The 2012–13 Edmonton Oilers season was the 34th season for the National Hockey League (NHL) franchise that was established on June 22, 1979, and 41st season including their play in the World Hockey Association. The regular season was reduced from its usual 82 games to 48 due to the 2012–13 NHL lockout.

The Oilers finished the season with a sub-.500 record and failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs for the seventh year in a row for the first time in franchise history.

Off-season On June 27, the Oilers named Ralph Krueger as their new head coach.Oilers Name Krueger Head Coach

Arena Controversy The Edmonton Oilers have been embroiled in a controversy with the city of Edmonton over a new arena. Oilers owner Daryl Katz has threatened to move the team to Seattle if a new arena is not built, which was panned by fans and politicians.

In October 2012, Elections Alberta released campaign finance statements which showed Katz, his family and business partners donated substantial amounts of money to the Progressive Conservatives in the closing days of the 2012 Alberta general election. Katz says it was to prevent the Wildrose Party from taking power and did not have to do with the arena. Contributions from him totalled almost 20% of the total donations during the election campaign for the Progressive Conservatives. Opposition parties in Alberta have asked Elections Alberta to investigate the donations, alleging they were made to ensure the province would kick in 100 million dollars towards a new arena.

Regular season

Standings

Playoffs For the seventh consecutive season, the Edmonton Oilers failed to qualify for the NHL Playoffs.

Schedule and results

Regular season 2013 Game Log January: 4–2–1 (Home: 2–1–0; Road: 2–1–1) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 1 January 20 Edmonton Oilers 3–2 Vancouver Canucks SO Dubnyk 18,910 1–0–0 2 2 January 22 San Jose Sharks 6–3 Edmonton Oilers Dubnyk 16,839 1–1–0 2 3 January 24 Los Angeles Kings 1–2 Edmonton Oilers OT Dubnyk 16,839 2–1–0 4 4 January 26 Edmonton Oilers 3–4 Calgary Flames Dubnyk 19,289 2–2–0 4 5 January 28 Colorado Avalanche 1–4 Edmonton Oilers Dubnyk 16,839 3–2–0 6 6 January 30 Edmonton Oilers 2–1 Phoenix Coyotes OT Dubnyk 12,955 4–2–0 8 7 January 31 Edmonton Oilers 2–3 San Jose Sharks SO Dubnyk 17,562 4–2–1 9 February: 4–5–3 (Home: 2–3–2; Road: 2–2–1) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 8 February 2 Edmonton Oilers 1–3 Colorado Avalanche Dubnyk 16,119 4–3–1 9 9 February 4 Vancouver Canucks 3–2 Edmonton Oilers OT Dubnyk 16,839 4–3–2 10 10 February 6 Dallas Stars 3–2 Edmonton Oilers OT Dubnyk 16,839 4–3–3 11 11 February 9 Edmonton Oilers 1–2 Detroit Red Wings Khabibulin 20,066 4–4–3 11 12 February 10 Edmonton Oilers 3–1 Columbus Blue Jackets Dubnyk 14,364 5–4–3 13 13 February 12 Dallas Stars 4–1 Edmonton Oilers Dubnyk 16,839 5–5–3 13 14 February 16 Colorado Avalanche 4–6 Edmonton Oilers Khabibulin 16,839 6–5–3 15 15 February 19 Los Angeles Kings 3–1 Edmonton Oilers Khabibulin 16,839 6–6–3 15 16 February 21 Minnesota Wild 3–1 Edmonton Oilers Dubnyk 16,839 6–7–3 15 17 February 23 Phoenix Coyotes 2–3 Edmonton Oilers SO Khabibulin 16,839 7–7–3 17 18 February 25 Edmonton Oilers 2–3 Chicago Blackhawks OT Khabibulin 21,127 7–7–4 18 19 February 28 Edmonton Oilers 5–1 Dallas Stars Dubnyk 17,004 8–7–4 20 March: 6–6–3 (Home: 3–1–2; Road: 3–5–1) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 20 March 1 Edmonton Oilers 2–4 St. Louis Blues Dubnyk 19,476 8–8–4 20 21 March 3 Edmonton Oilers 2–4 Minnesota Wild Dubnyk 18,675 8–9–4 20 22 March 5 Edmonton Oilers 3–4 Columbus Blue Jackets SO Dubnyk 14,952 8–9–5 21 23 March 7 Edmonton Oilers 0–3 Detroit Red Wings Dubnyk 20,066 8–10–5 21 24 March 8 Edmonton Oilers 0–6 Nashville Predators Dubnyk 17,277 8–11–5 21 25 March 10 Edmonton Oilers 6–5 Chicago Blackhawks Danis 22,020 9–11–5 23 26 March 12 Edmonton Oilers 4–0 Colorado Avalanche Dubnyk 14,360 10–11–5 25 27 March 15 Detroit Red Wings 3–2 Edmonton Oilers OT Dubnyk 16,839 10–11–6 26 28 March 17 Nashville Predators 2–3 Edmonton Oilers Dubnyk 16,839 11–11–6 28 29 March 20 San Jose Sharks 4–3 Edmonton Oilers SO Dubnyk 16,839 11–11–7 29 30 March 23 St. Louis Blues 3–0 Edmonton Oilers Khabibulin 16,839 11–12–7 29 31 March 25 Edmonton Oilers 2–3 Nashville Predators Dubnyk 17,113 11–13–7 29 32 March 26 Edmonton Oilers 3–0 St. Louis Blues Khabibulin 17,260 12–13–7 31 33 March 28 Columbus Blue Jackets 4–6 Edmonton Oilers Dubnyk 16,839 13–13–7 33 34 March 30 Vancouver Canucks 0–4 Edmonton Oilers Dubnyk 16,839 14–13–7 35 April: 5–9–0 (Home: 2–6–0; Road: 3–3–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 35 April 1 Calgary Flames 1–4 Edmonton Oilers Dubnyk 16,839 15–13–7 37 36 April 3 Edmonton Oilers 8–2 Calgary Flames Dubnyk 19,289 16–13–7 39 37 April 4 Edmonton Oilers 0–4 Vancouver Canucks Khabibulin 18,910 16–14–7 39 38 April 6 Edmonton Oilers 1–4 Los Angeles Kings Dubnyk 18,118 16–15–7 39 39 April 8 Edmonton Oilers 1–2 Anaheim Ducks Dubnyk 15,148 16–16–7 39 40 April 10 Phoenix Coyotes 3–1 Edmonton Oilers Dubnyk 16,839 16–17–7 39 41 April 13 Calgary Flames 4–1 Edmonton Oilers Khabibulin 16,839 16–18–7 39 42 April 16 Minnesota Wild 5–3 Edmonton Oilers Dubnyk 16,839 16–19–7 39 43 April 19 Edmonton Oilers 4–1 Colorado Avalanche Dubnyk 15,890 17–19–7 41 44 April 21 Anaheim Ducks 3–1 Edmonton Oilers Dubnyk 16,839 17–20–7 41 45 April 22 Anaheim Ducks 3–0 Edmonton Oilers Khabibulin 16,839 17–21–7 41 46 April 24 Chicago Blackhawks 4–1 Edmonton Oilers Dubnyk 16,839 17–22–7 41 47 April 26 Edmonton Oilers 6–1 Minnesota Wild Khabibulin 19,090 18–22–7 43 48 April 27 Vancouver Canucks 2–7 Edmonton Oilers Dubnyk 16,839 19–22–7 45 Legend:

