Twelveteen days until the Edmonton Oil Kings begin their regular season campaign in Red Deer. Have their been a dozen players in the modern day history of the Club to wear sweater number 12? Let's recollect!
2007-08 & 2008-09
4 games in Medicine Hat was on Shayne Neigum's resume when he came to the expansion Oil Kings. The left winger played two seasons in Edmonton appearing in 127 games. He had 14 points each season.
2009-10
If you keep an eye on the BCHL, Garry Nunn was recently named assistant coach of the Victoria Grizzlies. Nunn came to Edmonton at the tradeline that saw original Oil Kings Tomas Vincour and Brett Breitkreuz go to the Vancouver Giants. Which is akin to Jimmy Carson coming over in the Wayne Gretzky trade in the sense that Nunn had no chance of winning over the fan base.
2010-11
On December 13th, Jordan Hickmott scored a hat-trick and had a hat-trick of assists against the Regina Pats. The 6-point game stands as an Oil Kings record although since 2021 it is now a shared record. Hickmott finished his final season in the WHL with 66 points in 72 regular season games and added 5 points in 4 playoff games.
2011-12 through 2014-15
Edmontonian Cole Benson played his entire 216 game WHL career with the Oil Kings. Only 5'7" Benson's speed allowed him to play center on the first line one night and the fourth line the next. He registered a hat-trick on February 22nd, 2013 in Spokane. Cole won the Scholastic Player of the Year team award. He finished his career with 27 regular season goals.
2015-16
This was Dario Meyer's one season played outside his homeland of Switzerland. Meyer had 28 points in 57 regular season games adding 2 points in 6 playoff games.
2016-17 through 2020-21
Edmontonian Liam Keeler played 212 games over five seasons with the Oil Kings before being traded to Red Deer to finish his WHL career. The ability to win faceoffs will be remembered more than his offensive feats and that's okay.
2021-22 through 2024-25
Lethbridge's John Szabo's last game as an Oil Kings was at Lethbridge on September 20th, 2024. He was then traded to Kamloops. In his rookie campaign with Oil Kings, he assisted on the Teddy Bear Toss goal.