Zizing 'Em Up: Late Oilers scout Fraser remembered as dynasty builder

NHL.com staff writer Mike Zeisberger has been covering the NHL regularly since 1999. Each Sunday during the season, he will use his extensive network of hockey contacts to write his weekly notes column, "Zizing 'Em Up."

TORONTO -- If there was a Mount Rushmore for hockey scouts, the late Barry Fraser would be one of its most worthy candidates.
The native of Kirkland Lake, Ontario, who was chief scout of the Edmonton Oilers from 1979-2000, died Dec. 4 at 82. The news ignited a flood of tributes from throughout the hockey world the past week, and rightly so.
One idea gaining traction within the industry is a push led by Arizona Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong to get Fraser into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the Builders category with the hopes that the scouting fraternity gets more attention in that regard moving forward.
"I'd put him at the front of the line," former Oilers goalie Grant Fuhr, a member of the Hall's Class of 2003, said in a phone interview. "Without him, there likely wouldn't be the Edmonton dynasty of the 1980s."
When it comes building, few helped turned a franchise into a juggernaut more than Fraser.
Consider some of the players drafted under his watch, future stars who formed the backbone (along with NHL all-time leading scorer Wayne Gretzky, of course) of a team that won the Stanley Cup five times in seven seasons (1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990).
In the 1979 NHL Draft, the Oilers selected defenseman Kevin Lowe in the first round (No. 21), forward Mark Messier in the third round (No. 48) and forward Glenn Anderson in the fourth round (No. 69). In the 1980 NHL Draft, Edmonton selected defenseman Paul Coffey in the first round (No. 6) and forward Jari Kurri in the fourth round (No. 69). One year later, the Oilers selected Fuhr with the No. 8 pick.
That's six future Hockey Hall of Famers selected by the Oilers over three drafts, guided by Fraser's blueprint.
"Says a lot, doesn't it?" Armstrong told NHL.com Friday night. "Just look at those names. I mean, for me, this guy is the gold standard of scouting.
"I love going to the Hall of Fame inductions every year in Toronto and seeing the people who forged the history of the game. From the best players to the best GMs to the best referees to the best coaches, they are enshrined there. But I think the best scouts are overlooked.
"Jimmy Devellano and Kenny Holland (for the Detroit Red Wings) have extensive scouting backgrounds but they both went on to become GMs. Not like Barry, who was a lifetime scout."
Armstrong started with the St. Louis Blues as an amateur scout in 2004 and in 2010 was promoted to director of amateur scouting. He was named assistant GM in 2018 before being hired as Coyotes GM on Sept. 17, 2020.
He said he has already touched base with Kurri, one of 18 members on the Hall of Fame's selection committee, about Fraser potentially being nominated. It's an idea Fuhr enthusiastically supports.
"Scouts are the foundation of any franchise, and that was Barry for us," he said.
Fuhr recalled that then-Oilers coach/GM Glen Sather had to be talked into drafting him by Fraser.
"The five or six times 'Slats' saw me play, I stunk," he laughed. "The 30 or 40 times Barry saw me, I was good. Glad Barry won out."
Lowe joked that Fraser made one glaring mistake in his career.
"Picking me ahead of Mess? What could he have been thinking?" Lowe chuckled, pointing out that he'd been selected 27 spots ahead of Messier, who went on to become the third leading scorer in NHL history with 1,887 points (694 goals, 1,193 assists).
Lowe said he wasn't surprised to read an Edmonton Sun article which revealed Fraser was at home making notes on his own while watching an Oilers game on TV the night before he died.
"Once a scout, always a scout, even after they retire," Lowe said. "It's in their blood. It was in Barry's.
"He was at the top of his profession."

