Despite being considered the greatest hockey player to ever lace up a pair of skates, Wayne Gretzky was traded three times in his two-decade-long NHL career. The first one, though, which saw Gretzky leave the Edmonton Oilers for the Los Angeles Kings in 1988, is still considered the most shocking deal in NHL history.
And to this day, The Great One has strong feelings about leaving the team he hoisted four Stanley Cups with. As a recent guest on the Spittin Chiclets podcast, Gretzky revealed just how much it pained him to play against the Oilers.
“When I played against the Edmonton Oilers, I hated every minute of it,” the 62-year-old hockey legend said.
Part of that came from missing the love and adoration he had received from Edmonton fans up until that point.
“I loved every minute that I played in Edmonton,” he explained. “I loved the fans. They were so good to me.”
Another part came from the fact that he was booed every time he stepped onto the ice in Edmonton as a member of the Kings, St. Louis Blues, and even New York Rangers.
“I knew they had to boo me, and it just really hurt my feelings,” he said. “I knew they didn’t really want to but they had to because I was the enemy.”
Wayne Gretzky loved playing for the Oilers, but HATED playing against them.
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— Spittin' Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) December 27, 2023
Still, he calls returning to his former rink the most difficult part of the trade that shook the hockey world.
“That was the worst thing that happened out of that trade,” Gretzky added. “I always felt like… deep down, somewhere inside of me, I’m an Oiler.”
With Gretzky long retired now and still holding plenty of top spots in the sport’s record books, it’s safe to say that Oilers fans have reclaimed No. 99 as one of their own.
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