Jets4Life
Registered User
As a life long Jets fan, it kills me to post this:
Michael Gobuty (Jets WHA Owner): "I’m at home. I get a phone call. [Skalbania] says, “Michael, I’m folding. It’ll be my last game in Indianapolis. I’m blowing my brains out. Why don’t you take Wayne?” I took my wife, Adrienne, and my oldest son, Marshall. I had my own jet in those days. We jumped on the plane, flew to Indianapolis and watched Wayne play. I think he scored two goals. After the game, we went for dinner. I had a drink and Nelson had a drink but Wayne couldn’t even have a beer he was so young. My GM at the time was one of the top two or three in the business, Rudy Pilous. He’d won Stanley Cups and everything. I called him after the meeting in Indianapolis. “No, Gretzky’s too skinny,” he said. “He’s too light. They’ll kill him.”
Wayne Gretzky: Bobby Hull desperately wanted me to go to Winnipeg. We played there a week prior to the trade. The stick boy came in after the game and said, “Mr. Hull wants to see you down the hallway.” So I went down the hallway and [Hull] said, “Come on, I want to take you to dinner.” So we went to dinner and he spent the whole night saying, “Tell them you want to come to Winnipeg.” He wanted me to be his centreman. “Okay, of course,” I said. I’d love to play with Bobby Hull. Who doesn’t want to play with Bobby Hull, right?
Michael Gobuty: Nelson slept at my house, and the next day he said, “What are you going to do [about acquiring Gretzky]?”
“Nelson, my partners say no,” I said. “Rudy Pilous says no.”
Biggest mistake. Huge mistake. Because, as you know, Wayne was the best. And I didn’t do it.
With the Jets out of contention for Gretzky, Skalbania turned his attention to Edmonton and Pocklington. Skalbania was plenty familiar with the Oilers: he’d owned them before buying the Racers, and was the man who’d sold the team to Pocklington.
Big Read: Did Oilers win Gretzky in backgammon game? - Sportsnet.ca
The Jets had first dibs on Gretzky. Even Bobby Hull advised the Jets to take Gretzky. However, it was the Jets GM Rudy Pilous, who convinced the Jets new owners to pass on Gretzky. It was a decision that the Jets would regret.
Michael Gobuty (Jets WHA Owner): "I’m at home. I get a phone call. [Skalbania] says, “Michael, I’m folding. It’ll be my last game in Indianapolis. I’m blowing my brains out. Why don’t you take Wayne?” I took my wife, Adrienne, and my oldest son, Marshall. I had my own jet in those days. We jumped on the plane, flew to Indianapolis and watched Wayne play. I think he scored two goals. After the game, we went for dinner. I had a drink and Nelson had a drink but Wayne couldn’t even have a beer he was so young. My GM at the time was one of the top two or three in the business, Rudy Pilous. He’d won Stanley Cups and everything. I called him after the meeting in Indianapolis. “No, Gretzky’s too skinny,” he said. “He’s too light. They’ll kill him.”
Wayne Gretzky: Bobby Hull desperately wanted me to go to Winnipeg. We played there a week prior to the trade. The stick boy came in after the game and said, “Mr. Hull wants to see you down the hallway.” So I went down the hallway and [Hull] said, “Come on, I want to take you to dinner.” So we went to dinner and he spent the whole night saying, “Tell them you want to come to Winnipeg.” He wanted me to be his centreman. “Okay, of course,” I said. I’d love to play with Bobby Hull. Who doesn’t want to play with Bobby Hull, right?
Michael Gobuty: Nelson slept at my house, and the next day he said, “What are you going to do [about acquiring Gretzky]?”
“Nelson, my partners say no,” I said. “Rudy Pilous says no.”
Biggest mistake. Huge mistake. Because, as you know, Wayne was the best. And I didn’t do it.
With the Jets out of contention for Gretzky, Skalbania turned his attention to Edmonton and Pocklington. Skalbania was plenty familiar with the Oilers: he’d owned them before buying the Racers, and was the man who’d sold the team to Pocklington.
Big Read: Did Oilers win Gretzky in backgammon game? - Sportsnet.ca
The Jets had first dibs on Gretzky. Even Bobby Hull advised the Jets to take Gretzky. However, it was the Jets GM Rudy Pilous, who convinced the Jets new owners to pass on Gretzky. It was a decision that the Jets would regret.
