Q&A; WITH Wayne Gretzky : He’s on the Ice, Feeling Fit Again : Hockey: His back is sound and the Kings are getting better. And people who say he’s the Average One motivate him to continued greatness.

When you’ve broken every significant record, become the greatest player in the history of your sport and led your team to a decade of dominance, all before your 30th birthday, there wouldn’t seem to be too much left open to question.

But at 29, Wayne Gretzky finds whispers and rumors swirling about him on the eve of his 12th National Hockey League season. Such as:

--He has begun to skate on the downside of his career.

--He will never win a Stanley Cup for the Kings.

--The back injury he suffered at last season’s end could linger.

--He is the team’s de facto general manager, making the key decisions with owner Bruce McNall while Rogie Vachon serves as a figurehead.

Here for the Kings’ training camp, Gretzky sat down with reporters to comment on these and other subjects, including drug revelations concerning his former team, the Edmonton Oilers.

Question: Let’s start with the question you must have been asked a thousand times this summer: How’s your back?

Answer: The doctors have told me it’s fine. It’s just a matter of building the strength up. I’ve been doing a lot of sit-ups. If I worry about it, I think that’s when you get hit and get hurt. In scrimmages, I’ve been getting some hits. Not heavy hits, just body contact, and it’s been holding up fine.

Q: Were you ever worried that it was a career-threatening injury?

A: Before the first test, yeah, I was worried because if it was my disk, then you’re talking career-threatening. But when they said it was my muscles, I wasn’t worried, because then, it’s a matter of time and strengthening them.

Q: Did doctors give you any advice on keeping your back sound?

A: Yeah, they told me to stay out of the corners and I’d be fine.

Q: In your two years in Los Angeles, the Kings have yet to win a second-round playoff game. Is the organization really any closer to a Stanley Cup?

A: Rome wasn’t built in a night. Looking at the hockey team now compared to when I first came here, it’s night and day. I remember first stepping on the ice with the Kings, coming from a Stanley Cup champion, and thinking, ‘whoa, we’ve got a long way to go here.’ Their minor league team was older than our team, all 30-, 31-, 32-year-olds. That’s not how you build a minor league system. Now they’ve gone outside and signed as many 21-, 22-year-olds as they can. There’s some direction from (Coach) Tommy (Webster), Rogie and Bruce. That’s been so positive. We’re getting more depth. It just makes it more fun.

Q: But not as much fun as it was last season in Edmonton, where your old team, the Oilers, returned to the top two years after trading you. Was it tough to sit in Los Angeles and watch your former teammates win their first Cup without you?

A: Oh no, that doesn’t bother me at all. Because I played with those guys, I know how good they are. The only thing I’m disappointed in is that we weren’t there. They played well. They deserved to win. I was hoping they’d win. First of all, they’re my friends. I have absolutely no ill feelings toward them. Second of all, they’re the team that knocked us out. And thirdly, it’s our division. For years, we’ve been trying to gain respect for our division. It was my off-season, and I didn’t want to get in front of the TV to watch every game. I’ll admit that. But I watched one in Paris at 2 in the morning and I watched the final game in L.A.

Q: The Oilers have a new challenge to overcome with the recent story in the Edmonton Journal that goalie Grant Fuhr was a cocaine user for seven years before entering a rehabilitation center last summer. Did you know about that?

A: (The Oilers) are good people. They don’t deserve that. I never saw it. You always hear different reports, but you believe nothing of what you hear and half of what you see. It just amazes me that it did go on, because (Fuhr) figured in most of our wins. He played so well. A lot of people are taking shots at (General Manager) Glen (Sather). I know Glen has sent players through rehab. He’s taken care of them as far as getting help (goes), put them in rehab and paid for it. I know two or three guys he helped, and I’m talking before Cup winners. To say that he didn’t care and it’s his fault Grant is in this situation, that’s not fair to Glen.

Q: What should the league do about it?

A: The policy of the president (John Ziegler) is that he doesn’t believe there is a drug problem in the NHL. If he takes a stand that you can get help, that there is a rehab program, I guess that’s like saying we do have a problem. Drugs won’t be tolerated. Therefore, there is no rehab program. If you do it, you’re out of hockey. It’s plain and simple. I think, in general, it’s out of the game, but let me tell you, it’s everywhere in society.

Q: Do you agree with Ziegler’s policy?

A: I agree with him in a lot of ways, but I think in the next Players’ Association agreement, something is going to have to be done. If there are players out there that need help, better to save them than have them mess up their lives. I don’t know how many players are in that situation. I can’t comprehend being able to skate while on a substance. Skating alone is an art. Doing it on a substance? I don’t know. That’s got to be tough.

Q: In your just-published book, ‘Gretzky: An Autobiography,’ you talk bitterly about the harsh treatment you received in your hometown, Brantford, from some of the parents of your teammates when you were a kid--the jealousies that surfaced when, at age 10, you had already become a dominant player. Was that a catharsis for you, a venting of feelings you had long kept pent up?

A: I have absolutely no complaints about my life. But people think I got handed everything, all this kind of fell in my lap, that I was just God-gifted with all this talent. I wanted people to realize it’s a lot tougher than just waking up one day and you’re in the NHL.

Q: Do you feel you missed anything in your childhood?

