Why didn't Gretzky play 99-00 season?

illpucks

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May 26, 2011
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Why didn't he play 1 more season? 62p in 70GP is good stat line. 1 more season and he reaches 900 goals, 2000 assists. He was banged up isn't really an excuse because 62 p in 70 GP is excellent production still.
 

JackSlater

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Apr 27, 2010
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Gretzky looked pretty much done by the end of that season. He started with 35 points in his first 31 games, then had 27 points in his remaining 39. His skating wasn't looking very good. His team was going nowhere. He was still a competent NHLer who could have been very useful in the right situation, but after such a full career I don't think that he felt there was anything left to play for.
 

Spirit of McMullen

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Apr 19, 2018
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The Rangers made the playoffs his first season there, but didn't for years 2 & 3. He no doubt saw where the team was headed, as they missed the playoffs until the 2005-2006 season. There was also the prospect of moving off of the top line if he continued on. During the summer of 1997, the Rangers just about lured Joe Sakic away from Colorado and he was practically on his way there if not for them being forced to match the offer from the Rangers at the very last minute.

There was a lot of excitement initially, but it became a grind for him as his family still lived in California.

The second season there also effected him personally as this is when Janet Gretzky got knocked unconscious by the glass after an Ulf Samuelsson check to a Hawks player along the boards that knocked the glass off and onto her. He was deeply concerned about this and I remember he was extremely effected by it at the time. The guy basically has accomplished anything and everything at that point, so it must have really hit home.

A lot of the above weighed on him. Found these quotes from his retirement:

"gut feeling, something I believe is right."

"I started to feel fatigue -- mentally and physically -- that I never felt before."

The above quotes were taken from the following article, which makes a case for his retiring too early actually:

Did Wayne Gretzky Retire Too Early?

 
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oilexport

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Aug 29, 2010
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Even when he was young, he always said he would quit early, when the decline set in. Wayne did not wanna go out as an average player...
 
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crobro

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It was symbolic,Gretzky Hersey number 99 and also the original personal services contract he signed with Edmonton which ran till 1999
 

Hobnobs

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Gretzky was completely done by 99. Nothing left in the tank. As for him still producing in 99. Well, yea.. Its not like his talent went away. But his body was done.
 
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Big Phil

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Nov 2, 2003
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He would have stayed another year if the Rangers landed Bure.

True, this is what he said after he retired. I think it was a Dave Hodge interview.



Of all the people to do that, it was Ulfie. One thing I remember about that is when Janet got hit by the glass and was taken away in an ambulance Gretzky stayed and finished the game. I remember people thinking he should have left the game to go with her. Others felt he was right to finish the game. It was a 1-0 game that Chicago won. For some reason I remember that goal, it was Eric Daze and I have never in my life seen a goal that was so blatantly offside in my life. Anyway, the idea was that Gretzky should have stayed - which he did - to try and help tie the game. And Janet was okay anyways.

Here is a hit in Gretzky's last season in February 1999. Bill Muckalt nails him with a clean check. It's hard, but clean. Not sure why Muckalt got a penalty unless they thought Gretzky didn't have the puck. But if anything it was just finishing his check.


This was just not "Gretzky" anymore. Even in his younger days he tended to avoid those hits and get rid of the puck much earlier. Everything was at a slower pace for him and he is just simply old by now. 62 points in 70 games is good for most, but this was a painful season for him. He left at the right time. He did have a lot of desire to play in the 2000 All-Star game in Toronto, but that didn't slide the scale in favour of playing. In retrospect, he left at the right time. He had good years with the Rangers the first two years leading the NHL in assists but he left the second he wasn't even at that level anymore and 1997 was even a far cry from, say, 1991.
 

BenchBrawl

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Jul 26, 2010
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If anything he should have retired a year earlier.Of course he was still a good player, but compared to his former self it was pointless to continue, unless he had fun.

Not everyone ages like Gordie Howe or Jaromir Jagr.
 
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tony d

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Jun 23, 2007
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What's even more amazing is that was Gretzky's only year under a ppg. What a great player he was. Would have been nice to see him play forever but as great as he was he deserved to retire whenever.
 

Dingo

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Jul 13, 2018
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Ice hockey players are human beings, not cartoon figures with everlasting energy.
And there is just more to life than hockey, as much as us nerds feel otherwise.

I have a friend who was down on Lidstrom for retiring when he was still very good. Kinda played the Euro-not-caring angle. It’s their life, they live it daily, it is hard work, and they have done it for their whole lives. It’s our dream, but dreams are easy. If all you do is play hockey, seeing your kids, going to Hawaii, etc. becomes the dream, I’m sure.
 

Dingo

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Jul 13, 2018
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True, this is what he said after he retired. I think it was a Dave Hodge interview.



Of all the people to do that, it was Ulfie. One thing I remember about that is when Janet got hit by the glass and was taken away in an ambulance Gretzky stayed and finished the game. I remember people thinking he should have left the game to go with her. Others felt he was right to finish the game. It was a 1-0 game that Chicago won. For some reason I remember that goal, it was Eric Daze and I have never in my life seen a goal that was so blatantly offside in my life. Anyway, the idea was that Gretzky should have stayed - which he did - to try and help tie the game. And Janet was okay anyways.

