The Wayne Gretzky trade 25 years later

August 9, 1988 when I was at a Christian camp and hear that the LA Kings had just traded for one of greatest hockey player's in NHL history in the great one Wayne Gretzky I was a dumb founded 11 year old. It would be a money deal as Peter Pocklington, the owner of the Oilers at the time, had run into money trouble and went to a guy named Bruce Mcnall who would be a crook but at the time was the owner of the Kings looking for 15 million dollars and getting it. He was traded with Marty McSorley and centre Mike Krushelnyski for Martin Gelinas, 3 first round draft picks ('89,'91, and '93) and rhe guy that the Oilers felt would be the great replacement Jimmy Carson (he could not live it down). It turned out to be the darkest day in Hockey as it was the end of hockey innocent as it ended up leading the first million dollar in the NHL along side Mario Lemieux with the Penguins and it would open up the flood gates for hickey which is not the bad. The impact of the deal would be felt over the next decade and not in a good way with the San Jose Sharks ('91), Phoenix Coyates ('96),Anaheim Mighty Ducks ('93), Colorado Avalanche ('95), Dallas Stars ('93), Nashville Predators ('98), Carolina Hurricanes ('97), Florida Panthers ('93), Tampa Bay Lightening ('92), and the dead Atlanta Thrashers ('99-2011) all joining the NHL and becoming black holes (not all the same size some smaller than others). Some people made it rich with the money grab of the NHL in the owner of the Hartford Whalers who sold the team to Carolina, the owner of the original Winnipeg Jets who sold it to Phoenix, and the owner of the Quebec Nordics who sold it to Colorado but any and every other owner has either had one of the warmer place teams in the south and California and have lost multiply shirts or the richer franchises who have to throw good money after bad to keep the teams a float. This did not have to be a black day for hockey because it is not very well known but has been reported over the bunch of years that Harold Ballard and had been talked to by Peter Puck before the Kings came into the picture and was offered to flop rosters so the Oilers would be playing out of Maple Leaf Gardens as Leafs and the Leafs would go west and become Oilers and the richest franchise in the NHL would likely have that Stanley guy stay a while but Harold got cold feet and Stanley still has not made a visit since '67. The Vancouver Canucks sniffing around the situation around the same time as the Kings were and no matter which was it all went it would of been nice to keep the NHL and Gretzky Canadian. The saddest part is one of the best players in hockey in Wayne Gretzky has disowned the NHL and it is all about one of those black holes and actually the biggest one in Phoenix because someone owes him millions and millions of dollars for his coaching career with the Coyotes. His daughter Paula Gretzky is getting a tone more attention than the great one and all for the wrong reasons (her body) and his son while son Trevor is a baseball player in the Chicago Cubs system and no doubt be a future Jays player. Please can someone get the great one back in hockey he is missed Tom Mehegan