27 years later...

[zar]

August 9, 1988.

27 years ago, will go down as the saddest frustrating most depressing day of any long-time Oiler fan's life. I remember where I was when I heard the news... do you? (If you were alive ).

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/video/tsn-rewind-oilers-trade-gretzky-to-kings~675389

...and now we embark on, in my opinion, the most exciting time in Oiler's history since that difficult day.

Click to read more...

 

[Bring Back Bucky]

I was at work at my summer job at a resort. A kid from Calgary ran up and babbled at me about it. In retrospect I wish I had punched him in the mouth.

 

[McRpro]

I was 11 years old at the time and payed zero attention to hockey. I have no recollection of that trade. My earliest hockey memory was the Flames(who I was cheering for) beating the Habs in the finals. I became an Oilers fan the year after that and to me, Gretzky and the Kings were enemy#1!

I'm glad I didn't become an Oilers fan a few years earlier, that's for sure.

 

[Uchiha]

I was non existent

 

[Jumptheshark]

About 6 days before it broke I was in Vancouver and that was when one talking head suggested the oilers could move gretz and he got ripped in half--flew back to Edmonton and about 48 hours before the trade was announced the Edmonton media started talking about it and saying it would never happen

 

[Dorian2]

All I remember from that day is getting home and watching the press conference.

Sad day indeed.

 

[Mc5RingsAndABeer]

Check out King's Ransom (30 for 30) if you haven't already.

 

[Philly85*]

We literally have this thread every year and someone mentions Kings Ransom. Gets tiring.

 

[Del Preston]

I was a couple weeks shy of my 1st birthday but this was my reaction:

 

[shoop]

IIRC it was pretty clear it was going to happen by the time it did.

Gretz was a year away from being a UFA and would not sign an extension. There is no way Pocklington was going to be able to match whatever other offers were made.

As reviled as Pocklington was, he acted in the best interest of the team that day. Granted he could have used some of the $15 million to improve the team, but it wasn't a horrendous deal in pure hockey terms.

 

[DJsquared]

IIRC it was pretty clear it was going to happen by the time it did.

Gretz was a year away from being a UFA and would not sign an extension. There is no way Pocklington was going to be able to match whatever other offers were made.

As reviled as Pocklington was, he acted in the best interest of the team that day. Granted he could have used some of the $15 million to improve the team, but it wasn't a horrendous deal in pure hockey terms.

now I was young and didn't understand too much of the business of hockey, but didn't Gretz have a 20 year contract or something silly like that? I didn't think he was gonna be a free agent. But I could be wrong.

 

[Narnia]

I've also read somewhere that there was some tampering involved in the trade but Ziegler didn't do anything about it.

 

[McTedi]

I've also read somewhere that there was some tampering involved in the trade but Ziegler didn't do anything about it.

Tampering with what…Pocklington's meds?

 

[Supermassive]

now I was young and didn't understand too much of the business of hockey, but didn't Gretz have a 20 year contract or something silly like that? I didn't think he was gonna be a free agent. But I could be wrong.

They rewrote the contract a few years after it was signed, so it would end in 1989. 11-year old me didn't comprehend anything that was going on either.

 

[shoop]

now I was young and didn't understand too much of the business of hockey, but didn't Gretz have a 20 year contract or something silly like that? I didn't think he was gonna be a free agent. But I could be wrong.

21 years was what Pocklington wanted him to sign towards the tail end of the WHA - 1979. It was an on-ice signing ceremony (very bizarre). I remember reading at that instance Gretzky signed with a bogus signature because he wasn't sure he wanted to do it. (understandable for an 18 year old kid). It was also a personal services contract to avoid the possibility of losing him in the expansion draft.

At the time of the trade he was entering the final year of a five-year extension.

That original 21 year deal might have been enough to keep Gretzky an Oiler for life. Might have been, because you never knew with Pocklington.

 

[Mc5RingsAndABeer]

We literally have this thread every year and someone mentions Kings Ransom. Gets tiring.

Well I'm sure there's some people out there who haven't seen it.

 

[Jumptheshark]

We literally have this thread every year and someone mentions Kings Ransom. Gets tiring.

welcome to HF in AUgust

 

[Narnia]

Tampering with what…Pocklington's meds?

It was said somewhere but I can't remember where.

 

[Xelebes]

I was three years old. I was busy swearing to my brothers that I would not pee my bed anymore.

 

[Jumptheshark]

the 24 hours leading up to the trade was mayhem on radio and tv

 

[thadd]

I was living in Dawson Creek.
Seemed like my family was the only one who noticed.

 

[Dorian2]

I was a couple weeks shy of my 1st birthday but this was my reaction:

Rowdy Roddy! Best Canadian Wrestler I've ever seen! (He's my all time favorite)

 

[McDynasty]

I remember it clearly, was the summer I finished grade 9 heading into high school. Heard it on the radio while driving in the back seat of my moms buick. I was shocked and saddened, so much so that I remember looking out the back window to hide the fact I had tears forming in my eyes.

 

[Jumptheshark]

Rowdy Roddy! Best Canadian Wrestler I've ever seen! (He's my all time favorite)

I forgot he was Canadian

 

[I am the Liquor]

IIRC it was pretty clear it was going to happen by the time it did.

Gretz was a year away from being a UFA and would not sign an extension. There is no way Pocklington was going to be able to match whatever other offers were made.

As reviled as Pocklington was, he acted in the best interest of the team that day. Granted he could have used some of the $15 million to improve the team, but it wasn't a horrendous deal in pure hockey terms.

This is a load.

Wayne was sold to support Peter's house of cards business empire. Period.