In his prime, few NHL players were better than Steve Yzerman. One nearly joined him in Detroit 10 years before The Captain ever won the Cup: The Great One.
In a move that could have formed arguably the greatest tandem of centers in NHL history, Wayne Gretzky was a phone call from his father away from being dealt to the Red Wings after he won his fourth Cup in five years with the Oilers in the 1987-88 season. Gretzky, who has discussed the near-trade in the past, revisited it again on the Spittin' Chiclets podcast this week.
Mere hours after hoisting the Cup that year, Gretzky learned from his father that the Oilers and then-owner Peter Pocklington were aiming to trade him. He didn't believe it until a phone call early the next morning from businessman Nelson Skalbania, who had signed a 17-year-old Gretzky as owner of the WHA's Indianapolis Racers in 1978.
"I figured he was calling to congratulate me on winning the Cup," Gretzky said on the podcast. "He goes, 'How would you like to be a Vancouver Canuck?' I go, 'What are you talking about?' and he goes, 'Edmonton’s gonna trade you, I’m gonna buy part of that team, I’ll pay you a salary and you can own 25 percent of the Vancouver Canucks.' And I went, 'Nelson, I just finished hockey six hours ago. I’m too tired. I’ll call you later.' And I hung up. So I’m sitting there with my Dad and I go, 'Jeez, maybe you’re right.'"
Soon thereafter, Gretzky got a call from Pocklington confirming the Oilers' intentions. But Gretzky only had one year left on his contract, giving him leverage in trade talks. When he and Pocklington sat down, Gretzky said, "Listen, you can trade me wherever you want, but I’m not going to re-sign. So whatever they’re giving up to you is not going to be worth anything if I don’t sign.' It got to a point where I knew they were going to trade me, but I was able to control where I was going to get moved to.
"And it came down to LA, Detroit, New York and Philly."
Early in discussions, Gretzky said the Rangers and Flyers fell out of the mix. His next team would be the Red Wings or the Kings. The Kings were a team on the rise led by young stars Luc Robitaille and Jimmy Carson. So were the Wings, led by a 23-year-old Yzerman. For Gretzky, whose boyhood idol was Gordie Howe, the decision was easy.
"We had sat down and we decided I was going to Detroit. I remember sitting there going, 'OK, this is great, I’m going to go play in Detroit. I grew up a Red Wings fans with Gordie Howe and everything that goes with it," he said. "And my Dad called me and said, ‘Listen, I’ll give you a little advice. There’s only one Gordie Howe, and Detroit’s Detroit. You don’t need to go there. Why don’t you do something different and go to LA?’
"Everybody thought it was my wife that steered the bus (to LA), but it was really my Dad who said, ‘There’s only one Gordie Howe. You need to go do something different.’ So that’s really how I ended up in LA."
The Kings sent three first-round picks plus Carson and Martin Gelinas to the Oilers for Gretzky and Marty McSorely. In his first season in LA, Gretzky led the NHL in assists and posted 168 points -- the same year Yzerman posted 150 points of his own. Think about that: they could have combined for more than 300 points that season with the Wings, or more than the Wings' top six scorers this season.
Gretzky would spend seven full seasons with the Kings, five times leading the NHL in assists, before he was dealt at the 1996 trade deadline to the Blues -- who would be sunk in the second round of the playoffs on a Game 7 overtime goal by You Know Who.