A finger injury suffered during the 1994 Stanley Cup playoffs hampered Oates throughout the 1994–95 season and required surgery at the season's conclusion. Despite the injury, Oates finished fourth in the NHL with 41 assists in a season disrupted by a work stoppage. In game five of the conference quarter-final series against the New Jersey Devils, Oates scored the final goal in the history of the Boston Garden in a 4–1 loss. The Bruins signed him to a five-year, $10 million contract extension late in that season, but Oates once again became frustrated with his salary relative to the rest of the league by 1997. With the Bruins struggling on the ice and out of playoff contention late in 1996–97 season, Oates publicly berated team management, saying, "You go on a trip and everyone says it's a big trip. For what? So we can win five games because we're lousy and we get in the eighth spot and lose four straight and get embarrassed and then get shelled all summer? It's upstairs, baby. That's their job, not ours. ... Are we rebuilding? What are we doing? What direction are we going in?"