Marie Greyhounds selected Gretzky, even though Walter Gretzky had told the team that Wayne would not move to Sault Ste.

Skalbania told Gretzky he would be moved, offering him a choice between Edmonton and Winnipeg.

Gretzky, goaltender Eddie Mio and forward Peter Driscoll were put on a private plane, not knowing where they would land and what team they would be joining.

Skalbania offered to play a game of backgammon with Winnipeg owner Michael Gobuty, the stakes being if Gobuty won, he would get Gretzky and if he lost, he had to give Skalbania a share of the Jets.

Under normal circumstances, Gretzky would have been removed from the Oilers and placed in the pool for the 1979 NHL Entry Draft, but his personal services contract prevented this.

As the season wound down, there was media speculation that Gretzky would retire, but he refused to announce his retirement.

Madison Square Garden photographer George Kalinsky's image of Gretzky waving to the crowd at the Garden, like his image of Messier after the Rangers won game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals five years earlier, would become an iconic image to the Rangers and their fans, documenting one of the greatest moments at the Garden, and even to hockey fans.

In his autobiography, Gretzky describes how at practices, his Dad would drill him on the fundamentals of smart hockey:

Gretzky would prod next-door neighbour Brian Rizzetto to play in goal after sundown in order to practice his backhand.

Bidders for the club had indicated that Gretzky would no longer be associated with the team after it emerged from bankruptcy, and on September 24, 2009, Gretzky stepped down as head coach and head of hockey operations of the Coyotes.

Although Gretzky had previously stated he would not participate in any " old-timers exhibition games ", on November 22, 2003, he took to the ice one last time to help celebrate the Edmonton Oilers ' 25th anniversary as an NHL team.

Oilers players such as Gretzky and Mark Messier said that they realized at that moment how much it would actually take to win the Stanley Cup.

The team's performance would improve in 1978, when new owner Peter Pocklington acquired Wayne Gretzky as an under-age player ( consequentially, his first year of WHA experience prevented him from being an official 1979 – 80 NHL rookie ), as well as goaltender Eddie Mio and forward Peter Driscoll, from the recently-folded Indianapolis Racers for cash.

Originally, Gretzky was not eligible to be protected ; under the rules of the time, he normally would have been placed in the Entry Draft pool.

The Oilers would go on to defeat the Bruins in five games, and win their first Cup without Gretzky.

On May 1, 2007, the Staples Center sports arena announced that a bronze statue of Oscar De La Hoya would join similar tributes to Los Angeles sports stars Magic Johnson and Wayne Gretzky at Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles.

Howe had played in five decades of All-Star Games and he would skate alongside the second-youngest to ever play in the game, 19-year-old Wayne Gretzky.

Over the years Howe became good friends with Gretzky, who had idolized Howe as a young player, and who would later break many of Howe's scoring records and milestones.

Also during the off-season, there was speculation that the Mighty Ducks would acquire Wayne Gretzky, whose contract had expired with the St. Louis Blues.

Although it's worth noting that, had the Richard Trophy existed during the years they completed their Hart-Pearson-Art Ross sweeps, Lafleur would have achieved the four award sweep once ( 1977 – 78 ), Lemieux twice ( 1987 – 88 and 1995 – 96 ) and Gretzky five times ( 1981 – 82, 1982 – 83, 1983 – 84, 1984 – 85 and 1986 – 87 ).

Although public sentiment sided with Messier, as he led the team to two first-place regular season finishes and the Stanley Cup, General Manager Neil Smith figured out that he had Gretzky and Pat LaFontaine as top centermen, and he came close to signing Joe Sakic from the Colorado Avalanche At 36 years old, Messier signed with the Vancouver Canucks to a high-priced free agent contract, where he would be reunited with Mike Keenan, who was the Rangers ' head coach in 1994, who would be hired as the Canucks ' general manager and head coach early in the 1997 – 98 season.

Gretzky scored his first professional goal against Dave Dryden of the Edmonton Oilers in his fifth game, and his second goal four seconds later.

At first, Gretzky did not want to leave Edmonton, but he later received a call from Los Angeles Kings owner Bruce McNall while on his honeymoon asking permission to meet and discuss the deal.

On August 9, 1988, in a move that heralded significant change in the NHL, the Oilers traded Gretzky, along with McSorley and Krushelnyski, to the Kings for Carson, Martin Gelinas, $ 15 million in cash, and the Kings ' first-round draft picks in 1989 ( later traded to the New Jersey Devils – New Jersey selected Jason Miller ), 1991 ( Martin Rucinsky ), and 1993 ( Nick Stajduhar ).