A: I don’t think I missed anything as far as fun, friends and that sort of thing. But I moved away from home when I was 13. I have a little brother (Brent) I hardly know. He’s almost 18 years old now. When I left home, he was 3. I wouldn’t say I’m bitter, but I’m not really excited the way it turned out. I moved an hour away from home just to get away from the pressure.

Q: Any advice for kids today facing that kind of pressure?

A: I get a lot of parents coming up to me, telling me they are grooming their kids to be professional athletes. I’m really against that. I think it’s a great life, and yeah, you can lead them in that direction. But I think a lot of parents live their lives through the kids. Because they didn’t make it, they want their kids to make it. It puts a lot of undue pressure on the kids. For everyone that makes it, nine or 10 quit when they’re 16, 17. I was reading about the USC quarterback (Todd Marinovich) who was groomed to the point where he couldn’t eat cake at birthday parties. I think sports for kids is the greatest thing in the world because it teaches you how to share, about winning and losing and pressure. But I don’t think you should force your kid to become a professional athlete. Q: How about your own son, Ty, born earlier this summer? He’ll have some pretty big skates to fill.

A: If he wants to play hockey, great, I’ll take him to the rink. If he wants to play baseball, great. Same thing if my daughter (21-month-old Paulina) wants to play. But I’m not going to let them live and die it. Schooling is important, family is important and a lot of other things.

Q: In your book, you talk about people always predicting it was just a matter of time until you tumbled from your pedestal. When you were 10, they said it would happen by the time you were 12. . . . This past year, the stories began that you have passed your prime, that the Great One has become the Average One. Is it starting all over again?

A: It never ended. It becomes almost funny. People in general want to build somebody up and then try to knock them down. They always root for the underdog. When I came in the league, Guy Lafleur and Marcel Dionne were the two who carried the league. And everybody rooted for me to beat them and win a scoring title. But after I won two or three in a row, people couldn’t wait for the next guy to come along and knock me down. And now, there’s Mario (Lemieux). I told him, there’s going to come a point in time when people are going to start saying some other guy is better. It’s already started. People are waiting for (Eric) Lindros to knock Lemieux down. That’s what makes sports go. To say I’m washed up, I’m probably the only guy in hockey who can win a scoring title and everybody is saying I had a bad year. I don’t worry about it.

Q: Not at all?

A: It doesn’t bother me, but it motivates me. No question about that. I get hungry to prove people wrong. But my whole life, I’ve always been in the situation where if the team wins, I’m going to take the roses. Oh, Gretzky played so well. But if the team loses, I’m on the other side of the road. Gretzky played awful. That’s what happened last year. We didn’t have a very good year, and I take the responsibility.

Q: Do you feel you’re still playing as well as ever?

A: I feel my game changed the last two years simply because I went from playing with two All-Stars (Jari Kurri and Esa Tikkanen) to a lot of different people. Nothing against those people, but it’s not easy to play with me. We were changing and changing and changing. A lot of it had to do with the fact the club didn’t want to break up (Luc) Robitaille and (Bernie) Nicholls and others. That was important to the team. So I played with guys from the minor leagues. I played with everybody. But that was fine. I understood that. Now, I’m real excited about playing with Tony (Granato) and Tommy (Sandstrom).

Q: Almost since you arrived in Los Angeles, there have been stories that you make the key personnel decisions on the team in conjunction with McNall, that Vachon is the general manager in name only. Those whispers grew after last year’s trade of Nicholls. Your reaction?

A: I really get frustrated by it. In Edmonton, as much as my teammates came to me and asked me for advice on things and wanted me to communicate with management, they knew I was a player. That’s the way I am here. I have to go to work with these guys every day. I need Marty (McSorley) and Jay (Miller) behind me. I don’t want those guys to think I’m the one saying, ‘Trade that guy, trade that guy.’ That’s not right. If they ask me for advice on different players I played with or against, I tell them automatically. If I know the players as individuals, if I think they’re a winner or a loser, if I think they care, I say so. But beyond that, I don’t go to Rogie and say, ‘You’ve got to trade this guy.’ That’s absolutely asinine. Part of the problem is that Rogie keeps a low profile. Players sometimes think they can take advantage of him because he is low-key. That’s the misconception. He’s quiet, but he can be stern. Tommy and Rogie are my bosses. They make the decisions. I have enough to worry about playing hockey without worrying about who is going to play on the minor league team and all the other things. My brother (Keith) was a free agent and he didn’t get offered a contract anywhere. . . . That doesn’t mean I’m not friends with Bruce. He changed my whole life. But I also know he’s my boss, and I would never embarrass him or try to disappoint him.

Q: But is it not reasonable to assume that if King management was about to trade Nicholls for Granato and Sandstrom, two guys that would skate on your line, they would first consult you?

A: Yeah, it is. If we don’t win, my neck is in the noose. So when they ask me about things, I can either be quiet, turn my cheek the other way and maybe never win, or I can step forward and say, ‘Hey, this guy can play,’ or, ‘That guy can’t play.’ One of my best friends on the team was Bernie. . . . We were good companions. Having said all that, I still believe it was a good trade.

Q: When will your playing days be over?

A: I hope to play another six years. I’ll be 35 years old at that time. That’ll be 18 years as a pro for me. . . . Of course, if I get 190 points when I’m 35 and we win 50 games, I’m sure I’ll play more. It’s hard to walk away when it’s been your whole life and then, all of a sudden, it’s over.