Oates was one of the NHL's great playmakers, a style that he credits his father as encouraging: "It was just kind of our family talks: 'If you can be unselfish, your teammates will always like you.' And it just kind of became my role, where I was obviously trying to please my dad, growing up and becoming a playmaker out of that." Oates' father, a British immigrant, idolized Stanley Matthews, considered one of the greatest association football (soccer) players of all-time and hoped that his son would adopt a pass-first mentality similar to Matthews.