St. Louis Blues History: Wayne Gretzky Leaves
By Todd Panula
The Great One was supposed to end his career as a member of the St. Louis Blues. Instead, this day in history, 20 years ago,marked one of the briefest reigns of all time.
On February 27 of 1996, the St. Louis Blues acquired potentially the greatest hockey player that ever lived, Wayne Gretzky. They gave up a large amount, but none of it really amounted to much in the end. St. Louis traded away Craig Johnson, Roman Vopat, Patrice Tardif, a fifth round pick in 1996 that would be Peter Hogan (never made the NHL) and a first round pick in 1997 that became Matt Zultek (also never played in the NHL).
Nothing against any of those players, but that’s a real world equivalent of turning a bunch of beans into the golden goose from the Jack and the Beanstalk story. It could have been and should have been a fairy tale ending for all involved. Well, maybe not the Kings, but you know.
Instead, 20 years ago today marked the end of one of the briefest and strangest marriages in sporting history. Blues fans were left to wonder what in the blue blazes happened and to this day nobody, save one or two people really knows what went down.
As stated, it was supposed to be a great ending. The Blues had acquired a true number one center – something they had not had since the departure of Adam Oates. You could argue for Craig Janney, but let’s not.
The Blues had acquired the best. The Great One was going to wear the bluenote. He was going to play with one of his best friends in Brett Hull. He was also reunited with old Oilers teammate, Esa Tikkanen. The Hull and Gretzky show was going to be the partnership that would bring that elusive championship to the Gateway city.
Things seemed to go well too. After the trade, Gretzky settled in and scored 21 points in his remaining 18 games. Combining that with his totals from Los Angeles and he had a 102 point season at 35 years old.
To put it in perspective how much the Blues benefited immediately from Gretzky, his 21 points in 18 games ranked him as the ninth highest scorer on the team for the entire season. He seemed comfortable, surrounded by friends and former teammates.
Then the playoffs came. Though Gretzky led the team with 16 points, he only had two goals. Whispers started coming out of a rift between he and coach Mike Keenan.
Fans did their best to shrug it off. It’s just the egos of larger than life personalities we told ourselves. How wrong we were and how disastrous things would turn.
Hope crashed quickly in those playoffs. The Blues won the first round matchup with the Toronto Maple Leafs. However, Nick Kyrpeos “accidentally” fell or was “knocked into” Grant Fuhr. The Blues lost their starting goaltender to a knee injury and Jon Casey was forced to take over.
Casey did a decent enough job. He won the remaining games needed to knock off Toronto and he did enough to get the Blues to a seventh game against Detroit in the conference semi-finals. Unfortunately, in Game 7, Steve Yzerman ripped a slapshot over Casey’s blocker that likely would have been a glove save for Fuhr and Blues fans had their dreams dashed again.
It was ok though right? We still had Gretzky and Fuhr would be back the next season and the Blues would add some pieces and it would be the next step. Not so.
It came out during the early part of the summer that the Blues, or should I say Keenan, rescinded a three-year contract that had been promised to Gretzky back in April. Why the paperwork wasn’t drawn up and pen put to paper in April or May is anyone’s guess.
Maybe both sides figured if there was a verbal agreement, there was no rush. Maybe it was crazy GM Keenan’s plan of a negotiation tactic. Whatever the reason, it backfired.
Keenan’s treatment of Gretzky during the playoffs and his apparent unhappiness with the lack of goals scored by the Great One, combined with the baffling decision to renege on the promised deal was the death knell for the Blues.
On July 21, 1996 – 20 years ago today – Gretzky signed a two-year, $10 million deal with the Rangers. He would eventually play the three years that he could have signed with the Blues before retiring.
Instead of staying with his friend, Hull, he went back to his old buddy, Mark Messier. Instead of finishing his career as one of the Blues, he ended as a member of the blueshirts. Instead of trying to get a parade down Market Street, he tried to bring another to Times Square. Ah, what could have been.
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Gretzky didn’t find the glory he was looking for in the Big Apple. The Rangers made the playoffs once in his final three seasons. Gretzky also wasn’t quite the same player he once was, but he was still better than not having him.
He scored totals of 97, 90 and 62 points at 36, 37 and 38 years old. They weren’t his typical numbers, but they were better than what the Blues had. Gretzky also scored 10 goals and 20 points in 15 playoff games in 1997. He still had it and the Blues didn’t receive the benefits.
Granted, it was always a risk. The Blues made the deal knowing he might be a rental. Nobody involved in the trade went on to greater glory, so the Blues didn’t miss out on some rising prospect. Gretzky also didn’t win a championship after leaving.
Even with all that said, the situation stings for those that had to live through it. Mike Keenan was actually a pretty decent coach. The power made him mad once he put on his GM hat though. Keenan had his stable of players that he wanted, but how anyone in their right mind could toss aside hockey’s greatest will always be a mystery.
Some said he was done. He was over the hill. Even Gretzky felt his time was dwindling when recalling things in 2012. “I thought that was going to be my last stop,” said Gretzky. “Fortunately for everyone I moved on probably because I was older in age. I wish I would have went there when I was a little younger, but I loved my time there.”
His stats over the next three years told a different story. He wasn’t as dynamic a player as he once was, but the Blues could have done with 90 or more points for a couple seasons.
The front office tried to smooth things over, but Gretzky said he would never sign as long as Keenan was in charge. What a pity.
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Maybe it would not have led to a title. Maybe Gretzky’s run with the Blues would have been remembered as little as his time with the Rangers. It still would have been something. At least it would have been more than a blip on the screen – an anecdote or a trivia question.
Nobody ever really understood what went through Keenan’s head. Perhaps even he did not know. Whatever, the reason, Gretzky was not given the chance to retire here due to pretty petty differences and ego. It still stings that we’ll never know how different things might have been.