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Jason English
Three Things I Didn’t Know About the National Hockey League
by Jason English - February 20, 2007 - 1:06 PM

barons.gif• After struggling through the 1976-77 and 1977-78 seasons in Cleveland, the Barons merged with the Minnesota North Stars. Nothing like this has happened since in the four major sports. Before arriving in Cleveland, the franchise played its first nine years in the San Francisco Bay area. First as the California Seals, then the Oakland Seals, then the California Golden Seals.

• The first coach of the Quebec Nordiques was hockey legend Maurice “Rocket” Richard. He lasted one game – a 3-2 loss – before deciding coaching wasn’t for him (This was 1972, while the Nordiques were in the World Hockey Association, not the NHL.)
gretzkytrade.jpg
• When Wayne Gretzky was traded from Edmonton to Los Angeles in 1988, Canadian New Democratic Party House Leader Nelson Riis demanded the government block it.

If there are any Canadians out there who can shed more light on the Gretzky trade, fill us in.

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Comments (6)

  1. A little more about the Cleveland Barons. A few years after the Seals left Northern California, they were replaced by the San Jose Sharks. Until last year, the Sharks’ chief minor league affiliate was … the Cleveland Barons.

    The Oilers did not want to trade Gretzky, his contract was about to expire and the Oilers knew that they could never afford to resign him, so they traded him before the contract expired so that they could get something while he still held value.

    Gretz had a favorite enforcer (or goon depending on whether you were playing with or against him), Marty McSorley. His job was to drop the gloves with anyone who abused, cross-checked, or looked at Gretzky funny. ‘The Great One’ insisted that McSorley be included in the trade with LA so he could continue to be protected.

    To bring things full circle: Marty McSorley is now the TV color commentator for the San Jose Sharks.

    One more antidote about Gretzky: In 1977 as part of a hazing ritual, he was dropped off downtown naked. The 16 yr old budding hockey star was then known as “The Big Unit”. After the incident, he was re-christened “The Great One”.

    posted by n2y2 on 2-20-2007 at 1:30 pm

  2. I forgot to add this tidbit about McSorley to my already lengthy post:

    In Game 2 of the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals (LA vs. Montreal), McSorley was penalized for an illegal stick. LA lost the game and then the Stanley Cup. McSorley’s gaff is considered a pivotal moment in the series, possibly the moment that the Canadiens took the Cup from the Kings. Gretzky did not request that McSorley be included with his next trade.

    posted by n2y2 on 2-20-2007 at 3:00 pm

  3. n2y2 – Thanks for sharing all this. I have never been a big hockey guy, but am considering an increase in my fan level. This will depend on whether or not there is an NHL game available for the Wii.

    posted by Jason on 2-20-2007 at 3:24 pm

  4. On August 9, 1988, in a move that drastically changed the dynamics of the NHL, Gretzky was traded with Marty McSorley and Mike Krushelnyski by the Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings for Jimmy Carson, Martin Gelinas, $15-million cash, and the Kings’ first-round draft picks in 1989 (Jason Soules), 1991 (Tyler Wright), and 1993 (Jason Arnott). The trade was initiated by Oiler owner Petere Pocklington who stood to benefit personally because of the cash involved in the trade. In the end the Oilers did not get much utility out of all the players they received in the trade. However, with many of the holdover stars (Messier, Kurri, Anderson) they were able to win one more Stanley Cup. The Kings have never won the Cup.

    posted by Pseudonym on 2-20-2007 at 7:16 pm

  5. The reasons for the Gretzky trade really aren’t know even today. Peter Pocklington was the Oilers owner at the time and had purchase Gretzky from Indianapolis, while both teams were still in the WHA, for $700,000. This was still 1978 I believe. On Gretzky’s 18 birthday Pocklington signed him to a 20 year contract for somewhere between 4 and 5 million dollars. Pocklington was also involved in the meat packing industry where he was and still is known as a union buster. His plant in Edmonton had a major strike in the mid 80s and when things were settled the business was failing and continued to fail. This is an important part of the Gretzky trade in my opinion as $15 million USD was transferred to Pocklington as part of the Gretzky trade thus helping him with his shaky financial state.

    At the time Pocklington blamed Gretzky saying that he wanted to grow the game in the US and had a very big ego (which we are all pretty sure now wasn’t true).

    Fans blamed Janet Jones, who Gretzky had married earlier in the summer. Fans believed the move was due to her desire to grow her acting career in Hollywood.

    I’m not sure that we’ll ever know for sure who initiated this trade but one thing for sure is that this still stands as the biggest trade ever in the NHL.

    posted by Steve on 2-21-2007 at 7:07 am

  6. You have to understand that Canada has seen almost every one of its biggest stars in every field from science to entertainment lured away to the bigger and more lucrative U.S. market.

    (Check out the Wikipedia article on ‘famous Canadians’ and you will likely be surprised how many American favourites started out on a back bacon diet.)

    The impending departure of Gretzky – the biggest star ever in the biggest sport to Canadians – felt like robbery of one of our native sons, abandonment of the nation, a triumph of glitter and dollars over patriotism, etc.

    I know, sounds crazy, but imagine if Michael Jordan – at the height of his career – was suddenly being packed off to Russia. Even that doesn’t cover it. Guess you have to have maple syrup in your veins to understand why we all freaked …

    posted by Some Canuck on 2-21-2007 at 4:00 pm

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