That Time Gretzky Was Traded to LA

I saw a lot of comments regarding the Roy trade as the most one sided ever. I would argue this is really the most one sided trade ever.
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[@Shananaginns1887]

I know this is controversial but I think Gretzky was a pretty good player.

[@thehockeyson]

Joe O Nah, he couldn’t make a save when he needed to.

[@Chelers]

gretzky has less goals and points for russia than ovechkin so you tell me whos better

[@skateordiedev]

Toews is way better, leadership>skill

[@b3doge409]

Devlin Hustwait toews is trash

[@tx9mdy653]

But was Gretzky ever the World Heavyweight Champion... didn't think so

[@PD-nt3vt]

Do the Chris pronger trade next to piss off more Oiler fan while you’re at it

[@eddixon2015]

I feel like trading the greatest player in the history of your sport will almost always end up being a bad move.

[@tplcrown]

When Gretzky was traded here to LA, the real hockey fans knew that this was going to be big for the franchise but no one thought hockey would be coming to so many cities in the southern parts of the U.S.!!!!

[@MrSandman730]

Ooo... you should talk about Bobby Orr signing with the Blackhawks.

[@carparthero]

@Sandman730 sounds great, unfortunately with the gen y/z children too-day in march 2021, it would be too much for those kidz to understand. but ya could try.

[@michaelsagberger4094]

I hope you making a series out of this Best and worse trades

[@Hypoxicstate]

I can honestly say the trade was better for hockey imo, hockey exploded in the LA area and that Im sure led indirectly to Anaheim getting a team

[@obey2dmax]

Hypoxicstate Anaheim, San Jose, Arizona and etc...Pave the way to having more teams.

[@holoholopainen1627]

@@pilotamurorei Till They got Kariya & Selanne !

[@hockeytownluv2012]

Demoolin 😂

[@danielsedin3469]

Great content! Never thought i'd hear Brad Layzell being mentioned in a THG video. I am the Layzell from the brody hinz fundraiser game we played

[@lorndarken]

how can anyone attack you for saying gretzky was the greatest player of the game ? you got to think during his time when he was getting 200 point seasons and 92 goals that one year , no one else was doing that , EVER IN THE HISTORY OF THE GAME ! there is a reason why wayne was called the great one !

[@murray1978]

Gretzky would destroy the League if he played today due to the skill and lack of hooking now. I don't understand why people attack 99 either. If it was so easy to score, why didn't anyone else even have the same stats?

[@oilersridersbluejays]

Just jealous that he didn't play for their team at any time in his career.

[@MDK2_Radio]

@@murray1978 Mario Lemieux would like a word about stats…

[@murray1978]

@@MDK2_Radio 66 and 99 would destroy the League today. They played with shitty equipment and not much fitness or healthy food.

[@TjSamson]

This trade made hockey into a boom in LA area.

[@answeris4217]

I remember Wayne raising the Cup in 88... It's that iconic view from his back hauling the cup way over his head. I think Gretzky knew he was out of Edmonton. Oh and LA changed their colours after the trade. I think they where purple before then.

[@rodmunch69]

On the other end of things you should look at the Lightning/Flyers drama around Chris Gratton, the RFA offer sheet for four 1st rounders, that then in turn were immediately traded back to Philly, only to have Gratton traded back to Tampa like a year and a half later. In fact the early Lightning history with the never to be seen Japanese owner who is alleged to have been part of the Japanese mafia is some entertaining reading, as is even how Tampa got the franchise by Phil Esposito going to Japan in search of money and how the other expansion cities, including St Petersburg, all tried to stiff the NHL for the $50-mil expansion fee, and how Esposito had no actual plan for where the Lightning would play so they ended up playing at the fairgrounds in Tampa and they fudged the numbers on how many people it would seat by marking off the ice distance incorrectly so they could cram in more seats when the NHL inspected the building. It's some entertaining reading, even for non-Lightning fans, or at least I think so.

[@jakeb7867]

A King’s Ransom is a great documentary about this moment in nhl history

[@tylergodspeed82]

Interesting thought- Edmonton has had more influence over the Anaheim Ducks than any other team. Consider this: -they likely don’t exist if not for the Gretzky trade -they potentially don’t win a cup if not for the Pronger trade (granted they had a strong/competitive team but Pronger pushed them over the top)

[@Canyoutakeitallaway]

Thinking about the way Chris Pronger left Edmonton just makes me depressed

[@JHockeyFan]

You should do a Mark Recchi Penguins to Flyers Trade video. Considering Recchi scored 113 pts in 1990-91 for the Penguins, he should've never been traded to Philly.