Player statistics Final stats Skaters

Regular season Player 45 16 34 50 5 33 48 14 24 38 −6 23 48 16 21 37 −4 16 48 17 14 31 −4 24 48 8 19 27 −17 8 40 4 20 24 3 8 38 9 11 20 −6 16 42 9 7 16 −1 14 47 2 11 13 −5 40 34 4 9 13 −7 23 31 7 5 12 8 24 48 3 9 12 1 29 48 1 8 9 −13 24 35 3 6 9 −4 4 27 2 5 7 0 17 25 0 6 6 6 32 33 3 1 4 8 6 48 1 3 4 −1 55 26 0 3 3 −1 10 23 1 2 3 −8 6 14 1 1 2 −4 25 † 10 1 0 1 0 2 27 1 0 1 −8 53 11 0 1 1 −4 2 4 0 0 0 −1 2 11 0 0 0 −3 4 4 0 0 0 −1 6 1 0 0 0 0 0

Goaltenders Regular season Player 38 37 2100:57 14 16 6 90 2.57 1132 .920 2 0 0 0 12 11 683:37 4 6 1 29 2.54 376 .923 1 0 0 0 3 0 110:15 1 0 0 7 3.82 59 .881 0 0 0 0 †Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Oilers. Stats reflect time with the Oilers only. ‡Traded mid-season Bold/italics denotes franchise record

Awards and records

Awards Regular season Player Award Reached NHL 3rd Star of the Week April 1, 2013 NHL Rookie of the Month April 2013

Taylor Hall was also third in the voting among left-wingers for All-Star voting. Alexander Ovechkin finished second, despite the fact that Ovechkin played only four games on the left wing, with the remainder being played at right wing, where he was voted to the First All-Star Team. This prompted Professional Hockey Writers' Association President Kevin Allen to state, "We are troubled by the All-Star voting results, and plan to take a closer look at the events that led to Ovechkin winning All-Star acclaim at two positions... We know we got this wrong, and our objective is to make sure it never happens again."

