Steve Smith will always be tied to one of the most infamous moments in Oilers history, but that one play never told the whole story.
In the updated Top 100 Edmonton Oilers of All Time list, Smith lands at No. 24, a drop from No. 16 on Robin Brownlee’s original 2015 ranking. The list, revived by Oilersnation, puts him behind Andy Moog at No. 25 and ahead of Zach Hyman at No. 26.
The moment everyone remembers came a little over five minutes into Game 7 of the 1986 Smythe Division final. Calgary’s Perry Berezan dumped the puck into the Edmonton zone with the score tied 2-2, and Smith, then a rookie on his 23rd birthday, gathered it behind his own net and tried to move it up ice. Instead, the puck bounced off Grant Fuhr’s skate and into the Oilers net.
That own goal changed everything in the series. Edmonton, fresh off back-to-back Stanley Cups, could not recover, and the push for a three-peat ended there.
Smith took the heat from fans, but Wayne Gretzky never accepted that version of events. In his autobiography, Gretzky called it a “total cop-out.”
And when the Oilers won the 1987 Stanley Cup final on home ice, Gretzky made sure Smith got his moment too. After receiving the trophy from president John Ziegler, he lifted it briefly and then handed it straight to Smith.
Smith had been drafted by Edmonton in the sixth round of the 1981 draft, and once he got past that early-career nightmare, he carved out a much bigger reputation. The 1987-88 season, his third in the league, became his best. He set then career highs in goals, assists, points and penalty minutes with 12, 43, 55 and 286.
He was never just the guy who scored on his own net. Smith grew into a tough, shutdown defender who also brought offense, becoming a trusted option for Glen Sather and leading Oilers defencemen in scoring in three of the first four seasons after Paul Coffey’s departure.
Smith stayed in Edmonton until an October 1991 trade sent him out and brought back Dave Manson, along with a third-round pick that was later used to select Kirk Maltby. After seven seasons with the Oilers, he spent six years in Chicago, where his offensive game remained a factor for two seasons. He then signed with the Calgary Flames as a free agent in 1998, spent three years there, and retired after appearing in just 13 games in the 2000-01 season.
Brownlee’s original writeup made the case plainly: Smith was “a helluva defenseman” for Edmonton and won the Stanley Cup three times with the club. But the Game 7 own goal against Calgary, Brownlee wrote, was the image that stuck.
It left Smith sprawled face down on the ice while the crowd watched in shock, followed by tears in the dressing room. Still, Brownlee’s point was clear: that one moment was unforgettable, but it did not define him.
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