[@c71score]

Got nearly the same offense in Tocchet(109 pts the next season), plus protection for Mario. Got a top 4 defenseman in Kjell Samuelsson. Kenny Wregget was one of the best backups in the league for years and Barrasso was injury prone. This was one of the best trades in history for both sides, especially factoring in the Flyers got Leclair and Desjardins for Recchi.

[@JHockeyFan]

c71score Except Tocchet fell off and Recchi could’ve been that last piece that the late 90s Pens needed.

[@maxlee6739]

Edmonton fans might hate this trade but hockey wise this is the best trade ever made. Without Gretzky going to LA then there is no Pacific division because there’d be no teams in California or the south and the NHL wouldn’t be nearly as successful. And Canadian fans might like that but then the NHL has less money and the Canadian dollar drops more Canadian teams follow Winnipeg and Quebec in moving out of Canada.

[@ll7868]

Burn Pocklington if efigy! EF-EYE- GEE!! I wanted Wayne to at least stay in Canada, Vancouver would've been a good fit for him and Janet, maybe her acting career would've gone better. Trevor Linden would've been his Luc Robitaille, his Padawan to Wayne's Master Yoda.

[@bench8535]

ᕼᑌᗰᗩᑎ ᖴᗴᒪᒪᗩ are ur sure ur a human

[@ll7868]

GoCapitalsGo Nope. Wayne would've made Vancouver's uniforms look good.

[@bench8535]

ᕼᑌᗰᗩᑎ ᖴᗴᒪᒪᗩ 😂

[@jasondarwood8225]

If Gretzky went to the Red Wings in '88, I'm sure the Oilers would have wanted Yzerman....and.........I don't know who else in exchange. Point being, there would have been NO WAY that Gretzky and Yzerman would have been on the same team!

[@ryans413]

Gretzky deserved better gets thrown out for cash cash not because of his talent for cash.

[@kcrowther14]

This video needs to get to at least 801😁

[@mazza3700]

Love the vids :D

[@gymrat2647]

Can remember that I cried when the great one was traded to the Kings

[@keithketlo2096]

I remember crying the day the trade went down

[@hazardous0887]

Crosby is definitely retiring as a penguin. Pittsburgh is never letting him go. I'm pretty sure everyone learned what not to do from Edmonton .... The biggest OOF in all of NHL by trading Gretzky 😂

[@c71score]

Us Penguin fans lived through similar. Jagr for Kris "Next Ron Francis" Beech, Ross Lupaschuk, Michal Sivek and $5-8 million(varying reports) due to bankruptcy from a much worse owner than Pocklington. Much rather have seen something like Jagr for Steve Konowalchuk(making less than $2m per) and the cash. The team was still trying in 01-02, but got destroyed by injuries. Konowalchuk-Lemieux-Kovalev would have been a fantastic line. Aside from the Mike York Rangers rumor, I wonder what other offers Craig Patrick got for Jagr.

[@MrWonderpuppy]

love the video they make day thanks for the hockey history

[@2kconcrete]

Good video. Keep up the good work. We can see you try your best.

[@jonathanegrie3337]

Nice video, what you fail to cover is that the day of the announcement of the trade Wayne was approached by Peter Pocklington and Glen Sather and they said to Wayne if you want to stay here in Edmonton we can call this off. Now Bruce Mcnall said if that had happened he would've sued Peter. I don't believe that would've happened. Peter also went to Wayne a year earlier and wanted to renegotiate his contract and Wayne said NO. He wanted to play it out. So Peter did what any owner would have done. In the 30 for 30 ESPN did on this trade Wayne at the end even admitted that had he been in Peter's position he would have done the same thing. Go watch that 30 for 30 episode called Kings Ransom and you will learn a lot more than the public ever new.

[@NerdAlert66]

you should do the paul coffey trade

[@cmc8856]

I think it was the Paul Coffey trade that started the dominoes falling in Edmonton

[@Aaronschinaguide]

I hope theres a video coming about the Lindros trade between Quebec and Philly.

[@answeris4217]

I love the Fisher to Nashville story. I don't think he asked for the trade at least it wasn't in the media but you could totally see that he was happy to be moving to Nashville for obvious reasons. I know as an Ottawa fan it was obvious and I didn't care what they got in return I was just happy for him personally and the fact that it totally exploded Nashville's exposure to hockey.

[@diggsfather]

his one and only year as captain, the Predators made their only Stanley Cup Finals appearance

[@Ws98811]

Messier to NYR next!

