Former Oilers chairman Cal Nichols passes away at 84

The Edmonton Oilers announced on Sunday that Cal Nichols, former chairman for the Edmonton Investors Group, passed away at the age of 84 on Saturday.

Nichols first made a career in the oil and gas industry, most notably by helping found Northridge, which was Canada’s first private crude oil and natural gas marketing company, along with Gasland Oil, which became one of the largest service station chains in Western Ontario. It was that work which allowed Nichols to develop his wealth and community relations to the point where he could contribute to the Oilers organization.

When Peter Pocklington, then-owner of the Oilers, went into financial trouble in the late 1990s’ and was forced to sell the team, Nichols led the way to save the franchise from relocation to Houston. First, he more than doubled the team’s season ticket base through the Friends of the Oilers ticket drive in 1996, which gathered enough community support to keep the franchise in Edmonton.

Nichols followed that up by reaching out to the business community of Edmonton, and collected enough interest to accumulate the $110 million required to purchase the franchise, including $5 million of his own money. This newly formed Edmonton Investor Group, which Nichols became chairman of, held ownership of the team from 1998 until they transitioned ownership to Daryl Katz.

“Cal truly was a self-made man who, from modest beginnings as a teenager, gradually built a successful business career — turning his management of a single gas station into running his own oil company,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. “An early Oilers season ticket holder, he co-chaired a ticket drive in 1996 that forestalled relocation. The following year, when the team was up for sale, he rallied dozens of local business leaders to purchase the Club and keep it in Edmonton. And he served as the Oilers’ governor for a decade.”

Nichols was a season ticket holder for the Oilers until his passing.