Here is a hit in Gretzky's last season in February 1999. Bill Muckalt nails him with a clean check. It's hard, but clean. Not sure why Muckalt got a penalty unless they thought Gretzky didn't have the puck. But if anything it was just finishing his check.


This was just not "Gretzky" anymore. Even in his younger days he tended to avoid those hits and get rid of the puck much earlier. Everything was at a slower pace for him and he is just simply old by now. 62 points in 70 games is good for most, but this was a painful season for him. He left at the right time. He did have a lot of desire to play in the 2000 All-Star game in Toronto, but that didn't slide the scale in favour of playing. In retrospect, he left at the right time. He had good years with the Rangers the first two years leading the NHL in assists but he left the second he wasn't even at that level anymore and 1997 was even a far cry from, say, 1991.

And this. It’s a rough game. He retired at its roughest. Why the hell compile some numbers and risk your future life? Was he ever not built to take punishment. It is a miracle, and a testament to his awareness that we got to see twenty years of him. He could have had a short career with worse luck or in a different era.
 
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Big Phil

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And this. It’s a rough game. He retired at its roughest. Why the hell compile some numbers and risk your future life? Was he ever not built to take punishment. It is a miracle, and a testament to his awareness that we got to see twenty years of him. He could have had a short career with worse luck or in a different era.

This is why I think he left at the right time. He was slow, his back was killing him and he just didn't have it anymore. We saw Gretzky at that old timers game a couple of years back. Not that you judge an old-timers game by anything because I've seen Nik Antropov at one where he looked like Mario Lemieux - no joke. But Gretzky looked bad in that outdoor game. We forget, he's in his late 50s now. This is why Joe DiMaggio never played old-timers games, he didn't want anyone to see him as anything but when he played.

Another thing, when you racked up 200 points in a season and led the league in points 10 times in your career 62 points looks shabby. It isn't that Gretzky didn't age well by NHL standards, he just didn't age well by HIS standards.
 
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Albatros

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Aug 19, 2017
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Achieving 62 points is one thing, but the biggest chunk of that were powerplay assists. He was -23 that season and -80 his final six seasons. He could have retired already in 1994 and it wouldn't have hurt his legacy one bit, on the contrary.
 

Panthera

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Sep 25, 2017
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Being banged up is a pretty damn good excuse, really. Dude had already accomplished everything he could ever care to and had spent years playing with a bad back by that point. He played for 20 seasons, which is a pretty long hockey career. If he didn't feel he was up to continuing, who is anyone else to say otherwise? And you have to take into account this is Gretzky we're talking about. His performance in his final season may seem decent, but imagine how it feels when you're Wayne Gretzky and you can remember the days where you just went out there and did whatever struck you as a good idea and always made it work, you remember the days where you dominated the league like no other, you remember that even after you slowed down and your back started acting up you were still able to rack up points like crazy...and now you're slow, your body doesn't respond the way it used to. You still see the game as clearly as ever but you're physically incapable of doing what you keep feeling like you need to be doing out there. A level of play that plenty of players would be happy with would probably feel downright awful.
 

HurricaneFanatic

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Jan 16, 2020
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I wonder if he looks back and thinks, man I was just an average season from getting 900/2000. I doubt it, but so close. If not for the back injury I doubt we are even talking about Ovi breaking the goal record. He would have 950 or so and it would be impossible. I do wonder just how much that back injury impacted him. That is the one thing Ovi has going for him, no serious injuries.

Gretzky played in an era of rough hockey, Ovi hasn't. Yes, it's still a rough game, but you know what i mean.
 

Moose Head

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Mar 12, 2002
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Deep inside, I think he might wish he never played that last season. Still a good nhl center, but you could finally really see the wear and tear setting in.
 

MadLuke

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Jan 18, 2011
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It is a bit sad that he did not play in any playoff games after 1997, because is last playoff were still really elite (with is classic slapshot goals still working).
 

The Panther

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Mar 25, 2014
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Most opportune times for Gretzky to have retired:

(a) 1994

(b) 1998

I would have liked to have seen him retire in spring 1998, I guess. I can't remember -- did he have a two-year contract from 1997, or was he year by year? Anyway, 1997-98 saw Wayne play not very well in the first half but then he cranked it up in the second half and was outstanding (just a point behind peak-Jagr, in the second half scoring), so to walk away at that moment would have been better, I think, than hanging around for that final season.

The final season: As someone noted, he was scoring fairly well in the first part of the year. As of December 20th, 1998, he was tied for 5th in scoring with Fleury and Forsberg, but after that there was just wasn't any gas left in the tank.
 

Boxscore

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He had nothing left to prove, he was declining, and he wanted to leave on his own terms. The team was also in decline so there wasn't much incentive.

Plus 99 retiring in 99 after 20 years is perfect.

This.

Go out while still good. Fitting that 99 hangs up the blades in 99. Too perfect--as you said.
 

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