Seven months later, Gretzky joined Team Canada for the 1982 World Championships in Finland.

In 1992, Gretzky and McNall partnered in an investment to buy a rare Honus Wagner T206 cigarette card for $ 451, 000 US, later selling the card.

Moments later, Gretzky scored the winning goal to stave off elimination.

Combining skilled defense and a reputation as one of the game's best faceoff men using his innovative curved stick, Mikita led the league in scoring four times in the decade, tying Bobby Hull's single-season scoring mark in 1966 – 67 with 97 points ( a mark broken two years later by former teammate Phil Esposito and currently held by Wayne Gretzky ).

* August 9: Wayne Gretzky is traded to the Los Angeles Kings by the Edmonton Oilers with Mike Krushelnyski and Marty McSorley for Jimmy Carson, Martin Gélinas, the Los Angeles Kings 1989 First Round Draft Pick ( later acquired by New Jersey Devils, who selected Jason Miller ), 1991 ( Martin Rucinsky ), and 1993 ( Nick Stajduhar ) Entry Drafts and cash.

A few months later, Pocklington parlayed the Gretzky signing into a merger between the WHA and the National Hockey League.

In 1970 – 71, he scored eight shorthanded goals, setting an NHL record for most shorthanded goals scored in a single season, which would later be broken by Marcel Dionne in 1974 – 75, with 10 shorthanded goals ( Dionne's record would be broken by Wayne Gretzky in 1983 – 84 with 12 shorthanded goals.

After NHL statisticians discovered a bug in their new stat-tracking software, the " Biron rule " restricted jersey numbers to whole numbers between 1 and 99 ( later limited to numbers between 1 and 98 after the league-wide retirement of number 99 for Wayne Gretzky ).

Gretzky also made it clear that he would not partake in any oldtimer or Heroes of Hockey game unless it was held in Edmonton, a statement that was realized with the 2003 Heritage Classic three years later.

He later played in the 1981 Canada Cup on a line with Wayne Gretzky and Lafleur.

Smith later played in the World Hockey Association, and was a teammate of Wayne Gretzky while playing for the Indianapolis Racers .< ref >< nowiki ></ nowiki >, pg.

Decades later, Hap Day argued that this team was the strongest NHL team ever and Globe and Mail reporter Dick Beddoes also stirred up controversy by saying Wayne Gretzky would have been relegated to the fourth line on this Leaf team.

Schneider earned a full-time NHL roster spot in the 1990 – 91 season and, two years later, he won the 1993 Stanley Cup with the Canadiens, defeating Wayne Gretzky and the Los Angeles Kings in five games.

However, as the ceremonies always conflicted with his hockey schedule, it was not until over 13 years, and two governors general, later that Gretzky could personally be invested into the order.

Around that time, in July 1982, Bure was selected as one of three young Russian players to practice with Wayne Gretzky and Soviet national goaltender Vladislav Tretiak in a taped television special.

The series was very successful, with some, including Wayne Gretzky, calling for more international hockey, especially between Canada and the Soviet Union, the two top powers of hockey at the time.

* October 15 – Wayne Gretzky becomes the leading scorer in the history of the National Hockey League.

* In the National Hockey League, Wayne Gretzky scored a league-high 87 goals with the Edmonton Oilers in the 1983 – 84 NHL season.

* The highest jersey number allowed in the National Hockey League, as 99 was retired by the entire league to honor Wayne Gretzky and major-league sports only allow one-or two-digit uniform numbers.

The one-time head of a business empire that spanned auto dealerships, food-processing companies, real estate, a trust company and professional sports teams, Pocklington is perhaps best known as the owner of the National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers and as the man who traded the rights to hockey's greatest player, Wayne Gretzky, to the Los Angeles Kings.

He also brought in skill players such as, Jim Duhart, who led the UHL in scoring the previous season, former National Hockey League ( NHL ) player Brent Gretzky, and Michael Rupp, who played for the team during the 2004 – 05 NHL lockout.

In Vancouver, on 6 October, the Queen, accompanied by Wayne Gretzky, and in front of a crowd of 18, 000 at General Motors Place, dropped the ceremonial first puck for the National Hockey League exhibition game between the Vancouver Canucks and San Jose Sharks ; this was the first time any reigning monarch, Canadian or otherwise, had performed the task.

Nelson Skalbania, the owner of Indianapolis Racers, signed the 17 year old future superstar Wayne Gretzky to, at that time, an unprecedented personal contract worth between 1. 125 and 1. 75 million dollars over 4 to 7 years ; then as now, the National Hockey League's rules did not permit the signing of 17 year olds.