What year was the first offer to trade Gretzky to the LA Kings?

It'south among the most vivid scenes in hockey history and it didn't fifty-fifty happen on the water ice.

Wayne Gretzky dabbing at his tears with a tissue, slumped over a mass of microphones at Molson House, the historic brewery site in Edmonton. Moments earlier, Edmonton Oilers owner Peter Pocklington announced that the greatest player in hockey history was being traded to the Los Angeles Kings.

The Oilers handed Gretzky a prepared argument to read, but "The Great One" tossed it and instead spoke from his middle. The world was shocked, only the move had been years in the making.

Longtime Kings owner Jerry Buss repeatedly floated the thought of trading for Gretzky. But when 36-twelvemonth-old businessman Bruce McNall purchased a 25 percent stake in the squad in 1986, the Gretzky talk increased.

"When I bought the team, [Buss] told me, 'I've been trying to talk to Peter Pocklington about Gretzky.' We all kind of laughed. But the fact that he brought up the field of study gave me a sense that I could really make that call," McNall told NHL.com. "[Pocklington] would blow me off and say, 'Yep, correct.' I kept pushing it."

McNall acquired Buss' remaining shares in the Kings by the summer of 1988. Merely in that location was no indication the Gretzky trade talk would get from punch line to headline. Subsequently all, Gretzky had just earned his second Conn Smythe Trophy after leading the Oilers to a dominating 16-ii playoff record as they won the Stanley Cup for the fourth time in v seasons.

By the time the NHL Awards were held in Toronto, McNall had been pestering Pocklington for weeks most Gretzky. Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Hart Memorial Trophy as League MVP and the Art Ross Trophy every bit the NHL'south leading scorer, the outset time in seven years Gretzky didn't have abode both awards. But the night's enduring legacy may exist McNall's latest offer.

"Bruce McNall leaned over and said, 'I'll requite you $15 million, plus some players.' At that time, $15 one thousand thousand was $18.5 meg Canadian," Pocklington told NHL.com. "I said, 'Let me think about it,' and called him a week afterwards and said, 'I could live with that.'"

Gretzky had just married actress Janet Jones and was spending part of the summer living in the Hollywood home of thespian Alan Thicke. Knowing that Gretzky was living in Los Angeles and certain he wouldn't re-sign with the Oilers when his contract expired, Pocklington accepted McNall's offer. There was just the matter of deciding which players would be involved.

"It was totally different. It was not like a regular bargain," said Rogie Vachon, the former Kings goaltender who was serving equally the team's general managing director. "There was so much money involved. Obviously the two owners had to talk all the time. The GMs took a back seat a little bit."

For Oilers GM Glen Sather, taking a back seat was a voluntary motion. From the moment he heard Gretzky was being traded, he refused to participate in negotiations. With Gretzky taking a proactive role, it was a unique state of affairs in which owners and the game'south greatest role player dictated the terms.

Pocklington briefly explored other options, just despite rumors of teams inquiring about Gretzky, in that location was but one other squad he contacted.

"I tried to reach [Detroit Red Wings possessor] Mike Ilitch, considering I knew Wayne would have loved to go to Detroit," Pocklington said. "Just it was basically done so quickly, and that was it. At that place was never a bidding war. There probably should have been, looking back."

With a dollar figure agreed on, Gretzky demanded that defenseman Marty McSorley come up with him to L.A. The Oilers, in turn, wanted one of the greatest players in Kings history.

"Wayne said to me, 'Make sure you get McSorley.' I worked that out pretty quickly, although Sather was not happy about the thought," McNall said. "Then they wanted [Luc] Robitaille and I said no."

The deal was announced Aug. nine, 1988, 12 weeks after the Oilers closed out a four-game sweep of the Boston Bruins in the Cup Final. Gretzky, McSorley and heart Mike Krushelnyski went to the Kings in exchange for center Jimmy Carson, fly Martin Gelinas, start-round draft picks in 1989, 1991 and 1993, and $15 one thousand thousand.

Moments before the Edmonton press briefing, Pocklington and Sather pulled Gretzky aside and offered to call off the trade. Gretzky refused.

"My mistake was not going over to him and putting my arm effectually him and saying 'Wayne, information technology'southward OK, pal. If you desire to call it off, let's do it,'" Pocklington said. "That'due south what I should accept done."

Following the emotional press conference, Gretzky boarded a private flight back to Los Angeles. Later that day, he met the 50.A. media at a hotel well-nigh the airport. For those in attendance, information technology was the starting time existent indicator that hockey would never be the aforementioned.

"At that place were about 12 tv stations there and I don't know how many photographers. It was obviously the biggest press briefing the Kings e'er had," longtime Kings broadcaster Bob Miller told NHL.com. "The audio of the cameras going off, my wife said it sounded like machine gun burn."

"Bruce McNall leaned over and said, 'I'll give you $15 million, plus some players.' At that fourth dimension, $15 1000000 was $18.5 million Canadian. I said, 'Let me think nearly it,' and called him a week later and said, 'I could alive with that.'"
-- Oilers owner Peter Pocklington on the trade of Gretzky to the Kings

Overnight, the Kings' ticket office was forced to hire people to adapt all the requests. The team went from averaging 11,667 fans per game the season before to selling out every game in 1991-92, becoming the first Los Angeles-based team to sell out every home game.

President Reagan and his married woman, Nancy, purchased ice-level seats, as did a number of famous actors. When Michael Ovitz, the founder of Creative Artists Bureau and arguably the most powerful man in Hollywood, requested iv ice-level seats, the squad had to exist inventive.

"He said, 'You've got to get them, I'll do anything.' Nosotros found some folks who owned the seats. I said, 'Nosotros'll give yous four second-row seats for gratis for life if I tin can go these seats dorsum,'" McNall said. "They agreed to it and I billed Mike Ovitz for the seats he was buying plus all their seats for life. I never earlier had invoiced someone for that kind of money and got such a big thank y'all."

California was reveling in Gretzky-mania, but Canada was mourning the loss of an icon.

Pocklington immediately became the sworn enemy of Edmontonians everywhere and some Canadian members of Parliament proposed legislation that would stop the merchandise. With the Oilers in harm control, the squad'southward phone lines were jammed with angry fans, a number of whom threatened to cancel their season tickets.

"[Fans] were pretty [upset], believe me. It was no fun. A lot of death threats. Information technology bothered my family more than me," said Pocklington, who sold the team in 1998 after taking on millions of dollars in debt. "At that time, we were a small Canadian city. We didn't have the revenues from television. The only revenues we got were at the gate. A pocket-sized Canadian urban center tin can't charge people $300 a seat."

Edmonton would come up to terms with the trade and the Oilers won the Stanley Loving cup in 1990. And with Gretzky turning hockey into a favorite sport among warm-weather fans, the game would never be the same.

"It opened upwards a whole new door for him [Gretzky] and his wife. It did great things for everybody," Pocklington said. "It did great things for the Gretzkys, information technology did great things for the NHL."

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Source: https://www.nhl.com/news/gretzky-trade-to-los-angeles-shocked-hockey-world/c-679887

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