Twenty years later, it's still a Great trade

by Spector

Updated: August 8, 2008, 4:44 PM EST 42 comments

Twenty years later, the repercussions of that trade are still being felt.

Trading Gretzky truly marked the beginning of the end of those great Oilers teams of the 1980s as then-owner Peter Pocklington essentially sold off his assets — the Oilers' best players — in a futile attempt to cover his business losses.

The Oilers never fully recovered from dealing away arguably the game's greatest player and have yet to return to the level of greatness it enjoyed in the 1980s.

The deal paid almost immediate dividends for the Kings, which prior to Gretzky's arrival were considered little more than an afterthought in the Los Angeles sports market.

With hockey's biggest star on the roster, the Kings became one of the hottest sports tickets in town, enjoying a significant increase in attendance and popularity during most of Gretzky's tenure.

Unfortunately, when Gretzky was dealt to the St. Louis Blues in 1996, that popularity waned due to years of mismanagement and the impossibility of replacing The Great One.

The most substantial legacy of the Gretzky trade was its positive impact upon hockey in the United States sports market.

With hockey's greatest star still in his prime playing in one of the largest sports markets in North America, the NHL enjoyed arguably its best period of popularity in the United States.

American television ratings improved in the early 1990s due in no small part to Gretzky's tenure with the Kings, resulting in lucrative national television contracts for the NHL on major network and cable stations.

The Kings' rising popularity during the Gretzky years convinced the league's board of governors that hockey could succeed in America's Sun Belt, leading to expansion teams in San Jose (1991), Tampa Bay (1992), Anaheim (1993) Miami (1993), Nashville (1998) and Atlanta (1999) and the relocation of two franchises to Dallas (1993) and Phoenix (1997).

Gretzky doesn't like to take direct credit for the expansion, but humbly admitted in a recent interview he and the Kings helped bring franchises to San Jose and Anaheim.

That expansion has had mixed results. The Dallas Stars, Tampa Bay Lightning and Anaheim Ducks won Stanley Cup championships in 1999, 2004 and 2007 respectively, and the San Jose Sharks have long been among the league's better teams.

The Nashville Predators have been plagued by ownership problems, which continue to cast a shadow over its future while the Atlanta Thrashers, Florida Panthers and Phoenix Coyotes — with Gretzky as co-owner and coach — have been struggling in recent years.

Still, expansion and the league's increased popularity in the early 1990s would have a positive overall impact upon hockey in the United States, inspiring thousands of American youngsters to take up the game resulting in the growing number of American-born players in the NHL in this decade.

Credit is also due to then-Kings owner Bruce McNall for bringing Gretzky to the Kings.

Given McNall's legal troubles in the late 1990s, resulting in his losing ownership of the Kings and subsequent conviction and imprisonment for fraud and conspiracy, it's understandable why the NHL may be loath to acknowledge his contributions.

Gretzky now coaches for the Phoenix Coyotes, an expansion team that may not have existed if not for his trade as a player to the Kings. (Christian Petersen / Getty Images)

But if not for McNall's acquisition of Gretzky, the Kings wouldn't have improved as they did, the club wouldn't have become as popular as it did, McNall wouldn't have become chairman of the league Board of Governors, which in turn means the league's aggressive expansionist policy in the 1990s probably wouldn't have happened.

Ultimately it was Gretzky's performance making the club a popular draw in Los Angeles that was the significant factor. Had he struggled or the Kings failed to improve under his captaincy, history might've been different and the NHL would be a different league today.

Gretzky's best seasons were behind him when he joined the Kings in 1988 although no one knew it at the time. Still, during his years with the Kings, he won the Art Ross as the league's leading scorer three times and the Hart Trophy as league MVP in 1990. And the Kings made the playoffs for five straight seasons, including their memorable run to the 1993 Stanley Cup Final.

He would also set his most memorable statistical records, most career regular season goals and points, in a Kings uniform.

It's somehow fitting that Gretzky, his playing career now over for nearly a decade, is currently the head coach and co-owner of the Phoenix Coyotes, one of those NHL Sun Belt franchises that can trace its existence back to the trade.

So far, Gretzky's impact with the Coyotes hasn't been as immediate in improving that team as his move to L.A. 20 years ago was with the Kings.

The Coyotes have made slow but steady improvement over the past two years, and if it builds back into a consistent playoff team again and regains the strong fan base it enjoyed a decade ago, it will only add to Gretzky's legend.