The man who helped save the Oilers in Edmonton has sadly passed away at age 84

The Edmonton Oilers are mourning a man who quite literally kept the franchise in Alberta.

Cal Nichols, the former chairman of the Edmonton Investors Group, died Saturday at age 84, the team confirmed Sunday.

Nichols wasn't a player or a coach, but few people mattered more to the Oilers' existence in Edmonton than he did.

Born in 1942 in Paradise Hill, Saskatchewan, he built a career in oil and gas before turning his attention to hockey in the mid 1990s, when the franchise's future in the city was anything but certain.

That post from the Oilers captures the mood around the city right now.

Nichols co-chaired the Friends of the Oilers ticket drive in 1996, doubling the team's season ticket base.

When Peter Pocklington was forced to sell the franchise a year later, with a Houston businessman waiting to swoop in, Nichols rallied the local business community to keep the team home.

He pulled together 38 investors and $110 million, including $5 million of his own money, to form the Edmonton Investors Group.

That group took control of the team on May 5, 1998, and Nichols served as chairman and governor for a decade, keeping the Oilers in Oil Country until selling to current owner Daryl Katz in 2008.

Nichols never stopped showing up.

He held his season tickets right up until his death and stayed a fixture in the Edmonton business community, earning the Order of Canada in 2015 and a spot in the Alberta Business Hall of Fame.

He's survived by his wife Edna, children Ken and Kristine, and five grandchildren.

For a franchise now built around Connor McDavid, it's worth remembering the man who made sure there was still a team to root for in the first place.

Also read on House Of Hockey :
Pierre LeBrun reveals major Arber Xhekaj contract update ahead of Canadiens training camp