Pro hockey player named Gretsky might be Wayne Gretzky's long-lost relative
If you ever find yourself tuning into a KHL game, don’t adjust your television set if it seems like Wayne Gretzky is skating across the ice.
Skating for Amur Khabarovsk each of the last three seasons after starting off his KHL career with Dinamo Minsk, 28-year-old Belarusian forward Vyacheslav Gretsky has become a fan favourite in the Russian league due to his similar name to the NHL all-time great, Wayne Gretzky.
“At first, I was a little embarrassed by the attention,” Gretsky said through an interpreter in a 2020 story by ESPN’s Emily Kaplan. “But I learned that if it is going to happen, I can only make the most of the opportunity.”
Meet the other 99: KHL cult hero Vyacheslav Gretsky.
Wayne thinks they could be related, but young Slava is just trying to create his own legacy. https://t.co/Gqu3RxEtOT pic.twitter.com/HlREImTT0R
— Emily Kaplan (@emilymkaplan) February 14, 2020
Gretsky previously wore No. 99 — the number Wayne made famous — on his first KHL team, but has since switched to first No. 12 and then No. 23. Interestingly, his teammate Sergei Dubakin currently wears the No. 99, so it’s not like it’s a forbidden set of digits, unlike how it is retired league-wide in the NHL.
For another piece of trivia, Gretsky also spent one season playing with another player with a name close to an all-time athlete; former Carolina Hurricanes defenceman Michal Jordan was his captain during his first year with Khabarovsk Amur.
And it appears that Wayne himself is a fan of the winger.
“A month ago, my friend sent me a story about him,” Gretzky told ESPN in January 2020. “And so I read all about him, and I think it’s amazing. As soon as my friend sent it to me, I said, ‘He might be related to me.'”
Gretzky’s grandfather Anton actually misspelled their Gretsky name on his documents when he emigrated to Canada, originally coming to Winnipeg via Chicago after arriving from Eastern Europe, he told ESPN.
Gretzky himself retired from the NHL in 1999 as the league’s all-time leading scorer but hasn’t exactly been outside of the news cycle in recent months.
This week, he’ll be travelling around following Alex Ovechkin as the Russian forward aims to break Gretzky’s all-time NHL goals record of 894.
Away from the rink, Gretzky has made headlines for his close ties to American President Donald Trump, which has resulted in heavy backlash from many Canadians given the ongoing tariff disputes between the two countries. Gretzky’s wife Janet posted a letter in February saying that he’s “heartbroken” by Canadians questioning the dual citizen’s loyalty to the country, though notably did not mention the ties to Trump.
Given that Wayne’s own offspring never went anywhere in their hockey careers (though his son Trevor did get drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 2011) — perhaps this is the closest we’ll get to seeing another Gretzky in the NHL for a while.