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It was the trade heard around the hockey world, practically starting a revolution. On August 9, 1988, Wayne “The Great One” Gretzky was traded by the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings, trading dynasty for celebrity. The trade was compared to the one in 1920 that sent Babe Ruth from the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees. The Oilers got much needed cash, and the Kings got much needed star power. Canadians were shocked to outrage while Californians celebrated with ticket sales. And the hockey world would never be quite the same.

None of those involved in the trade actually expected it to happen. Edmonton had just won a fourth Stanley Cup championship in five years. Gretzky had just won his second Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, and he had eight consecutive Hart Trophy as league MVP. Bruce McNall, the new Kings owner, had pestered Oilers owner Peter Pocklington about trading Gretzky, only to be laughed off by both of them. McNall remarked to The Hockey News, “Wayne was the greatest player in the world and they’d just come off their fourth Cup, so it wasn’t anything that was in the realm of my thinking this was possible. My biggest concern was when it happened and we really got serious about it was Wayne himself: Did he really want to come? I didn’t want to trade for the greatest player in the world and have him not happy about coming to L.A.” 

That summer of 1988, Pocklington realized that with Gretzky becoming an unrestricted free agent in 1989, he should shop around for the cash influx he desperately needed. Gretzky told The Hockey News, “I think my dad and some people in the hockey world knew there was a possibility of me being traded before I did. It came down to a real strong business decision by Peter and a sense that if I wasn’t going to sign an extension with the Oilers – I was an unrestricted free agent at the end of that year – he was going to move me.” At that point, Gretzky began working with McNall concerning the terms of the trade. 

When it all shook out, Edmonton sent Gretzky, enforcer Marty McSorley, and center Mike Krushelnyski to Los Angeles in return for center Jimmy Carson, rookie left wing Martin Gelinas, three first-round draft picks (defenseman Corey Foster in 1989, forward Martin Rucinsky in 1991, and defenseman Nick Stajduhar in 1993), and $15 million. 

The timing was bad for Carson, having just bought a house after McNall told him he would be staying and renegotiating his contract. When the trade was confirmed, said Carson, “I put the phone down and told my parents I’d just been involved in the biggest trade in the history of sports, and the phone rang as the doorbell was being rung. It was reporters, TV crews, TV trucks. It was crazy.” Even at the time the news broke, Carson joked, “I’ll always be the answer to the trivia question: ‘Who was traded for Wayne Gretzky?’” Meanwhile, Krushelnyski remarked, “I was actually shocked they would trade the icon Wayne Gretzky. I could understand trading role players, people like Marty and myself and Carson and everybody else in the package.” In the end, he said, “(The trade) went against the grain. The Stanley Cup was not the priority. Neither was the team, nor the people. Money was. Plain and simple.”

The backlash was swift and brutal. Gretzky described, “It was sort of like a hurricane: it comes through and you didn’t see it coming. All of a sudden it just blazed through and it was done. It was kind of weird that way.” It seemed like Edmonton fans looked for people to blame. Some even took it out on Gretzky’s wife, actress Janet Jones, he just had married on July 16. According to McNall, “She wasn’t the influence the Canadian press made her out to be, but she was there and she really wanted it to happen, so she and I were on the same page.” At the time of his emotional press conference, Gretzky told the press, “I decided that for the benefit of Wayne Gretzky and my new wife and our expected child in the new year that it would beneficial for everyone involved to let me play with the Los Angeles Kings.” 

New Democratic Party leader Nelson Riis made news by referring to Gretzky as “a national symbol like the beaver” who Pocklington may as well have sent “to the moon as send him to L.A. Everybody knows that Los Angeles isn’t a hockey town – they wouldn’t know a puck from a beach ball.” Pocklington definitely received the brunt of the blame, despite efforts to emphasize Gretzky’s willingness to go.

Carson had to not only face those fans but also Gretzky’s former teammates on the Oilers. He put into words what it was like joining them after the trade. “I didn’t know what to expect when I got to Edmonton for the introductory press conference. … They were wonderful in the broader bubble of utter shock, disappointment and anger. … They’d been friends, they all grew up together with Wayne. … They did amazing things with a lot of superstars and one mega-star, and now he’s gone.”

Over the next two seasons, it was interesting how the trade played out. In 1989, Gretzky received his ninth Hart Trophy, and the Kings placed second in the Smythe Division. In a twist of fate, the Kings and Oilers faced each other in the first round of playoffs. When in Edmonton, fans booed Gretzky, who said, “It didn’t bother me. In a way it was nice. People can stop talking about the trade now.” The Kings forced a Game 7, which Gretzky’s two goals helped win 6-3. Los Angeles then lost to Calgary, who won the championship. In 1990, that all reversed. The Kings beat the Flames only to lose to the Oilers, who went on to win the Stanley Cup (with both Carson and Gelinas). That was the last time Edmonton won the finals. Whereas, Los Angeles made it to the finals for the first time in 1993 but did not win until 2012 and 2014.

Los Angeles became a hockey town after all, thanks to Gretzky. The man himself told The Hockey News, “There’s a lot of people that still think or talk about me coming to Los Angeles to help hockey grow in California and the United States, but that wasn’t the case at all. … I really never thought about growing the game or trying to make hockey bigger in L.A.” However, back in 1988, he told the press, “It’s very exciting. I’m sure it’s something that will not only be good for Wayne Gretzky and the L.A. Kings, but also for the game of hockey.” In looking back on the 25th anniversary, Carson thought McNall had that in mind the whole time. “I read an article the other day on the enrolment in hockey in California and it’s grown quite a bit since the trade was made. That’s got to be directly attributable to the trade. It elevated that team to a media powerhouse right away.” On the fan side, actor Alan Thicke commented, “But I’m here to tell you I knew the difference between pre-Gretzky and post-Gretzky in trying to get anybody out to a hockey game. You felt it everywhere in the community. … The fact we suddenly had a celebrity made all the difference in the world to the other celebrities.”

The raised interest went far beyond California as hockey drew more fans as Gretzky and the Kings played around the U.S. In addition to the 1980 Miracle on Ice, Gretzky’s trade is credited with inspiring young players across the country, which has allowed the NHL to expand. As his former Oilers teammate Craig Simpson said, “I don’t think anybody else would have been able to do what Wayne was able to do for hockey in the south. … He was the absolute perfect guy – a larger-than-life talent, but an everyday, down-to-earth person.”

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