Wayne Gretzky

Considered by most to be the greatest ice hockey player of all time, Wayne Gretzky had his beginnings in hockey in the Metro Junior A Hockey League, playing with the Toronto Nationals from 1975 through 1977. He entered the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League for three games with the Peterborough Petes in the latter season, but was officially selected by the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds for 1977-78. He was then recruited by the World Hockey Association (WHA), a rival to the National Hockey League (NHL), into the Indianapolis Racers. With the team failing, however, he transferred to the Edmonton Oilers for the remainder of the 1978-79 season. During this time, he also won a bronze medal with the Canadian national team at the 1978 World Junior Championships.

The following year, the WHA folded and the NHL absorbed the Oilers, beginning Gretzky’s nine-year stint with the team in that league. During that time, he won the Hart Memorial Trophy as Most Valuable Player (MVP) eight consecutive times (1980-87), the Art Ross Trophy as league points leader seven consecutive times (1981-87), the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP twice (1985 and 1988), the Lester B. Pearson Award as player-chosen outstanding player five times (1982-85, 1987), the Stanley Cup four times (1984-85, 1987-88), the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canadian Athlete of the Year thrice (1982-83, 1985), and the Lionel Conacher Award as Canadian Male Athlete of the Year five times (1980-83, 1985), among numerous other accolades and record-setting events. He also won a bronze medal with Canada at the World Championships in 1982.

In 1988, the Oilers traded Gretzky to Los Angeles Kings, where he would remain through much of the 1995-1996 season, aside from a brief stint with the St. Louis Blues. During this time, he earned another Hart Trophy in 1989 and the Ross Trophy in 1990, 1991, and 1994. He then joined the New York Rangers for the final three seasons of his career, before retiring in 1999. Before then, however, he competed at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, where Canada was fourth.

Among Gretzky’s numerous accolades, he was inducted into the Hockey and International Hockey Halls of Fame in the year of his retirement, made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1984 and promoted to Companion in 1999, and had his number (99) retired league-wide. His many ventures since retirement include ownership and coaching of the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes, being executive director of the Canadian Olympic hockey team, serving as a hockey analyst, operating a restaurant in downtown Toronto, and running a winery/distillery.