Oilers nixed a deal for Perry in 2003

Ah, 2003. Ryan Smyth was the Edmonton Oilers’ leading scorer and 50 Cent’s “In Da Club” was playing on newfangled iPods across the nation. Oilers fans may not have known it, but their team’s management group, headed up by general manager Kevin Lowe, would hamstring them for years to come with their shortsighted pettiness.

In an article from 2011, Oilers Nation blogger Robin Brownlee revisits the Oilers 2003 trade proposition with the Ducks wherein Brownlee maintains that superstar Corey Perry “was an Oiler on paper” and would have been traded were it not for Lowe. 

Check it out:

In fact, Perry was an Oiler on paper in December of 2003, dealt to Edmonton with a first-round draft pick by Anaheim GM Bryan Murray for Mike Comrie — with the proviso by GM Kevin Lowe that Comrie and agent Ritch Winter work out a contract with Murray and that Lowe would have the opportunity to speak to Winter and Comrie before signing off.

After Winter and Murray came to terms on a two-year contract at $1.65 million a season, Lowe picked up the phone and informed Winter there was a condition to completing the trade — that Comrie make a payment of $2.5 million to the Oilers to "top up" the transaction.

The deal came undone, Perry stayed in Anaheim and later in December Lowe dealt Comrie to the Philadelphia Flyers for Jeff Woywitka and draft picks that turned into Rob Schremp and Danny Syvret.

Oh, man. We’re so, so sorry Oilers fans. That’s gotta hurt.