Wayne Gretzky

Wayne Gretzky
CC
Hockey Hall of Fame, 1999
Gretzky in 2019
Born (1961-01-26) January 26, 1961
Brantford, Ontario, Canada
Height 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight 185 lb (84 kg; 13 st 3 lb)
Position Centre
Shot Left
Played for
Coached for Phoenix Coyotes
National team  Canada
Playing career 1978–1999
Coaching career 2005–2009
Website Official website

Wayne Douglas Gretzky CC (/ˈɡrɛtski/ GRET-skee; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One",[1] he has been called the greatest ice hockey player ever by the NHL[2] based on surveys of hockey writers, ex-players, general managers and coaches.[3] Gretzky is the leading career point scorer and assist producer in NHL history and has more assists than any other player has total career points.[4] He is the only NHL player to total over 200 points in one season, a feat he accomplished four times. In addition, Gretzky scored more than 100 points in 15 professional seasons. At the time of his retirement in 1999, he held 61 NHL records: 40 regular season records, 15 playoff records, and six All-Star records.[2]

Born and raised in Brantford, Ontario, Gretzky honed his skills on a backyard rink and regularly played minor ice hockey at a level far above his peers.[5] Despite his unimpressive size and strength, Gretzky's intelligence, stamina, and reading of the game were unrivaled. He was adept at dodging checks from opposing players, consistently anticipated where the puck was going to be, and executed the right move at the right time. Gretzky became known for setting up behind his opponent's net, an area that was nicknamed "Gretzky's office".[6]

Gretzky was the top scorer in the 1978 World Junior Championships, then signed with the Indianapolis Racers of the World Hockey Association (WHA), where he briefly played before being traded to the Edmonton Oilers. After the NHL-WHA merger, he set many scoring records in ten seasons with the Oilers, and led them to four Stanley Cup championships. Traded to the Los Angeles Kings where he played eight seasons, he led them to the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals, and he is credited with popularizing hockey in California.[7] He played briefly for the St. Louis Blues before finishing his career with the New York Rangers. He won nine Hart Trophies as the most valuable player, 10 Art Ross Trophies for most points in a season, two Conn Smythe Trophies as playoff MVP and five Lester B. Pearson Awards as the most outstanding player as judged by his peers. He led the league in goal-scoring five times and assists 16 times. He also won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for sportsmanship and performance five times and often spoke against fighting in hockey.[8]

After his retirement in 1999, Gretzky was immediately inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, making him the most recent player to have the waiting period waived. The NHL retired his jersey number 99 league-wide. Gretzky was one of six players voted to the International Ice Hockey Federation's (IIHF) Centennial All-Star Team.[9] He was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2000, and received the Order of Hockey in Canada in 2012. Gretzky became executive director for the Canadian national men's hockey team during the 2002 Winter Olympics, in which the team won a gold medal. In 2000, he became part-owner of the Phoenix Coyotes, and following the 2004–05 NHL lock-out, he became the team's head coach. In 2004, Gretzky was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.[10] In September 2009, following the Phoenix Coyotes' bankruptcy, Gretzky resigned as head coach and relinquished his ownership share. In October 2016, he returned to the Oilers as a minority partner and vice-chairman of their parent company, Oilers Entertainment Group. He left in 2021 to become an analyst on Turner Sports' NHL coverage.

  1. ^ "Wayne Gretzky finally explains meaning behind 'The Great One' nickname". Yahoo! Sports. May 21, 2014. Archived from the original on October 15, 2023. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
  2. ^ a b For his titles, see "University of Alberta: Honorary Degree Recipients (2000–2007)". Ualbertacentennial.ca. 2000. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved July 1, 2010.
    • Regarded as the best player in the history of the NHL: see "Wayne Gretzky". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on July 26, 2008. Retrieved June 10, 2008.
    • Regarded as the greatest by many sportswriters: see Falla, Jack (1998). "The Greatest One Bar None". In Dryden, Steve (ed.). The Top 100 NHL Players of All Time. Toronto, Ontario: McClelland & Stewart. p. 16. ISBN 978-0-7710-4175-4.
    • That many players share the view, see Maloney, Tom (February 15, 2006). "Gretzky's Awkward Arrival". Time. Archived from the original on August 23, 2013. Retrieved March 7, 2008.
    • That the NHL shares the view, see Falla, Jack (2000). "Wayne Gretzky: Greatness Ascendant". In Dan Diamond (ed.). Total Hockey: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Hockey League. Total Sports. ISBN 978-1-892129-85-7. Archived from the original on November 17, 2010. Retrieved September 9, 2010.
    • For the records he held at retirement, see "NHL Records Held or Shared by Wayne Gretzky". National Hockey League. Archived from the original on January 17, 2016. Retrieved September 9, 2010.
  3. ^ Kay, Jason; Ken Campbell; Adam Proteau (2007). The Hockey News – The Top 60 Since 1967. Montreal: Transcontinental Books. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-9738355-4-0.
  4. ^ Stubbs, Dave (January 1, 2017). "Wayne Gretzky: 100 Greatest NHL Players". National Hockey League. Archived from the original on December 8, 2017. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  5. ^ Schwartz, Larry. "'Great' and 'Gretzky' belong together". ESPN. Archived from the original on July 19, 2016. Retrieved October 4, 2006.
  6. ^ Sullivan, Tim. "Gretzky's office". St. Petersburg Times. Archived from the original on May 22, 2012. Retrieved April 23, 2008.
  7. ^ Allen, Kevin (August 10, 2008). "Gretzky trade remembered for 'seismic impact'". USA Today. Archived from the original on June 8, 2012. Retrieved February 21, 2011.
  8. ^ Duhatschek, Eric (September 2, 2011). "Getting rid of hockey's goons". The Globe and Mail. Canada. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 16, 2015. Once upon a time, Wayne Gretzky opposed fighting in hockey as passionately as Sinden, suggesting soon after he arrived in Los Angeles that hockey would never be a mainstream sport as long as fighting was condoned the way it was. Ultimately, as Gretzky's voice was ignored for years and years, he stopped contributing to the conversation. People can only be shouted down for so long before they figure it's somebody else's turn to carry the torch.
  9. ^ "IIHF Centennial All-Star Team". iihf.com. International Ice Hockey Federation. Archived from the original on February 16, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
  10. ^ "Wayne Gretzky". oshof.ca. Ontario Sports Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on December 28, 2014. Retrieved September 25, 2014.
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