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 Adam
Messages: 7757
Registered: August 2005
Location: Edmonton, AB
6 Cups
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I agree with a lot of this.
Pocklington was the villain to be sure - although he made a deal with Gretzky that 99 would suggest that he wanted to be in LA, to try to take the heat off him. Gretzky changed his mind on that after Pocklington specifically started suggesting it was Janet's fault. At that point he came clean and said that Janet was happy to move to Edmonton and he would have been happy to stay.
Pocklington was seeing financial difficulties and Gretzky did have an impending free agency coming. Pocklington started talking to another team - I've heard it was Vancouver about essentially a sale. Gretzky's agent and his father heard through the grapevine and confronted Pocklington on it, and they pushed for LA to be the destination when it was clear that there wasn't going to be a happy ending here.
McNall was kind of cut from the same cloth as Pocklington. Shysters made good, based on a little luck and a little bank fraud. They were made to deal with one another. Sather was brought in to the loop really late, which apparently is the only reason the deal wasn't just all cash for Gretzky. He HATED the deal, and was open that we were always going to lose it, but he managed to get the non-money return (Carson, Gelinas & 3 first round draftpicks).
I was 11 and it was maybe the worst day of my life up to that point. I remember we got a call from my aunt saying she heard we traded Gretzky. I was in full-on denial. And then we watched that press conference and I probably cried more than 99.
Many of my friends and classmates became Kings fans overnight. I stuck with the Oilers but it was super hard for the first while. Oilers fans were super conflicted in 1988-89, but after he knocked us out of the playoffs that year with a huge performance against the Oilers, it became a much easier. Typically at the start of the game he'd get a big cheer, and then he'd be booed all over the ice when he touched the puck.
"Thinking that a bad team's best players are the reason the team is bad is the "Tambellini re-signing Lennart Petrell" of sports opinions." @Woodguy55
#FireBobbyNicks
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Gretzky Trade Questions |
By: smyth260 on Wed, 12 February 2025 15:52 |
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Re: Gretzky Trade Questions |
By: Adam on Wed, 12 February 2025 23:20 |
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Re: Gretzky Trade Questions |
By: Adam on Thu, 13 February 2025 12:55 |
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Re: Gretzky Trade Questions |
By: Adam on Fri, 14 February 2025 12:36 |
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Re: Gretzky Trade Questions |
By: Mike on Thu, 13 February 2025 12:05 |
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Re: Gretzky Trade Questions |
By: DeZoE on Fri, 21 February 2025 23:54 |
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Re: Gretzky Trade Questions |
By: smyth260 on Fri, 21 February 2025 10:53 |
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Re: Gretzky Trade Questions |
By: g2k on Fri, 21 February 2025 15:14 |
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Re: Gretzky Trade Questions |
By: smyth260 on Fri, 21 February 2025 23:03 |
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Re: Gretzky Trade Questions |
By: g2k on Sat, 22 February 2025 07:22 |
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Re: Gretzky Trade Questions |
By: smyth260 on Sat, 22 February 2025 10:58 |
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Re: Gretzky Trade Questions |
By: g2k on Sat, 22 February 2025 13:22 |
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Re: Gretzky Trade Questions |
By: Jay on Sat, 22 February 2025 13:25 |
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Re: Gretzky Trade Questions |
By: smyth260 on Sat, 22 February 2025 14:14 |
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Re: Gretzky Trade Questions |
By: g2k on Sun, 23 February 2025 06:32 |
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Re: Gretzky Trade Questions |
By: smyth260 on Sun, 23 February 2025 10:34 |
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Re: Gretzky Trade Questions |
By: g2k on Sun, 23 February 2025 11:29 |
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