With the retirement of the only play-by-play voice the club has ever know in Rod Phillips, the Edmonton Oilers have begun to look for his replacement.

After 37 seasons behind the microphone, Phillips will be back for 10 commemorative games next year, leaving 72 regular-season contests and possible playoff encounters to be called by his successor.

“We’ve had a lot of applications already,” said Oilers president and CEO Patrick LaForge. “After (Friday’s) announcement we’ll get a bunch more I’m sure.”

Current Oilers colourman and radio host Bob Stauffer is the front-runner to replace Phillips on a full-time basis.

The former voice of the University of Alberta Golden Bears replaced long-time colourman Morley Scott shortly after the team was purchased by Daryl Katz.

Stauffer filled in for Phillips, calling play-by-play on a handful of occasions over the past couple of seasons.

“We think Bob has done a great job.” LaForge said. “I think Bob is the leader in the race automatically, but we’ll act accordingly. It depends who calls and what we think, and we’ll go from there.

“It’s a great job with a great franchise that on it’s way in the right direction, it’s on it’s way up. It’s a legacy business. We’re going to be picky about who gets the job, because it’s not just a job, it’s a transition of the torch. Rod did it for 37 years. You can’t count anybody in that sort of zone, but it is a long-term commitment and it’s much more than just going to work every day. There’s relationship with the team, a relationship with the community, and it goes on and on. You have to look at it a lot of different ways before you pick the right guy.”

The Oilers are expecting to get a number of high-qualified applicants for the position.

Play-by-play openings in the NHL do not roll around often, therefore it’s certain many broadcasters currently working in the minors or junior will jump at the opportunity to get their voices heard at the highest level.

“The games that Bob did this year, he did a really nice job and we all know that,” said Allan Watt, the Oilers vice president of communications and broadcast. “But we owe it to the brand, the team, and the people to see what comes our way. I don’t expect Joe Buck (Fox Sports) to be phoning me asking if the job in Edmonton is available, but we’ll see what happens.”

Despite rumours last season would be Phillips’ last with the club, the Oilers were not going to conduct a search until they were certain the Hall-of-Famer was not returning on a full-time basis.

“In fairness to Rod, we weren’t going to do this until Rod walked in and told us he was going to retire,” Watt said. “It’s Rod. If he would have walked in last week and told us that he feels like doing one more year, then

we would have given him one more year. But he didn’t, he wanted to do this and he made that clear.”

Phillips, 68, has called over 3,500 games in his career, which have included the greatest moments in Oilers history.

He began with the team when they were still in the World Hockey Association.

In 2003, the native of Calmar, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

“I care (about the replacement), but I don’t have any say about it,” Phillips said. “That’s going to be an organizational decision. I have no idea who it might be. But I think they’re going to get a lot of people applying for it, because it’s a great job.”

Other local candidates could include Global’s Kevin Karius, who’s no stranger to the Oilers broadcast booth, or perhaps even TSN’s Ryan Rishaug.

“We have to make sure we have the whole package,” LaForge said. “We’re not just changing a person, we’re going into a whole new era.”