[@NYFanatic]

This trade was the worst trade in sports history because the three 1st round picks they got in returned were used on busts. What if the Oilers selected someone like Adam Foote or Olaf Kolzig in 1989? What if they selected Ray Whitney or Zigmund Palffy in 1991? Or What if they selected Saku Koivu or Vinny Prospal? Or if Gretzky was traded to Detroit, it mean that Yzerman would have to play second fiddle to the league's greatest player and would definately want out of Detroit. Jacques Demers would remain as head coach instead of having Scotty Bowman. Plus with that success means that they would be in the position to select Nick Lidstrom, Sergei Federov and Vladimir Konstantinov in the 1989 NHL Draft. The real winners of that draft are the Red Wings because they didn't get Gretzky at a high cost.

[@drsalt328]

It’s like the Penguins dealing the trio you mentioned to Colorado for Nail Yakapov three firsts and some other stuff really

[@tatejamo]

Please Shannon cover Jimmy Carson, the dude was really talented and was settling into LA around the time he got traded. Then it was said he wasn't that into hockey and eventually quit for a career outside of hockey.

[@tonttaana8930]

I have speculated many times what offensive juggernaut red wings would"ve been in nineties if Gretzky had go there!!. Have to remember that next year in 1989 nhl Draft red wings pick Fedorov/Lidström/Konstantinov!!. Of course i do not know and what picks redwings Could have send to oilers for gretzky!.

[@DARK24-7]

This was complete and total shock-i still can't believe they let Gretzky go from EDM...

[@forestwildcat3219]

Hi The Hockey Guy! Shannon, have you noticed that Vegas and Caps won all their series on a road? And If Caps will win game 7 tomorrow,who do you want to win in Final?

[@zegrasisinnocent]

Don't remind la they couldn't win a cup all those years even with the best player in the world

[@sshurmatz]

Already 30 years ago this trade happened, and it's seems like the trade happened yesterday.

[@hattorihanzo2275]

This is the first I've heard about Gretzky possibly coming to Detroit. That would have been nuts.

[@ScreamingAtPixels]

Hey Shan, have you done a video on the trade that shamed the NHL?

[@beardupbeerdown7355]

Do a video about former players taking executive/coaching roles after retiring 👌

[@TheKisj]

This trade is still haunting Edmonton to this day

[@Habu12]

When asked if he'd do it all over again, Gretz's response..."I'd tell Pock to trade me tomorrow."

[@Ishkur23]

Jimmy Carson's a weird one. He was a bit of a loner/intellectual/geek which doesn't really fit in with the masculine/jock culture of pro sports. There were stories about how when the team was on the road instead of going out with the boys he would stay in his hotel room and read economics textbooks. After a stellar rookie + few years his interest in hockey waned. He bounced around a couple teams but his performance and his passion kept declining and eventually he called it quits at the age of 30. Today he's a financial planner living in the Detroit area with his wife and kids and is no longer involved in hockey.

[@soundersfan2443]

It is not the most one sided trade ever, but it is for sure in the top five.

[@Lawomenshoops]

I believe Carson, just left the Oilers! Just plain quit because he wasn't happy. About a week later, he was traded back home to Detroit!

[@oilersridersbluejays]

Top Three Worst Days of my life was the day he was traded out of Edmonton.

[@arlichar11]

i still dont understand it.... ! why would you ever give away your best player?

[@dennyluis6339]

Wasn't Detroit also a possible destination for Patrick Roy?

[@BrettHornby]

This began the phrase "if Wayne Gretzky can get traded then anybody can."

[@3kimkim3]

This Trade made me look at hockey as a business from that moment on... I was born in Edmonton and this trade hurt me... I was 11 years old and Loved the game of hockey but after that not so much... Just like being told there is no Santa...

[@steelpenpirate]

Mr. HockeyGuy, from Penguins fans everywhere, please pronounce Brian DuMOlin's name correctly. The middle sylable is the emphatic portion of his name.

[@socalhockeyfan9784]

You should make a actually vid if Crosby were to be traded in a Gretzky style trade.

[@falzelite4215]

You should talk about the John Scott trade.

[@CountElvis]

Could you do a video on the John Spano debacle?

[@bigfloppaism996]

Is McDavid close to Gretzky skill wise?

[@thehockeyson]

Tomas Jurco is better than both of them, combined.

[@tylergodspeed82]

The Mexicano Show no, and that’s no insult to McDavid. Gretzky thought the game better than anyone in history- he was a hockey genius.

[@kalixlangenau407]

Can we get a Jimmy Carson career video

[@Rubensitoc]

did he say flipping cars? sounds like a vancouver thing ;)

[@holoholopainen1627]

I know flipping burgers ! - but what is this ? Is it after The Rangers series / that they started to say this ?

