Blair Neil Joseph "B. He is best known for his time with the Oilers, the club where he spent the majority of his career and where he served as one of Wayne Gretzky 's first linemates at the start of Gretzky's NHL career. However, he was also selected 30th overall by the Alberta Oilers returned to original name Edmonton Oilers a few months later of the rival World Hockey Association in their draft and chose to forego the NHL to sign in Edmonton. MacDonald had a solid rookie professional season in —74 , finishing the year with 21 goals and 45 points in 78 games, and posted nearly identical numbers in —75 with 22 goals and 46 points.
After a sluggish start to the —76 campaign, he was dealt to the Indianapolis Racers , where he rediscovered his scoring touch and finished the year with a career-high 26 goals. In —77 , he blossomed into a top player for the Racers, leading the team with 34 goals and finishing with 64 points. He then added 15 points in nine games in the playoffs.
For —78 , MacDonald was traded back to the Oilers, where he enjoyed another fine season with 34 goals and 68 points. Just after the start of the —79 season, Edmonton traded for year-old wunderkind Wayne Gretzky , who dominated the sport for the next two decades.
As the Oilers' top right winger and a natural sniper, MacDonald became one of Gretzky's regular wingers, along with Brett Callighen , and finished the year with 34 goals and a career-high 71 points. Riding the playmaking wizardry of Gretzky, he would finish the season with 46 goals and 48 assists for 94 points, a total good for 10th in the league.
With just six penalty minutes all season, he finished fourth in balloting for the Lady Byng Trophy as the league's most gentlemanly player, an award ultimately won by Gretzky. When team captain Ron Chipperfield was traded in early , Macdonald was made the NHL Oilers' second-ever captain, and fifth overall in the history of the franchise.
