Cujo and the Trade That Helped Save the Edmonton Oilers

In the mid-1990s, the Edmonton Oilers were a franchise drifting in the wake of their dynasty years. That search for identity ended on August 4, 1995, in a franchise-altering trade with the St. Louis Blues. General Manager Glen Sather sent two first-round picks to St. Louis to acquire the rights to goaltender Curtis Joseph and Mike Grier. It was a gamble that didn’t just stabilize the net; it resurrected the city’s hockey soul.

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The Backbone of a New Era

While Joseph initially held out for a contract, his eventual arrival helped trigger a cultural shift. He brought a “battle-first” mentality that helped transform the franchise in Oil Country. As former Oilers captain Kelly Buchberger told The Score:

“When players respect the goalie and like the goalie as much as we did with Curtis, you did everything possible to keep the puck out of the net.”

The Save and the Sprint

The pinnacle of this era remains Game 7 of the 1997 playoffs against the Dallas Stars. In overtime, “CuJo” made the “save of a lifetime”—a sprawling glove stop on Joe Nieuwendyk. The impact was instantaneous. Just seconds later, Todd Marchant gathered the puck, flew down the wing, and scored the series winner on Andy Moog.

The image of head coach Ron Low—electric with joy—screaming toward his netminder remains etched in Oiler lore. Joseph later reflected on the atmosphere in Edmonton to Sportsnet:

“It’s Edmonton, where hockey matters. It’s everything. It was fun for me to play in that environment, where hockey mattered to everybody.”

A Legacy of Hope

Statistically, Joseph was a titan, posting 14 regular-season shutouts in just three years. More than the numbers, he provided hope to a small market team facing relocation rumors, proving that with a hero in the crease, any team could be toppled. Curtis “Cujo” Joseph didn’t just play for Edmonton; he helped lift the Edmonton Oilers back into a meaningful level of significance.

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