August 9, 1988. Many remember exactly where they were. Edmonton was not just quiet – it was stunned. The unthinkable happened from nowhere: Wayne Gretzky, the Great, had been Traded on the Los Angeles Kings.
Tears flowed – even Gretzky’s. For most fans of oilers it felt like a family member losing. Gretzky was not just a superstar – he was a local hero who talked to fans during exercises in West Edmonton Mall. He kissed babies. He wax The team and his poster boy: large, great hair, boyish face. He was magical in every possible way, especially when it came to bringing Stanley Cups to a young city that started to come into its own.
The trade not only shook the city, but also the entire hockey world. But what if it didn’t happen? What if Gretzky had stayed in Edmonton, exactly where he belonged?
A missed moment for La – and maybe the NHL
Let’s start with what didn’t happen in Los Angeles. Before Gretzky appeared, the kings were not exactly top in mind, even in their own city. Hockey did not have a strong foot in California. But Gretzky changed that. He filled arenas, grabbed headlines and let children dream about skating on ice in sunny places.
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Without Gretzky, hockey might not have won such a widespread popularity in the United States as it did. Maybe we don’t get teams in places such as San Jose, Dallas or Nashville. Maybe the kings fade in darkness – or move completely. Gretzky did not only post the kings on the map. He helped to expand the entire sport.
Can the oilers have ever become the greatest dynasty?
Now let’s go back to Edmonton. The oilers were inviolable from 1984 to 1988. Four Stanley Cups in five years. That team was electric – fast, competent, fearless. And then, boom. The trade. It felt like the lights dim at night. But here is the strangest thing: even after Gretzky left, the oilers still won another cup in 1990.
(Photo by Codie Mclachlan/Getty images)
The “Kid Line” of the Oilers in 1990 – made from Adam Graves, Joe Murphy and Martin Gelinas – the team achieves a youthful spark during their Stanley Cup -Run. Murphy was at the forefront with 14 goals in the play -offsWhile Graves and Gelinas energy, grit and timely depth score brought Edmonton to the fifth championship. But the greatest influence of all was the ultimate leader, Mark Messier. He was the turning point to prove that the team still had heart and depth. But even when it happened, it felt like the last sigh of a golden era.
But imagine Gretzky stayed with the oilers
Imagine now that Gretzky had stayed, and he and Messier were still together for a few years, still in their prime. Add Jari Kurri, Glenn Anderson, Paul Coffey, Grant Fuhr, and so on. It is hard not to think that they could have added a few banners to the trusses. Maybe they will go to toe with Pittsburgh Penguins or Patrick Roy from Mario Lemieux’s Montreal Canadiens by Patrick Roy. Maybe we are talking about six or seven cups instead of five.
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It is not only Wishful Thinking. That team had the tools. The oilers just needed more time and of course more Gretzky.
What happens to the players around him?
Something special is watching how players grow together. That Oilers team had so many Hall of Famers, but a part of what made them great was the chemistry they built with Gretzky. Kurri’s One-Timers, Coffey’s Rushes, Anderson’s Grim Doelen-Dus Many of those plays started with a Gretzky-Pass.
Of course, those players were incredible in themselves. But playing next to the best playmaker the game has ever seen? That makes a difference. It is fair to ask whether their career would have been so legendary without feeding them the puck night after night.
Money changed everything in the Gretzky trade
Of course Gretzky’s trade was not just about hockey. Such transactions are not often. At the moment, a large scale it was reported that the owner had to take a financial step. Gretzky’s actions was not only a hockey decision – it was about cash and much of it. Even if the owner had not pulled the trigger in 1988, money issues did not leave.
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Keeping track of that extraordinary elite team-so many stars, all deserving large contracts are always difficult for a team with a small market like Edmonton. So maybe the dynasty would still have come to an end. But without that trade, the end might be slightly slower, and maybe a bit graceful.
Fans can only imagine a different future for the oilers
The Gretzky trade was the start of a long, painful rebuilding in Edmonton. There were hope here and there, but it was only when Connor McDavid came that the team started to look like a real competition. But if Gretzky had stayed, things might not have become so gloomy.
The oilers would indeed have remained competitive for longer. Perhaps, however, free agents would have been in line to play in Edmonton. Maybe the fan base doesn’t have to continue for many years of ‘maybe next year’. At the least, Gretzky perhaps kept the soul of the team intact for a while longer.
The Oilers -Dynasty that had been possible
So what would have happened if Gretzky had never been traded? We may be talking about the best team in the NHL history. A dynasty that extended past five Stanley Cups. A team that was again defined how greatness looks in the sport.
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Yes, trade has helped grow hockey to grow in new places, and that is important. But for fans in Edmonton – and for hockey romantics everywhere – it is difficult not to feel that something special has been broken down. One decision, one early trade, changed everything. And all those years later people still wonder: what if the big one had never left?
[Note: I’d like to thank Brent Bradford (PhD) for his help co-authoring this post. His profile can be found at www.linkedin.com/in/brent-bradford-phd-3a10022a9]
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