[@ME16510]

People exist who don't acknowledge that Gretzky was the greatest hockey player of all time? Lemieux was outstanding, but even when he was healthy in his prime, he was behind Gretzky most of the time.

[@David_j1991]

I agree he was awesome.

[@anthonys3892]

So he needed money but why trade gretzky, gretzky singlehandedly pulls in a good percent of his money

[@MegaEZC]

FACTS!!! Great job bro

[@NYFanatic]

This trade was the worst ever because the 3 first round picks were BUSTS!! What if the Oilers picked good players with those first round picks? It would've been more balanced. In 1989 instead of selecting Jason Solace, they should've selected Adam Foote. In 1991 instead of selecting Martin Rucinsky, they should've selected Ray Whitney. In 1993 instead of selecting Nick Stajhudar, they should've selected Saku Koivu. After Gretzky's first year in LA, the Detroit Red Wings drafted Nik Lidstrom, Sergei Federov, and Vladimir Konstantinov in the 1989 draft. If they had acquired Wayne Gretzky, they would've improved in the short run, but wouldn't be in the position to draft these players. Steve Yzerman would have to play second fiddle to Gretzky and would've definitely demanded a trade. Jacque Demers would likely remain the head coach, which means that Scotty Bowman may not replace him or Brian Murray. The bottom line, sometimes the transactions you don't make are the ones that are blessings in disguise.

[@phtornensis1183]

But he was going to leave as a UFA after the season anyways.. at least they got something in return and they still won one more cup unlike the great one.

[@Brandon-qd2lb]

I don’t get why they didn’t trade Gretzky even? He won so many cups with the oilers lol.

[@drsalt328]

He just explained the owner was bleeding money

[@DARK24-7]

Gretzky is that 99 guy right?

[@allsystemsgo8678]

Nope

[@HardRockMiner]

The day NHL hockey became an American game. It was all downhill after this.

[@RaineriHakkarainen]

Gretzky did not make hockey popular in USA! Tv ratings Stanley Cup in 1980 4% Nielsen! In 1997 tv ratings 4% Nielsen Flyers vs Red Wings(Fox) In 2013 tv ratings 3,3% Bruins vs Blackhawks! And 2024 Panthers vs Oilers game 7 only 7,7 million tv watchers!

[@siksdenine2669]

Forsberg > Erat lopside

[@jaakkoarkudvu319]

The gang gets trades to LA

[@kakarroto007]

Never knew that.

[@allsystemsgo8678]

Shannon you're completely wrong. Carson asked to be traded because idiot Oilers fans booed him even though he scored 49 goals and 100 points in his only full year with them. The way you denigrate Carson in this video is ridiculous. He had scored 92 goals before he was 20.

[@robert48044]

Imagine a team with the Great One and The Captain on it

[@robert48044]

@The Spacedog Both them teams have sucked for the majority of my life

[@broadstreet21]

@@robert48044 If Gretzky were there, Yzerman might not have been known as the captain, he would have turned the C over to Gretzky - only to get it back when the latter retires.

[@eric2vanleeuwen]

If you don't think Gretzky is the GOAT you're out of your tree

[@lucturcotte9548]

Carson was traded, because he wanted out of Edmonton after 1 season.

[@widudeisgod]

Could you imagine gretzky on detroit for a decade

[@Canyoutakeitallaway]

Especially right before the Russians started coming in... Gretzky played their style too. Gretzky with Fedorov and Konstantinov would have just been unbelievable, even if it would have cost them Yzerman (I'm of the belief that Fedorov was more talented than Stevie anyway)

[@Chelers]

how many hobey bakers does gretzky have? 0 how many does eichel have? 1 eichel>gretzky

[@JoeyJordison97]

☺

[@nyrkyg2213]

Is it true over there in Canada u gotta say the correct gender pro nouns by law

[@TheHockeyGuy]

No, that's false.

[@nyrkyg2213]

The Hockey Guy oh ok I watch this guy called Australian comedian Isaac butterfield (in no way is he part of mainstream media) and he's mentioned it a few times just wondering where he got that info from Must be our fuckin Aussie media soft as shit

[@nyrkyg2213]

The Hockey Guy anyway I was just wondering seeing as you're Canadian you would be the appropriate guy to ask

[@deanmarr785]

Kings fan here. Gretzky era is my least favorite in the Kings history. Edmonton south sucked. McNall is a total fraud and #99 proved to be a terrible GM since he was calling all of the shots. Should have traded for Messier instead.

[@reedernick]

Here early

[@Lawomenshoops]

I believe Carson, just left the Oilers! Just plain quit because he wasn't happy. About a week later, he was traded back home to Detroit!