Records 23: Tied Oilers record for most shots on goal in the period (1st period) on February 16, 2013. 56: New Oilers record for most shots on goal in the game on February 16, 2013. 2:43: New Oilers record for fastest three goals from start of a game by Taylor Hall at 0:16, Ladislav Smid at 2:05, and Taylor Hall at 2:43 on March 30, 2013. 3:35: New Oilers record for fastest five goals by Justin Schultz at 13:17, Nail Yakupov at 14:16, Jordan Eberle at 14:37, Nail Yakupov at 15:47, and Jerred Smithson at 16:52 in the 3rd period on April 27, 2013. 7:53: New Oilers record for fastest hat-trick from start of a game by Taylor Hall on March 30, 2013.

Milestones Regular season Player Milestone Reached Justin Schultz 1st NHL Game January 20, 2013 Nail Yakupov Nail Yakupov 1st NHL Goal1st NHL Point January 22, 2013 Justin Schultz Justin Schultz 1st NHL Assist January 24, 2013 Taylor Hall 100th NHL Point January 26, 2013 Eric Belanger 800th NHL Game January 30, 2013 Nail Yakupov 1st NHL Assist January 31, 2013 Mark Arcobello 1st NHL Game February 6, 2013 Ryan Smyth 900th NHL PIM Ben Eager 400th NHL Game March 8, 2013 Shawn Horcoff 500th NHL PIM March 25, 2013 Sam Gagner 400th NHL Game March 30, 2013 Taylor Hall 3rd NHL Hat-trick Ryan Whitney 1st NHL Gordie Howe hat trick April 3, 2013 Nick Schultz 800th NHL Game April 4, 2013 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 100th NHL Game April 13, 2013 Sam Gagner 200th NHL PIM April 16, 2013 Corey Potter 100th NHL Game April 21, 2013 Nail Yakupov 1st NHL Hat-trick April 27, 2013

Transactions The Oilers have been involved in the following transactions during the 2012–13 season.

Trades Date January 14, 2013Oilers acquire Mark Fistric To Dallas Stars 3rd-round pick in 2013 To Edmonton Oilers Mark Fistric March 4, 2013Oilers acquire Mike Brown from Toronto To Toronto Maple Leafs 4th-round pick in 2014 To Edmonton Oilers Mike Brown March 29, 2013Oilers acquire prospect Kale Kessy from the Phoenix Coyotes To Phoenix Coyotes Tobias Rieder To Edmonton Oilers Kale Kessy April 2, 2013Oilers acquire Garrett Stafford from Washington To Washington Capitals Dane Byers To Edmonton Oilers Garrett Stafford April 3, 2013Oilers acquire centre Jerred Smithson To Florida Panthers 4th-round pick in 2013 To Edmonton Oilers Jerred Smithson

Free agents signed Date Player Former team Contract terms Justin SchultzOilers agree to terms with Justin SchultzOilers agree to terms with highly sought-after free agent, Justin Schultz University of Wisconsin 2 years, $1.85 million entry-level contract Dane ByersOilers agree to terms with Dane Byers Columbus Blue Jackets 1 year, $560,000 Andrew MillerOilers agree to terms with Andrew Miller Yale University 1 year, $842,500 entry-level contract Anton BelovOilers agree to terms with Anton Belov Avangard Omsk 1 year, $925,000 entry-level contract

Free agents lost Date Player New team Contract terms Taylor ChorneyBlues Sign McKenna, Chorney and Ford St. Louis Blues 1 year, $575,000 Hunter Tremblay St. John's IceCaps undisclosed Ryan Keller Ryan Keller rejoint les Vernets Geneve-Servette HC undisclosed Josh Green Oklahoma City Barons Linus OmarkOMARK SIGNS ONE-YEAR DEAL WITH SWISS TEAM ZUG EV Zug 1 year Cam BarkerVancouver Canucks sign defenceman Cam Barker Vancouver Canucks 1 year, $700,000 Niko Hovinen Metallurg Novokuznetsk

Claimed via waivers Player Former team Date claimed off waivers Niko HovinenOilers claim G Niko Hovinen off waivers from the Philadelphia Flyers Philadelphia Flyers January 25, 2013

Lost via waivers Player New team Date claimed off waivers

Player signings