As Jeff Petry’s career winds down, it’s getting harder and harder to remember him in the orange and blue.

Sure, there are more forgettable Edmonton Oilers in the Decade of Darkness, but the lone Petry game that I personally remember is when he scored a goal in a game against the Detroit Red Wings. Unfortunately, it was an own-goal in 2012-13, one of just two seasons where it looked like the Oilers had a legitimate chance of making the playoffs from 2007-08 until 2015-16.

Drafted 45th overall in the 2006 draft, the right-shot defenceman spent three seasons at Michigan State before finally signing his entry-level contract with the Oilers. He split his first full professional season between the American Hockey League and National Hockey League, scoring a goal and five points in 35 games during the 2010-11 season.

Petry became a regular in 2011-12, scoring twice with 23 assists in 73 games. In the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season, Petry scored three goals and 12 points in 48 games, followed by a career-high seven goals in 80 games during the 2013-14 season.

But Petry entered the 2014-15 season as a pending unrestricted free agent. With the Oilers out of contention and failing to agree to a long-term deal, they shipped him to the Montréal Canadiens for a 2015 second and a 2015 fourth rounder.

Petry was their best defenceman at the time of the trade, and this was an undeniably bad return for him. The Michigan product eventually blossomed with the Canadiens, scoring double-digit goals and 40 or more points in four seasons spanning from 2017-18 until 2020-21.

However, it’s what the Oilers did with those picks that not only makes this trade tree interesting, but also salvages it.

The fallout from the Petry........

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