there was something about a coin toss too. he could've been a vancouver canuck. they made some shady deal over the money and a coin toss. i saw it on a documentary. something like that.
Never knew the canucks were ever in the picture, the rumour was always that they were getting Tretiak, and that went on forever until it was the habs. So many players ate and drank from the cup since '85, OV was eating caviar from it last year. Why pick that moment to make that comment?
what comment ? who me ? i think the coin toss was his deal with the indianapolis racers. and when they were folding, who would get his rights-vancouver or edmonton. that was the deal i was referring too. they had to decide which team got his rights.
No. There was nothing about Vancouver in the WHA dispersal draft or about Gretzky. There was no coin toss either. You're thinking about the 1970 draft lottery between Buffalo and Vancouver for who would get the first pick in the 1970 draft between the two expansion teams. Buffalo's #11 game up on the big wheel of luck and they drafted #11 Gil Perreault. There was no agreement between any NHL owners and any erstwhile owners like Poklington. Four teams from the WHA were brought into the NHL and all players (except Gretz) for the other teams all went into a dispersal draft. Gretzsky should have gone into the dispersal draft, but slimy Pocklington signed him to a personal-services contract (dubious merit that that was even legal). The NHL owners backed down to Pocklington and that's why the Great One went to Edmonton. If he had gone in the dispersal draft he would have been selected first overall by the Colorado Rockies. The Rockies would never have become the NJ Devils if Gretzsky skated on the team. The LA Kings would never have bought - err traded - for Gretzsky if he'd gone to Denver because the reason for the trade is because Pocklington had started to run out of money by the late 80's. If Gretzsky had not gone to SoCal there's a very real chance that the NHL would not have made a push to expand/move to places in TN, FL, AZ, TX, NC, etc. It would be a different world. But leave the Canucks out of this convo. And drop the notion that a coin toss was involved.
Gretzky came from the WHA, no NHL ever had a crack at him, The coin toss was the sabres and canucks expansion for Perrault in 1970.
It was not a coin toss. They spun a wheel. The Edmonton Oilers were coming into the NHL, and because of the personal-services agreement no other NHL team was given a shot at getting him in 1979.
sorry Dan, I'll check with your secretary the next time i want to post something about this. on the 5 DVD set of the game of Hockey, which Skinny recommended, there's a section on Gretzky, not Perreault or the wheel and his rights. SOmething about the money and the Indianapolis Racers needing money fast as they were folding soon and how exactly did they get his rights from the Racers. I know there was a personal services contact but something about the money was mentioned to the Racers and on a airplane ride, his fate was determined. I thought the other team was Vancouver. I'm trying to find exactly what is was. put it this way, it was something i never heard or saw before about the Gretzky deal with the Racers and how he became an Oiler.
Gretzky only played eight games for Indianapolis. The Racers were losing $40,000 per game. Skalbania told Gretzky he would be moved, offering him a choice between the Edmonton Oilers and the Winnipeg Jets. On the advice of his agent, Gretzky picked the Oilers, but the move was not that simple. On November 2, Gretzky, goaltender Eddie Mio and forward Peter Driscoll were put on a private plane, not knowing where they would land and what team they would be joining.[31] While in the air, Skalbania worked on the deal. Skalbania offered to play a game of backgammon with Winnipeg owner Michael Gobuty, the stakes being if Gobuty won, he would get Gretzky and if he lost, he had to give Skalbania a share of the Jets. Gobuty turned down the proposal and the players landed in Edmonton.[36] Mio paid the $4,000 bill for the flight with his credit card.[37] Skalbania sold Gretzky, Mio and Driscoll to his former partner, and then-owner of the Edmonton Oilers, Peter Pocklington. Although the announced price was $850,000, Pocklington actually paid $700,000.[33] The money was not enough to keep the Racers alive; they folded that December.[35]
Personal services contract, I don't like the sounds of that. How come it says that Pocklington protected him as they were allowed to protect two skaters and two goalies.
this is what i was referencing. so it wasn't a coin toss but backgammon. the one thing was gretzky was on a plane and where it landed, which he didnt know, was where he was going to play - edmonton or winnipeg. so it wasn't the rockies, this was what hit me when i watch the DVD series.
The Colorado Rockies were not part of this story - of course. The Rockies were in the NHL. The teams involved., (Indy, EDM, & WPG), were all in the WHA at the time. In the end, the story is - or at least it should be - about "how did Pocklington and the Oilers avoid having Wayne Gretzsky go into the WHA dispersal draft?". All the rest is filler. Colorado is mentioned only because if Gretzsky had gone to the dispersal draft, that is the team that would have claimed him. Hockey history would look A LOT different if Pocklington had not signed Gretzsky to that personal-services contract.
Bobby Hull was trying to recruit Gretzky to play for the Jets. Wined and dined with the kid to no avail. Pretty amazing all these stories and acts for 1 person. Now he's the greatest ever but at 17 they didn't know that.
In the summer of '96 when he was a UFA, Cliff Fletcher had a $5M deal ready for him to sign, all they needed was approval from the leafs BOG. It was nixed because of money issues. They would've had Gilmour, Sundin and Gretzky down the middle.
