EDMONTON OILERS MEDIA GUIDE

KELLY
BUCHBERGER
Ten seasons after playing his last game in the
copper and blue, Kelly Buchberger returned to
the Edmonton Oilers as a member of the team’s
coaching staff for the 2008-09 season. Buchberger,
45, is an assistant coach with Steve Smith under
new Head Coach Ralph Krueger for the 2012-13
season.
ASSISTANT COACH
Buchberger made the move to the NHL coaching
ranks following a season as head coach of the
Springfield Falcons. In his lone season behind the
Oilers’ American Hockey League affiliate’s bench,
“Bucky” guided the Falcons to a fifth place finish in the AHL’s Atlantic Division with a 35-35-10
record in 2007-08. It was the first time since 1998-99 that the Falcons had reached the .500
mark and the 35 win season marked the most victories in a season for Springfield since the
Falcons won 35 games in 2001-02. Under Buchberger’s guidance the Falcons showed a 21 point
improvement over their record of 28-49-3 in 2006-07.
A veteran of 18 National Hockey League seasons, including 13 seasons with the Oilers,
Buchberger began his coaching career in 2004-05, serving as Geoff Ward’s assistant coach
with the AHL’s Edmonton Road Runners. He served as the Oilers’ Development Coach in 2006-07.
During his 18 NHL seasons, the Langenburg, Saskatchewan native played 1,182 regular
season games in a career that began during the 1987 Stanley Cup playoffs with the Oilers
and concluded in 2003-04 with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He scored 309 points with 105 goals
and 204 assists, while registering 2,297 penalty minutes with Edmonton, Atlanta, Los Angeles,
Phoenix and Pittsburgh. He added 10-15-25 with 129 penalty minutes in 97 Stanley Cup Playoff
games.
After making his NHL debut with the Oilers during the first three games of the 1987 Stanley
Cup Final versus Philadelphia, Buchberger would go on to play 795 regular season games in
Edmonton before being claimed by the Atlanta Thrashers in the NHL Expansion Draft on June 25,
1999. He ranks 17th on the Oilers all-time scoring list with 82-158-240 and is the team’s career
leader in penalty minutes with 1,747.
Buchberger was named the Oilers ninth captain in 1995-96 and served in that capacity for four
seasons. He was Edmonton’s ninth round draft pick in 1985 and was a member of the Oilers
1987 and 1990 Stanley Cup championship teams.
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