The St. Louis Blues had a lot of players throughout their history play in 20 or fewer games for them. Most of them were organizational depth guys who fans and the history books forgot and probably always will forget, given their insignificant contributions.
Then, there was Wayne Gretzky, who suited up for St. Louis around the same time I learned that a sport called hockey existed and found it pretty cool to see a bunch of players chase a puck around with sticks while skating on a sheet of ice.
Growing up in a family full of NFL fans, the NHL was vaguely, if ever, on the radar, I didn't watch the sport much except for highlights the next morning on ESPN and playing those old video games. Still, I knew who Wayne Gretzky was, even if I had no idea until later on that he played in 18 regular season games for the Blues.
It was his shortest stint with any team in his NHL career (even if he played in even fewer games for the Indianapolis Racers of the WHA). Yeah, so this one's easy for casual and new fans to overlook, especially since we best know Gretzky for his time with the Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, and, to a lesser extent, the New York Rangers.
Wayne Gretzky did suit up for the St. Louis Blues and looked every bit as much as you might've expected
Gretzky's numbers, even in his age-35 season, were very, very Gretzky-like, with eight goals and 21 points following what was a blockbuster trade on February 27th, 1996.
Gretzky helped push the Blues into the 1996 playoffs, where he once again looked every bit as you'd have expected, with 16 points and two goals in 13 contests before the Blues bowed out in the Western Conference Semi-Final.
Do the math, and Gretzky played in 31 total games for the Blues, with 10 goals and 27 assists, good for 37 points. His contributions during the Blues playoff push and eventual playoff run enticed them to offer a contract extension, but Gretzky decided to head out east and play for the New York Rangers.
While Gretzky's time with the Blues was every bit as short as those grateful enough just to wear the blue music note for.a few games, it was way, way more memorable.
You see stories like this all the time, with aging star players getting dealt late in the season to try and help teams make that playoff push. But the difference here is that they weren't the greatest player in league history. That's what makes Gretzky's short run in Arch City one of the most memorable.
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