Wayne Gretzky is known amongst many as the "Great One" and for good reason, he holds an NHL record for how many NHL records he holds and he was famously an Edmonton Oilers star for the bulk of his career.
Gretzky grew up in the small city of Brantford, Ontario, where he gained his moniker at the age of 10 while racking up 378 goals and 517 points -- according to Elite Prospects -- as a member of the Brantford Steelers in a single season. His play and ability to rack up points has drawn the attention of many since he was a little kid, so it's no surprise that he grew up to be quite the pro as well.
He made a few stops, notably as a member of the Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds of the then named Ontario Hockey Association (OHA). He then joined the World Hockey Association (WHA) and it's member club the Indianapolis Racers, playing only eight games with them before being traded to the Oilers along with two teammates for $825,000.
There he reached 104 points in 72 games as a rookie, before the Oilers left for the NHL the following year after the WHA disbanded in 1979, taking their prized player with them. Here he lead the league in scoring for eight straight years between 1979-1987.
During his time in Edmonton, he went for multiple deep playoff runs with the team and captured four Stanley Cup championships between 1984-1988, being an instrumental part in one of hockey's most storied dynasty and arguably the greatest team ever assembled.
Then as the saying goes, the rest was history... Right?
August 9th, 1988; Edmonton Oilers trade Wayne Gretzky to Los Angeles Kings
On August 9th, 1988, just months after the Oilers officially became a dynasty, winning their fourth Cup in five seasons, they traded their franchise cornerstone and best player in the league to the Los Angeles Kings. It was a blockbuster trade not only for the moving parts but also from a league perspective.
It would be like the Chicago Blackhawks trading Patrick Kane or Jonathan Toews in 2015 or the Pittsburgh Penguins trading Sidney Crosby in 2017 after their back-to-back cup wins, people would call for team executives heads! The trade went down as follows:
Los Angeles Kings acquire: Wayne Gretzky, Marty McSorley, and Mike Krushelnyski
Edmonton Oilers acquire: Jimmy Carson, Martin Gelinas, 1989 First Round Selection, 1991 First Round Selection, 1993 First Round Selection, and $15 million
If you have ever heard the saying "If Gretzky can be traded, so can anybody" this trade is the reason for that saying. Although the club was having an abundance of on-ice success, off the ice, franchise owner Peter Pocklington was struggling financially.
This was evident with the $15 million in cash that was exchanged in the trade. For context, the San Jose Sharks would pay only $45 million in expansion fees to join the NHL in 1991, the $15 million amount in 1988 was a large sum of money for an NHL club to trade away.
Although Carson and Gelinas did not stick around with the Oilers for very long, playing a combined 342 regular season games, the latter was a member of the 1990 team that captured a fifth Stanley Cup and the only without Gretzky in Oilers history.
Gretzky on the other hand would play parts of eight seasons as a member of the Kings, leading the league in assists five times and points three times. He was clearly not as explosive with them as he was in Edmonton and the Kings did not win a cup with Gretzky, although they did make the Cup finals once with him in 1993.
In February 1996, Gretzky was packaged to the St. Louis Blues where he played a combined 31 games between the regular season and playoffs. That summer he would hit free agency and become a member of the New York Rangers for the final three seasons of his career.
Oilers fans can take solace in the fact that even though they traded the Great One, he was not as good with any other team as he was with them and never won another Stanley Cup despite the Oilers winning one more time.
Conspiracies and backlash surrounding the deal
There are many conspiracy theories that people pose about the Gretzky trade, the first is that the NHL pushed the Oilers to make this trade in order to better market the NHL in the southern and non-traditional hockey markets, like LA.
These feelings and theories were given validity with the rush of NHL expansion in non-traditional hockey markets throughout the 1990's. The NHL expanded and relocated to cities like: Phoenix, Tampa Bay, Florida, Anaheim, Nashville, and Atlanta.
Another theory is that Janet Jones, Gretzky's wife, being a Hollywood actress refused to move to Edmonton and forced him to make the Oilers trade him to her preferred destination of Los Angeles, California so that she could further her career.
The flames of this rumor were definitely fanned by the fact that they had just gotten married a few weeks prior. It was a perfect recipe to pin the deal on her, branding her like she was the Yoko Ono of hockey.
Personally, I do not believe in either of these, I believe in Occam's Razor that the easiest explanation is the right one. Also, Pocklington himself has maintained his stance all these years later, that he traded Gretzky due to the financial issues he faced.
This is further backed up by him selling off multiple star players like Mark Messier and Jari Kurri amongst others in the years that followed. As well, he was forced to sell the team in 1998 to Edmonton Investors Group.