Gretzky Nixed Last-Minute Escape : Pocklington: Star Dreamed of Going to ‘Land of the Big Trip’

The owner of the Edmonton Oilers, who was burned in effigy by one fan here for trading Wayne Gretzky to the Kings, said Wednesday that moments before the biggest deal in hockey history was announced, he gave Gretzky the chance to call it off.

“I told Wayne, ‘You have the opportunity to back out now--I don’t want to trade you,’ ” said Peter Pocklington, owner of the Oilers, describing a meeting he had with Gretzky Tuesday afternoon in the offices of Molson House, site of the press conference that was called to announce the trade.

“His response was, ‘I want to be traded. I wish to go through with it. I have an opportunity to do some new things for me, and it will be good for hockey in the U.S.’ ”

Pocklington acknowledged making the trade because, “No. 1, it was an incredible business deal, and No. 2, it ensured the longevity and health of the Oilers hockey team in a way other hockey teams don’t care to do.”

For Gretzky, Edmonton players Marty McSorley and Mike Krushelnyski, and the rights to defenseman John Miner, the Oilers received 55-goal scorer Jimmy Carson, the rights to defenseman Craig Redmond, top King draft pick Martin Gelinas and three No. 1 picks--in 1989, 1991, and 1993. The Oilers also got $15 million from the Kings, according to a team official.

Some here point to the money as the real reason Pocklington made the trade, suggesting it was a way out of alleged financial difficulties.

Pocklington denied that he needed the money and insisted that the trade would not have been made without Gretzky’s blessing and his willingness to leave the city in which he won four Stanley Cups and eight most-valuable-player awards, for Los Angeles.

“He’s been tantalized with dreams of who he might be,” Pocklington said. “When you’re that great at something, and people keep telling him how great he is, then you believe what you hear.

“He has an ego the size of all of Manhattan. And he’s a great actor. I thought he pulled it off beautifully (at the press conference) when he showed how upset he was.

“I think he was upset, but he wants the big dream. I call L.A. the Land of the Big Trip, and he wants to go where the trips are biggest.”

Those people in Edmonton who believe otherwise, Pocklington said, are fooling themselves.

“It doesn’t matter if they buy it or not, because that’s the truth,” Pocklington said. “All you can do is what Mark Twain says: ‘When in doubt, tell the truth.’

“If they don’t buy it, that’s their problem. If they think their king walked the streets of Edmonton without a thought of ever moving, they’re under a great delusion.”

Said Gretzky: “The people who know me and are friends of mine know that those statements are untrue. I’m not going to get into war of words with anybody from Edmonton, but if that’s what he thinks I’m very disappointed.”

Pocklington said that the Vancouver Canucks, through a businessman intermediary, offered to buy Gretzky for $22.5 million last March.

“They also offered three players and three draft picks, but they didn’t have three players who could make our roster,” Pocklington said. “And Wayne wasn’t interested. Because of that, I wasn’t interested.”

The Kings have been intrigued with Gretzky for years, according to Pocklington.

“Jerry (Buss) talked to me on four or five occasions, wanting to buy him,” Pocklington said. “Obviously, it was not entertained too seriously by me, because it never happened.”

Bruce McNall, the Kings’ new owner, also expressed interest, but when he called Pocklington about five weeks ago, re-affirming that interest, the Edmonton owner said he still treated the matter lightly.

“I told him it would take trading all of the Kings, plus an option on the Lakers,” Pocklington said.

“I said I cannot and will not make a trade without Wayne’s consent and agreement. That was more important to me than a trade and a few dollars. But I said I would pass it on to Wayne and his agent (Ian Berrigan).”

Shortly thereafter, Pocklington left for a week-long fishing trip in the Arctic with a party that included Oiler president-coach Glen Sather.

“Glen and I chatted about it . . . and we decided there was no way we could trade him,” Pocklington said.

But on July 27, Pocklington said, Gretzky called him and said he wanted to be traded.

“He said he had talked to various people, and said, ‘I’m not only interested, I want to move. I really want to talk to Bruce McNall,’ ” Pocklington said. “Then Bruce offered him an exciting future and we made the deal.”

In press conferences in both Edmonton and Los Angeles, Gretzky also underscored that it was his decision, and his alone, to make the deal. But others dispute that account, including his father, Walter, and his close friend and former teammate, Paul Coffey of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

“In my books, (Pocklington) sold him,” Walter Gretzky told the Toronto Globe and Mail.

Coffey, in an interview with the Edmonton Journal, said that the Oilers treated Gretzky like a “piece of meat” and that “there was no bloody way he wanted out of there.”

Pocklington said Coffey’s remarks were sour grapes.

“We wouldn’t trade (Craig) Simpson even for Coffey now, and we got three other players for him,” Pocklington said, referring to the trade that sent Coffey to the Penguins last season.

The owner acknowledged that Gretzky’s right to become a free agent in four years made a trade now more palatable.

“I would have gotten zero for him then,” Pocklington said. “It was worth taking a little heat in town to receive an awful lot of money and great talent.

“Obviously, I feel I got the better part of the deal. Carson and Gelinas are both star players, and depending where the Kings finish (in the standings), we’ll have three first-round draft picks who will do a lot to continue the reign of the Edmonton Oilers.

“We live in a city that demands a great hockey team. If they demand it, they have to pay the price for it.”

Pocklington dismissed reports that he is financially strapped.

“I don’t give a hoot what people say about my money,” he said. “I know what my financial health is, and so do my accountants and my bankers. I made a billion and a half in food sales, I have over 7,000 people working for me, and all my companies are very healthy financially.”

Pocklington made his first big money selling cars and real estate, and owns one of the biggest meat packing plants in Canada, with branches in the United States, and one of the most profitable dairies in Canada. He also owns the Edmonton Trappers baseball team of the Pacific Coast League.

He said that if his public image here has to take a beating, so be it.

“What are you going to do? If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen,” he said. “We all walk alone in the last breath. And I guess I’ve got the (nerve) not to worry about the last breath. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do in life.”

Pocklington may strike some as a heartless, bottom-line type. “I don’t believe in altruism,” he said. . . . (But) believe it or not, I’m not a tough (guy). I love people. I suffered for two weeks emotionally before the trade. Not only did I have second thoughts, but third and fourth and fifth and sixth thoughts.”

Right until the end, when Gretzky gave him the green light, and sent Edmonton into shock. That won’t last forever, though, Pocklington said.

“You’ve got to understand the psychology of what’s happened,” he said. “It’s like a death, and people need time to recover from that death. It’s like any emotional shock. You’ve got to get over it.”