Nick Piccone
Flyers fans in the 1980s and 1990s probably wondered if they would have won another Stanley Cup with Wayne Gretzky sporting the orange and black… and white. Some fans might wonder that today, with rival Sidney Crosby – captaining the Pittsburgh Penguins on the less cooler side of the state – winning a third Stanley Cup this past June. What if? What if the Flyers’ last Stanley Cup championship wasn’t in 1975?
Gretzky was traded on August 9, 1988 to the Los Angeles Kings, but there was a very real chance “The Great One” could have landed with the Flyers.
It came close to happening, according to Gretzky himself, who talked about “The Trade” on NHL Tonight a few nights ago.
“In the end, we got down to three teams. Mr. Snider was a good friend of mine and Philadelphia was involved, and Detroit Red Wings – and of course I grew up a Gordie Howe fan and loved Gordie Howe and the Red Wings – and the Los Angeles Kings were involved. I really felt 24 hours before hand that I was going to end up a Detroit Red Wing. Both Janet and I thought that was the perfect place to go because A, it was a great hockey city, B, because of Gordie and everything that goes with that.
And it was really my dad that stepped in and said, ‘You know, there’s only one Gordie Howe. Detroit’s Detroit, they’ve done everything. You should go to LA and put a new mark on life down there, and do something so unique and so different.’ And he was the one that stepped in and said, ‘You should go play in Los Angeles.’
I remember sitting with Janet and I was like, ‘Okay. That’s where we’re gonna go.’”
Ah, what could have been. Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Flyers in 1987 to win the Stanley Cup, and then won it again in 1988 over the Bruins. So just over a season removed of beating the Flyers in the Finals, Gretzky could have joined the good guys and maybe even bring us multiple championships.
But, alas. He went to the Los Angeles Kings because of his dad. Thanks, Obama.
[H/T to Broad Street Hockey]
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