Legends of Sports

Early life

Tony and Mary owned a 25-acre (10 ha) vegetable farm in Canning, Ontario, while Wayne's parents Walter and Phyllis had an apartment in Brantford where Walter worked for Bell Telephone Canada. Seven months after Wayne was born, Walter and Phyllis moved into a house. Wayne was joined by a sister, Kim (b. 1963), and brothers Keith, Glen and Brent. The family would watch Hockey Night in Canada at Tony and Mary's. By age two, Wayne was trying to score goals against Mary using a souvenir stick. The farm was where Wayne ice skated for the first time, aged two years, 10 months.

Walter taught Wayne, Keith, Brent, Glen and their friends hockey on a rink he made in his back yard, nicknamed the "Wally Coliseum". Drills included skating around Javex bleach bottles and tin cans, and flipping pucks over scattered hockey sticks to be able to pick up the puck again in full flight. Walter's advice included to "skate where the puck's going, not where it's been". Wayne was a classic prodigy whose extraordinary skills made him the target of jealous parents.

Gretzky's first team, at age six, was a team of ten-year-olds, starting a pattern where Gretzky always played at a level far above his peers through his minor hockey years. His first coach, Dick Martin, remarked that he handled the puck better than the ten-year-olds. According to Martin, "Wayne was so good that you could have a boy of your own who was a tremendous hockey player, and he'd get overlooked because of what the Gretzky kid was doing." The sweaters for ten-year-olds were far too large for Gretzky, who coped by tucking the sweater into his pants on the right side. He continued doing this throughout his NHL career.

NHL career

After the World Hockey Association folded in 1979, the Edmonton Oilers and three other teams joined the NHL. Gretzky's success in the WHA carried over into the NHL, despite some critics suggesting he would flounder in what was considered the bigger, tougher, and more talented league. The Oilers, like the other surviving WHA teams, were allowed to protect two goaltenders and two skaters from being reclaimed by the established NHL teams, of which one skater was Gretzky.

New York Rangers (1996–1999)

Gretzky ended his professional playing career with the New York Rangers, where he played his final three seasons and helped the team reach the Eastern Conference Finals in 1997. The Rangers were defeated in the conference finals by the Philadelphia Flyers, despite Gretzky leading the Rangers in the playoffs with 10 goals and 10 assists. For the first time in his NHL career, Gretzky was not named captain, although he briefly wore the captain's 'C' in 1998 when captain Brian Leetch was injured and out of the lineup. After the 1996–97 season, Mark Messier signed a free agent contract with the Vancouver Canucks, ending the brief reunion of Messier and Gretzky after just one season. With Messier's departure from the Rangers, the spotlight was on Gretzky once again. The Rangers, however, did not return to the playoffs during the remainder of Gretzky's career.

In 1997, prior to his retirement, The Hockey News named a committee of 50 hockey experts (former NHL players, past and present writers, broadcasters, coaches and hockey executives) to select and rank the 50 greatest players in NHL history. The experts voted Gretzky number one.

Gretzky’s Coaching

Gretzky’s Awards