Why didn't Gretzky play 99-00 season?

[VanIslander]

He missed a dozen games yet still led the Rags in scoring.

He was 4th in the NHL in assists per game.

I wished at the time the team would give him a Bure or equivalent.

I myself asked in '99: Why not play longer Wayne?

That goodbye wave pic captures the moment i was balling, a stream of tears flooding my face.

That shook me a bit more than his hanging head on the bench after not getting picked to shoot in the 1998 Olympic shootout they ended up losing. Heck, i was in high school when he was traded to LA, a team i loathe, but i took that better than his retirement.

 

[frontsfan2005]

As others have mentioned, he was done in 1999.

He was too far away from 3000 career points - 143 points away is likely three more seasons for him at this point.

He was only six goals away from 900, however, Gretzky's last NHL goal was his 1072nd career professional goal (NHL/WHA regular season and playoffs), which broke the record held by Gordie Howe (1071).

Perhaps if the Rangers acquired Bure earlier and the team was showing signs of being a legitimate contender in 1999-2000, he hangs around for an extra year. But Gretzky had a nagging back injury, and missed 12 games in 1999 due to a neck injury.

 

[The Panther]

He missed a dozen games yet still led the Rags in scoring.

He was 4th in the NHL in assists per game.

I wished at the time the team would give him a Bure or equivalent.

I myself asked in '99: Why not play longer Wayne?

That goodbye wave pic captures the moment i was balling, a stream of tears flooding my face.

That shook me a bit more than his hanging head on the bench after not getting picked to shoot in the 1998 Olympic shootout they ended up losing. Heck, i was in high school when he was traded to LA, a team i loathe, but i took that better than his retirement.

For me, I guess there were 3 "emotional" moments across Gretzky's career, as follows:

1) Trade to L.A. -- I was 12, living in central Alberta, an "Oilers for life" fan, and Gretzky was my hero. 'Nuff said.

2) Kings' loss to Montreal in '93 Finals -- I really thought this was Wayne's "Indian summer" period when some good fortune smiled on the Kings, and after game one of the Finals, and with a minute left in game two, it looked like L.A. was going to pull of the impossible, thus completely cementing Gretzky's legacy as not only the greatest player but the greatest winner. Instead, McSorley's forgetting to change his stick cancelled all that. And I also thought Wayne might retire after that playoff. The Montreal media actually asked him that, and he said he was considering it.

3) 1998 Olympics loss -- At the time, I thought Team Canada was justified in not putting Gretzky out for the shoot-out. In retrospect, though, I think it was completely idiotic and that Crawford should be publicly hanged. The image of Wayne lingering on the bench, after the loss, knowing it was the final chance in his career to win something big, was so sad.

(Weirdly, his actual retirement from New York wasn't a big deal to me. In fact, I didn't even know he had retired until my mom sent me the Sports Illustrated issue about it.)