OILERS HOF: Fogolin helped build the foundation for Oilers dynasty

EDMONTON, AB - Not often discussed or appreciated enough are the ones who helped instill leadership in the legends themselves.
To those who have their names hanging in the rafters at Rogers Place -- the Wayne Gretzky's, the Paul Coffey's, the Jari Kurri's and the Kevin Lowe's -- former captain and stalwart defenceman Lee Fogolin was a foundational part of their careers and the Oilers storied success in the 1980s.
That sort of legacy speaks volumes despite its quiet appreciation.
Fogolin was a veteran of eight seasons and 586 regular-season games for the Oilers from 1979-86, recording 36 goals, 124 assists and a +153 plus/minus as a defensive anchor on Edmonton's blueline and captain for three seasons that you wouldn't hesitate to follow from his tough-as-nails approach on the ice.
"He always came to play,' Oilers alumni forward Jari Kurri said. "Fogey was always there, playing hard on the ice in key times, and was a very important player. The team needs different types of players, and Fogey took care of that part defensively."
The right-shot rearguard played a further 78 games in the playoffs, scoring five times and adding 13 helpers as a key ingredient on the back end in two of Edmonton's five Stanley Cups in 1983 and 1984.
"He was one of the toughest, steadiest defencemen I've ever watched and had the pleasure to play with and be a friend with," former Oilers captain Al Hamilton said.
Lee Fogolin, Jr. was born in Chicago, IL on Feb. 7, 1955 when his father was a member of the Blackhawks before moving back to northern Ontario following his retirement from hockey, where his dad owned a service station and instilled within him the work ethic that he'd eventually bring to the Oilers locker room.
"No matter what it was, the harder it was to do, the better it was going to turn out," Fogolin said. "He was so laid back then, but he'd speak his mind. I remember his nickname. He owned a service station back in northern Ontario and everybody would call him 'The Pope', because what he said went and that was it."
Fogolin grew up playing minor hockey in Port Arthur, ON (now a part of Thunder Bay) and was drafted 11th overall in the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft by the Buffalo Sabres where he'd spend the first five years of his career. After the merging of the WHA and NHL in 1979, Fogolin was picked eighth overall by the Oilers in the expansion draft and would become arguably the most impactful selection of any of the 65 players taken across the draft's 17 rounds.

Fogolin arrived in Edmonton for his first season to a dressing room boasting the likes of Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Kevin Lowe, Dave Semenko and Al Hamilton -- not to mention some other under-appreciated veteran voices.
"The best thing about the 79-80 Oilers, it was the beginning of the foundation," Lowe said. "We had unbelievable leaders, a whole whack of them. Not just a couple of them, a whole whack: Blair McDonald, Ron Chipperfield, Hamilton and Fogolin. Colin Campbell was here. We were blessed as young players to come into the National Hockey League and have that kind of leadership. Then, of course, Lee stayed on a little bit longer, quite a bit longer, and did what he did."
Fogolin played every game for the Oilers during his first three seasons in Oil Country almost always in a pairing with Lowe, giving the future Hall of Famer stern directions to get back on his side of the ice but also serving as a veteran voice for the former first-round pick of the Oilers in a 1979 Entry Draft.
"Lee knew who I was coming in, and then we happened to be paired together. He took me under his wing, no question," Lowe said. "We were young guys having a bunch of fun because we were having success on the ice, but I remember time to time he'd pull me aside and say, 'Hey, listen, it's great to have fun, but you've got to remember you've got a job to do'.
"I learned to stay on my side because if I went over to his side, he'd tell me to get the hell out of there and get back over on my side and just really to play the game in straight lines. I felt really big and strong when I was out there because I had Fogey beside me."
At the start of the 1980-81 NHL campaign, Fogolin assumed the responsibility of captain after setting the standard for work ethic and leadership on and off the ice.
Paul Coffey joined the Oilers that season and would sit beside Fogolin in the locker room for the next six years, learning plenty about his own game through the influence of his first captain in the NHL.
"I know people in this room probably find it hard to believe, but I was a pretty good whipping boy of Glen Sather back in the day," Coffey said with sarcasm. "He'd come in the room and tear a strip off all of us, but he usually started with me because of where I sat. Fogey would always give me a calming influence, 'Just play your game. Don't worry about him. Just play your game.'
But he also learned plenty from Fogolin, sometimes hard lessons, about the honours that come with wearing the Oilers jersey.
"I remember early in my career, Lyle Kulchisky our trainer used to wheel in the shopping cart for either the red hot towels or your practice jerseys," Coffey continued. "I was taking my jersey off one day, had it in a ball and tossed it. Of course, it missed the cart and the sweater was on the floor.
"Lee stood up, didn't miss a beat, grabbed the sweater, put it right side in and folded it nicely on the shopping cart. He walked back and gave me a stare that I've never had before, which taught me quietly the respect you have for your jersey and the respect you have for your organization."

Fogolin embodied the values of what would become the foundation of Edmonton's five Stanley Cups, including being able to follow along with the loose atmosphere of the locker room despite some of the shenanigans of some of the club's younger players like Coffey, Lowe and Gretzky.
With bad shoulders, Fogolin almost always used the gate to exit and enter the bench -- an aspect of his approach to the game that Coffey took advantage of to orchestrate a light-hearted gag on one occasion.
"He'd always sit by the door and everybody knows we had a loose dressing room. We had lots of fun, and Coff was one of the leaders in that," Lowe said. "The score would be five-to-one or whatever, and Fogey would play from puck drop to the final buzzer locked into playing the game. Of course, guys like Coff would start getting bored when the score was five or six-to-one, so it'd be four or five minutes left in the game and time for Fogey to go out.
Lowe continued: "He'd open the door and Coff would grab the back of his pants and wouldn't let him get on the ice and leave. At first, he'd be [flailing] trying to move and he wouldn't know what's going on. Then he'd turn around, he'd go, 'Coff!' and he'd be hitting Coff's hand as the play's going down on the ice.
"I'll never forget that. I was supposed to be going on too, and I'd be watching and going, 'that's the funniest thing I've ever seen.'"

When it came time to pass the torch on to the next leader and 'The Great One' in Wayne Gretzky during the 1983-84 season, Fogolin proudly stepped aside and would go on to play three-and-a-half more seasons with the Oilers before being traded back to Buffalo and retiring in 1987.
"I can't really tell you too much about it, except that I was just kind of holding the 'C' for when Wayne didn't have all that pressure on him all the time," Fogolin said. "He was such a great player, and I often tell people what you saw on the ice was the best. But what you didn't see off the ice was incredible."
He'll tell you he was just a pawn on the chessboard during Edmonton's dynasty days, but the kings, queens, bishops and knights say they wouldn't have got to where they did without the fearless Lee Fogolin.
"It was them, believe me," he said. "It was such an enthusiastic group and it was so much fun to play with these guys. They were so cohesive. I could never remember walking into that room where people were angry, upset or arguing with each other. Everybody was really cohesive and happy.
"Although there was different age differences and things like that, it was like the perfect storm. It only happens once in a while where you get a group of people together and they just blend so well."
"He played the game all in, all out, all the time, and just was a pleasure to sit beside," Coffey said. "I didn't get the opportunity to play with Lee that often on the ice, but I got the opportunity to sit beside him for six years. I'm sitting up here so proud of him."