Is This the End of Great Career?

Tears in his eyes, the memory of a painful injury lingering in his mind, Wayne Gretzky stunned a crowd of reporters by saying he might retire. Although still one of the NHL’s premier performers, he had told friends hockey wasn’t fun anymore because physical limitations prevented him from meeting the high standards he set for himself.

He didn’t say that this week. Or even this month.

He said it in 1993, after the Kings had lost to Montreal in the Stanley Cup finals and he had missed all but 45 games of the season because of a back injury.

Gretzky changed his mind and played six more seasons, going from the Kings to St. Louis in a 1996 trade and to the Rangers as a free agent later that year. However, his age--38--coupled with the Rangers’ dreary state and his modest totals of nine goals and 61 points, give credence to widespread reports he will retire Sunday after 21 professional seasons, the last 20 of them spent rewriting the NHL record book.

If the reports are true, the skinny kid from Brantford, Canada, who set 61 NHL records, surpassed his idol, Gordie Howe, as the NHL’s all-time leading scorer and popularized hockey enough to plant expansion seeds throughout the U.S. Sunbelt, will end his spectacular career Sunday at Madison Square Garden, when the Rangers face the Penguins in their season finale.

“I’m sure he wanted to play maybe another year, but it’s been a long year for him and he had the [neck] injury,” said defenseman Ulf Samuelsson, who played with Gretzky for nearly three seasons in New York until Samuelsson was traded to the Red Wings last month.

“I don’t know, but the Rangers might try to talk him into coming back. I’m not sure if he will. It’s been an unbelievable experience to play with him. I was lucky I got to play with him. He’s the greatest player in the game and maybe the greatest guy.”

John Davidson, a commentator for Fox and New York’s MSG Network and a longtime friend of Gretzky’s, said he continues to see strong signs Gretzky will call it quits after Sunday’s game. Davidson said last Sunday people “very close” to Gretzky rated his retirement a very strong possibility and that Gretzky was 80% sure he won’t play next season.

“I’ve said all along he’s pointing toward retirement, but he hasn’t made that decision completely in his own mind,” Davidson said Tuesday. “I heard his dad, Walter, said in a radio interview in Toronto that Wayne is leaning toward retirement, which is interesting.

“It’s not in stone. If he didn’t retire, I wouldn’t be completely surprised, but if he did, I’d almost expect it.”

Davidson also said Gretzky is facing factors that weren’t at play in 1993. “This is a different situation. He’s had the neck injury, he’s older and he’s with a team that’s rebuilding,” Davidson said.

Gretzky responded to Davidson’s initial report about his retirement by saying, “There’s been times where I’ve said things to friends that get blown way out of proportion. . . . The only thing I will say is that I will not be one of those guys who says ‘I’m 90% sure’ or ‘Maybe I’m coming back.’ The decision I make will be 100%. No ifs, ands or buts.”

NHL spokesman Frank Brown said neither Gretzky nor the Rangers had informed the league of Gretzky’s plans. Brown said NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman will attend Sunday’s game, which will be meaningless for the Rangers--who have been eliminated from the playoffs--and may mean nothing to the playoff-bound Penguins. “He goes to a lot of games,” Brown said of Bettman.

Ranger General Manager Neil Smith said the club intends to pick up the one-year, $5-million option on Gretzky’s contract. However, Smith said he hadn’t met with Gretzky to discuss Gretzky’s thoughts. Smith hopes Gretzky is merely tired and disappointed by the team’s second successive playoff miss and his own subpar season, and he can be persuaded to return.

“I think he is going to play,” Smith said.

Newspapers in New York and Toronto have reported Gretzky’s retirement as a certainty and quoted unidentified sources close to him as saying Gretzky has made up his mind. As evidence, they said he requested a large number of tickets for Sunday’s game, ostensibly to accommodate friends and relatives at the momentous game. However, Ranger spokesman Rob Koch said Gretzky had asked for 10 tickets, hardly more than the usual allotment of four to eight.

Gretzky has given conflicting signals. He said Monday he had “about 1,000 thoughts,” but didn’t quash the rumors. He didn’t comment on his plans or take questions Tuesday, when he appeared by satellite at a news conference to promote a summit on the state of Canadian hockey, to be held in August.

“Hockey has been a part of my life as long as I can remember,” he said. “I lived it and breathed it as a kid, and as an adult, it’s the only job I’ve ever had. It was a great game back then and it’s a great game today.

“But the fact is, like just about anything else in life, hockey has changed. And if we’re going to make sure that Canadian teams and Canadian players remain on the cutting edge of the game, we’ve got to change too. We can’t take our leadership for granted.”

Gretzky, who on March 29 scored his 1,072nd goal and passed Howe for the lead among World Hockey Assn. and NHL scorers, won the NHL scoring title 11 times, was voted the league’s most valuable player nine times, its most gentlemanly player four times, the most valuable player in the playoffs twice and was on four Stanley Cup-winning teams in Edmonton. He is the top scorer in All-Star game history and was the most valuable player in the 1999 game at Tampa, Fla., in January.

If Gretzky retires Sunday, that would be consistent with his desire to avoid a farewell tour. Those who doubt his retirement said he renewed the lease on his New York apartment for another year because he plans to play, but Davidson said Gretzky renewed the lease because he wants to live in New York and allow his three children to stay at their schools.

* RANDY HARVEY: Wayne Gretzky broke the ice for hockey in Southern California. Page 2