AltaHab
Registered User
I remember hearing a story that Gretzky was actually friendly with McNall before the trade, and he was in McNall's office when McNall called Pocklington and asked about obtaining Gretzky to play for the Kings. He had Pocklington on speaker phone, and Pocklington did not know Gretzky was in the office. Apparently Pocklington when on a tirade and said some nasty things about Wayne, and Janet in particular... and that really changed Wayne's attitude about leaving the Oilers.
I believe I heard this in a radio interview with Jim Taylor a few years ago.
Dave Rutherford of QR770 interviewed McNall about three years ago and McNall recounted the same story... that Gretz was in his office when the call was made and played over the speaker phone. After the call Wayne didn't want to play for Oilers anymore.