GOAL RUSH

The Buffalo Sabres and Columbus Blue Jackets offered a reminder of how scoring around the NHL continues to escalate when they combined for 13 goals in Buffalo's 9-4 victory Wednesday. Sabres forward Tage Thompson had five goals and six points in the game.
It was the second time in nine days a team scored nine goals in a game. On Nov. 29, the Seattle Kraken defeated the Los Angeles Kings 9-8 in overtime. It was the 12th time in 35 years that two teams combined for 17 goals.
It's part of a trend that has seen scoring continue to rise.
According to NHL Statistics and Research, the average number of goals per game through the first 421 games this season was 6.36. That's almost half a goal more than the 5.88 goals per game teams averaged through the first 421 games last season.
In addition, teams have scored at least six goals in a game 71 times in those 421 games in 2022-23. Here's the breakdown:
• Team scoring 6+ goals: 71
• Team scoring 7+ goals: 23
• Team scoring 8+ goals: 8
• Team scoring 9+ goals: 2
In the aftermath of that shootout loss to the Kraken, Kings general manager Rob Blake said he feels at times that he's asked more about the goal-scoring flood around the League than he is about his own team. Such was the case when the Kings were in Toronto last week when the Hall of Fame defenseman was repeatedly solicited for his reasoning for the spike in offense.
"First off, I'll start with the fact that almost everything coming out of the 2004-05 lockout, every little adjustment to the game, whether it be goaltending equipment, crackdowns on obstruction and slashing, it all creates more offense," he said. "I also think with the offensive-minded skill set young players now have, power plays have improved throughout the League.
"The mentality toward offense has heightened. Pretty much every player on our team has a skills coach they work with in the offseason not only to refine the skill of getting open and finding space, but the skill to make the next play that is going to lead to the next play. That's important because that's how a lot of these goals are going in, from cross-ice passes."
Blake had 777 points (240 goals, 537 assists) in 1,270 NHL games with the Kings, Colorado Avalanche and San Jose Sharks from 1990-2010, won the Norris Trophy as the top NHL defenseman in 1998, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014. Given how rules restrictions have made it difficult for defenders to physically engage with opponents in the defensive zone, Blake sympathizes with those who play the same position he did.
"I think you've got to be taught different ways to defend, a lot of times playing through hands," he said. "Stick on the ice. Box out to a point but you can't really cross-check and box a guy out anymore. I notice with our guys, playing through hands means you eliminate the needless call on a hook, holding, slash, cross-check.
"Either way, it's hard to defend. And that leads to offensive creativity."
Given how much the game has opened up, it was suggested to Blake that surely his career numbers would be inflated if he was playing at his peak in this era.
"I don't know if I would have many more points but I would have been minus a lot more," he laughed.
Good thing he can laugh at the goal explosion around the NHL. Because goalies certainly aren't.

REMEMBERING BORJE

Plans are in place for a charity game benefitting amyotrophic lateral sclerosis research (ALS) to be held in honor of the late Borje Salming. The game would be played Feb. 11, 2023, in Gavle, Sweden, where Salming played for Brynäs IF of the Swedish Elite League from 1970-72.
Salming died Nov. 24, eight months after first being diagnosed with ALS. He was 71.
According to Darryl Sittler, Salming's close friend, Swedish Hall of Famers Mats Sundin and Nicklas Lidstrom will serve as captains for the game. Behind the benches, Sittler will join Lanny McDonald and Dave "Tiger" Williams, all teammates of Salming's during the defenseman's career with the Maple Leafs from 1973-89, as coaches.
"The wheels for this event already were in motion before Borje passed," Sittler said. "This will be a great way to raise money and educate people in the fight against ALS.
"For Lanny, Tiger and I, it's an honor to be part of it."

Meanwhile fellow Swede Victor Hedman has found his own way to pay tribute to Salming, the first Sweden-born player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame (Class of 1996). The Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman is wearing a sticker on his helmet depicting Salming's No. 21.
"I reached out to the League to see if I could wear it and they said yes," Hedman told NHL.com. "It's just another way of honoring him.
"He opened the door for Swedes and, for that matter, a lot of Europeans, to come to the NHL. It's something I haven't forgotten."

QUOTE/UNQUOTE

"They came over, hung out, got to meet my daughter. It was special. I was part of that organization for 11 years and played with a few of those guys over there for a really long time. It was great to see them, spend some time with them."
-- Columbus Blue Jackets forward Johnny Gaudreau, who became a father for the first time in October and hosted a group of his former Calgary Flames teammates and staff at his home in Columbus on Thursday. One night later, the Blue Jackets defeated the Flames 3-1 in what was Gaudreau's first game against his former team since he signed with Columbus on July 13.

THE SUNDAY LIST

After three-plus seasons with the Minnesota Wild, forward Kevin Fiala is thriving in Los Angeles with the Kings. Traded to L.A. on June 29, the 26-year-old leads the Kings with 30 points (nine goals, 21 assists) in 29 games. How much has the change of scenery helped? We asked Fiala for three things about California life, in no particular order, that have surprised him.
1. Lack of traffic. Yes, somehow he's found that in the land of highway congestion. "It's actually been great, believe it or not. I'm living in Manhattan Beach like a lot of the guys, not too far from the practice facility. So it hasn't really been an issue. It hasn't mattered. Like I said, it's been great."
2. Life in the sun. "You really appreciate the weather even more once you're here for a while in terms of how it allows you to train and workout outside every day, especially with how sunny it is much of the time. And there's always surfing for those who want to."
3. Increased travel. "It's a little bit difficult, I feel, especially going out east with the time change and all. But I'm getting used to it."