King Seeks Another NHL Crown

When Bruce McNall, a dealer in fine arts, traded for Wayne Gretzky, the ice skater, in 1988, he thought he was buying more than a player, he was buying a dynasty.

I mean, McNall knew a work of art when he saw one. If it was not a coin handled by Alexander the Great or minted by Julius Caesar, it was as near as you can get to a collector’s item, artistry on ice. There was an almost lyrical quality to what Gretzky did on skates. It was almost as if you were watching a recital, an Ice Follies routine, not a game.

It was effortless. It was the way the great ones do it--without apparent strain. DiMaggio gliding nonchalantly under a fly ball at the precise instant it came down. Aaron flicking his wrists at a curveball at the last millisecond. Ali humiliating a clumsy opponent, pulling his head out of harm’s way with contemptuous ease. Hogan carving up a par four.

There was precedent in buying a dynasty in the form of one man. After all, Jacob Ruppert did it with Babe Ruth. Jack Kent Cooke did it with Wilt Chamberlain and then again with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Gretzky was more than another pretty skater on the Edmonton Oilers. He was the Edmonton Oilers. Four times in five years, Gretzky won the Stanley Cup for them.

No center in history ever played the game any better. His style was as smooth as syrup on waffles. He didn’t smash into people, he disappeared on them. He wasn’t a bully. He was creative. In a game increasingly given to heft and intimidation, he did it with grace and guile. He won the Lady Byng (most gentlemanly player) Trophy as often as he did the Conn Smythe (most valuable Stanley Cup player) Trophy. He beat you with a smile. He was the Great Gretzky, not the Great Goonsky, an artist, not a thug.

He put up marks they will be shooting at for years. His 92 goals in a season were the equivalent of 60 home runs, 3,000 yards from scrimmage. He rolled in assists like a Magic Johnson. It was nothing for him to have a three-goal or four-goal game (he has had 49). He had five-goal games four times.

But Bruce McNall didn’t want coups, he wanted cups--as in Stanley. Gretzky’s wizardry on ice didn’t desert him. He became the all-time point leader in NHL history with 2,197. He is first in assists (1,462) and second in goals (735). He was Ruth, Jim Brown, Willie Mays, Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis or Jack Nicklaus. He was to his sport what any of them were to theirs.

But the Kings wanted credibility, not virtuosity. They thought Gretzky came with the Stanley Cup attached, not merely a lot of numbers.

The caper worked before. Ruth made the Yankees a symbol for sports might forever. Chamberlain and Abdul-Jabbar made the Lakers sports royalty. It worked with Reggie Jackson.

Why didn’t it work this time? After all, Gretzky is to his time what any of the above were to theirs.

The Kings thirsted for the penthouse. After all, the team had been in business 25 years without ever making a Stanley Cup final, never mind winning one. They seldom even got past the first round. Sometimes they didn’t even get there--in a league that plays all year merely to run a couple of ribbon clerks out of the game.

Gretzky got them in the divisional finals every year. Before him, the Kings had made it that far only once in history.

But he couldn’t get them into that magic land. He kept losing to, of all things, the team that had traded him.

It wasn’t as if he was a failure. Gretzky’s numbers stayed among the league leaders. But now, they were heavily weighted with assists. In hockey, this is a somewhat dubious statistic. You get as many points for an assist as for a goal. That’s something like the pitcher getting credit for a home run.

Besides, the Kings wanted their messiah to take more shots. After all, this was the bomber who had scored 92 one season; 87, 73 and 71 in others. The Kings wanted the puck in the net, not on the stick. They wanted slap shots, not slip shots.

What has happened? Has he Gone Hollywood, as disgruntled Canadians would have you believe? Hardly. Wayne Gretzky is no Derek Sanderson. He is a man of steady habits, uncommon common sense. He is polite, affable, sincere. He acts like a superstar only when he is on ice. He sows no dissension, inspires no jealousy.

Still, he is a marked man. Some teams hire a guy to do nothing more than climb into Gretzky’s hip pocket. The other night, when Gretzky slammed Esa Tikkanen viciously into the boards, the home crowd cheered for five minutes. It was like seeing a guy deck his own shadow. Tikkanen has been following Gretzky for years like a ballroom dance team.

No team game is a one-man sport, hockey least of all. A star is on the ice only half the time. But Gretzky’s supporting cast has been adequate to superior.

Age is always a factor. But Gretzky is only 30. Rocket Richard played till he was 40. Gordie Howe played 26 years. Bobby Hull played 23.

Gretzky usually tops the league annually in points.

But how frustrating is it not to have hit the mountain top, to do what he was hired for?

Gretzky brushes the hair out of his eyes as he comes out of the shower after the Kings’ 5-3 victory over the nemesis, Edmonton, Thursday night.

“Well, we’ve accomplished some of the things we set out to,” he says. “We had crowds of 10,000 to 12,000 when we came here, and now we sell out.”

Should he shoot more, pass less? Should he try to break his own record? Did he think 100 goals was possible?

Gretzky sighs and says: “I think (Mario) Lemieux or (Brent) Hull could get 100 if they got off to a good start.”

How about Wayne Gretzky? Did he want to overtake Gordie Howe as the all-time goal scorer?

“I have pretty much accomplished everything I would want individually,” he says. “I would do whatever is necessary to win that one more--or many more--Stanley Cups. That would be icing on the cake.”

Was it frustration at being the-man-without-the-puck that inspired him to take the shot at his tormentor Tikkanen and slam him into the nets and boards Thursday?

Gretzky shakes his head and says: “The crowd overreacted. Actually, the ratio of body checks between me and Tikkanen is still 18-1 in his favor.”

Is the game more difficult now for a scorer?

“Well, I liked it better when they had the four-on-four rule,” he says. “Now, when opposing players get kicked out of the game, they allow a fifth man to substitute for them on the ice. There used to be more open ice the other way. More room for moves.”

Moral: He is still the greatest iceman ever to deliver. But what could Ruth do if they walked him all day, Grange if they never called his number or Ali if you clinched all the time? As long as they can keep him passing off, the league will take their chances with Gretzky--even if it means the Stanley Cup goes to Pittsburgh.