The man who led the effort to save Edmonton’s National Hockey League team from being sold and relocated to the United States in the 1990s has died. Cal Nichols, who died Saturday morning at age 84, was a longtime oil-and-gas businessman and Edmonton Oilers season-ticket holder when a proposed sale of the NHL franchise to an American buyer prompted him to rally enough investors to keep the team in the city. It may be hard for today’s average Oilers fan to grasp just how close the team came to becoming the third Canadian franchise in the 1990s to relocate south of the border. At the time, the Oilers had one of the NHL’s lowest payrolls and relied on government subsidies to stay afloat. Today, they regularly spend near the salary cap, boast superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, have made two recent trips to the Stanley Cup Final, and rank among the league’s top teams in revenue and value. “None of that would have ever happened if Cal hadn’t taken the lead back in the ’90s to keep the team here,” said Kevin Lowe, the Oilers’ former president, longtime player and Hockey Hall of Famer who served as general manager for much of the Edmonton Investors’ Group’s ownership tenure. “Thirty-eight of them stepped up with their own money, like Cal did,” Lowe told CTV News Edmonton on Monday, referring to investors such as Bruce Savile, Gary Gregg, Ed Bean and Jim Hole. “I’d like to name them all. They probably wrote the biggest cheques ... but Cal was a dog on a bone when it came to making sure this got done.” Nichols had just led a successful campaign to grow the Oilers’ season-ticket base from 6,200 to more than 13,000 when the owner of the NBA’s Houston Rockets moved to buy the team out of receivership in early 1998. Les Alexander’s $120-million offer triggered a clause in the Oilers’ Coliseum lease giving a local ownership group six weeks to purchase the team outright for a predetermined price of CAD$100 million. Nichols had already begun assembling such a group when Alexander submitted his bid and a $7-million deposit to the Alberta Treasury Branch, which had taken control of the team through receivership after owner Peter Pocklington’s financial troubles. Alexander planned to buy the Oilers and move them to Texas. With lenders willing to finance 40 per cent of the purchase price, Nichols got to work. He ultimately found 37 other investors willing to help buy the Oilers and keep them in Edmonton. After the purchase, Nichols served as team chairman and governor until the club was sold to Daryl Katz a decade later. Without Nichols and his relentless efforts, Lowe said, the Oilers would have left Edmonton. He recalled the tight timelines and shrinking window the investors faced. “They got to the 11th hour and were still short, but then a few more guys stepped up and got them to the final number. That’s how close it was,” he said. “And you think, if they came up short, there’d be no Rogers Place, there’d be no Oilers, there’d be no Connor McDavid.” Nichols, a native of Paradise Hill, Sask., moved to Edmonton with his wife, Edna, in the late 1960s. He is survived by Edna, their children, Ken and Kristine, and five grandchildren. Lowe said he hopes Nichols and the rest of the Investors’ Group are eventually recognized for keeping the Oilers in Edmonton. “That’s important to remember, important to talk about, and I hope the City of Edmonton, in the coming years, does something significant to honour what Cal did.” With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nahreman Issa
