Oilers announce that the team will retire Grant Fuhr's No. 31 jersey before the season opener Oct. 9.  Fuhr will become the fourth player to have his number retired by the team, joining Wayne Gretzky, Al Hamilton and Jari Kurri.

This is a list of the Oilers' picks in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, which will be held in Nashville on June 21 and 22.
 

* The Oilers traded their fourth round pick to the New York Rangers.

Former Oilers' goaltender Grant Fuhr is inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.  This was the first year of eligibility for Fuhr, who won four Stanley Cups with the Oilers. 

Oilers announce that the team will hold a mini camp for over 20 of its top prospects later this month.  Players such as Doug Lynch, Brad Winchester, Jeff Deslauriers, Matt Greene, Jesse Niinimaki and Dwight Helminen will attend the camp, which runs from June 24-28 at Millennium Place in Sherwood Park. 

Oilers announce that the team will host the first-ever NHL regular season game to be played outdoors as part of the celebreation of its 25th Anniversary season.  The "Heritage Classic” will be the centerpiece of a year-long celebration commemorating the Oilers' 25 seasons and will take place on Saturday, November 22, 2003, at Commonwealth Stadium.  The game will feature the Oilers versus the Montreal Canadiens.  There will also be an alumni game featuring Wayne Gretzky and Guy Lafleur.

Oilers announce that seven members of the team will participate in the World Hockey Championships in Finland.  Eric Brewer, Mike Comrie,  Shawn Horcoff, Ryan Smyth and Steve Staios will join Team Canada. Marty Reasoner will skate for Team USA and Tommy Salo will play goal for Team Sweden.

A goal by Mike Modano with 6:52 remaining in the third period lifts the Dallas Stars to a 3-2 win in game six, and the Oilers lose the series 4-2.  The Oilers were unable to stop the top Stars in this series, as both Modano and Sergei Zubov scored 10 points to lead their team to the next round. 

A Dallas win over Nashville, combined with a Detroit loss to Chicago, earns the Stars the Western Conference title and sets up the sixth playoff meeting in the last seven years between the Oilers and Stars.  Ironically, the only season the two teams did not meet was last year, when neither qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs