1992, after a brief stay with Vancouver playing under Pat Quinn, somebody Gregg hugely admired. It was a full-circle ending to his career.

“I remember going into the corner once with Kelly Buchberger in those playoffs and he hit me hard and Kelly said ‘hey, Doc, sorry.’ I told him ‘don’t be sorry, this is your job.’’’

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