Gretzky's Racers career lasted a mere eight games
At the time, the NHL had rules in place not allowing players under the age of 20 to be signed and the WHA, in an attempt to beat the NHL to some of the best upcoming young talent, started signing underage players, most of whom were 19 years old.
With the Racers losing $40,000 per game, owner Nelson Skalbania, having pulled a coup by being the one to land the then 17-year-old Gretzky, knew the Racers demise was a foregone conclusion. Skalbania's hope was to keep the Racers around long enough for a merger with the NHL to happen, knowing the Racers would not be a part of it, with the goal of being compensated financially for folding his team.
Other than the team itself, Skalbania's other main asset was Gretzky, and selling him would be the quickest way to raise some much needed cash.
Skalbania's options for moving Gretzky were the Edmonton Oilers or the Winnipeg Jets. In the end, Gretzky, goaltender Eddie Mio and forward Peter Driscoll were put on a chartered Lear jet, not knowing where they would land or which team they would join!
To add to the absurdity of the situation, Skalbania had not arranged payment for the flight. Mio produced a credit card that had only a $500 limit, which the pilot accepted and took off, heading for Minneapolis.
While the trio was up in the air, both literally and figuratively(!), Skalbania worked out a "deal" with his former partner Oilers owner Peter Pocklington, said to be a backgammon game with Gretzky as the prize should Pockington win. And win he did, and the plane was directed to land in Edmonton, changing the future of hockey. The deal that sent Gretzky, Mio and Driscoll to the Oilers was announced at $850,000, but Pocklington reportedly only paid $700,000,
Once on the ground in Edmonton, the pilot decided to hold out for full payment of the $7,900 until Pockington was able to be contacted and assured everyone that the Oilers would be taking care of the bill, much to the relief of Mio, who had his credit card receipt torn up.
"I should have kept [the receipt]," said Mio. "That would have made a great souvenir."
To add to the absurdity of the situation, Skalbania had not arranged payment for the flight. Mio produced a credit card that had only a $500 limit, which the pilot accepted and took off, heading for Minneapolis.
While the trio was up in the air, both literally and figuratively(!), Skalbania worked out a "deal" with his former partner Oilers owner Peter Pocklington, said to be a backgammon game with Gretzky as the prize should Pockington win. And win he did, and the plane was directed to land in Edmonton, changing the future of hockey. The deal that sent Gretzky, Mio and Driscoll to the Oilers was announced at $850,000, but Pocklington reportedly only paid $700,000,
Pocklington and Skalbania
Once on the ground in Edmonton, the pilot decided to hold out for full payment of the $7,900 until Pockington was able to be contacted and assured everyone that the Oilers would be taking care of the bill, much to the relief of Mio, who had his credit card receipt torn up.
"I should have kept [the receipt]," said Mio. "That would have made a great souvenir."
Mio would play three seasons with the Oilers, two in the NHL
The Racers would not survive long enough for Skalbania to be bought out as he had hoped, folding just 17 games later on December 15, 1978, three and a half months short of his goal of making to the end of the season. The Oilers and Jets, along with the New England (Hartford) Whalers and Quebec Nordiques would join the NHL at the start of the next season. Of note, the two WHA teams not invited to join the NHL, the Cincinnati Stingers and Birmingham Bulls, each received $1.5 million as compensation.
Driscoll made stops in Vancouver, Calgary,
Indianapolis and Edmonton in the WHA
Indianapolis and Edmonton in the WHA
After having the move out of Indianapolis completed, Gretzky would settle in with the Oilers and on his 18th birthday in January 26th of that season, he would sign a 10 year contract with Pocklington. He would finish third in WHA scoring with 46 goals and 64 assists for 110 points behind only Real Cloutier and Robbie Ftorek and be named the recipient of the forgotten Lou Kaplan Trophy as the WHA Rookie of the Year, only no one seems to know who Lou Kaplan was, including WHA Hockey.com!
On his 18th birthday in January of 1979, Gretzky signed
a 10 year contract with Pocklington for $3 million
Today's featured jersey is a 1983-84 Edmonton Oilers Wayne Gretzky jersey. When the Oilers joined the NHL in 1979-80, they changed the colors of their crest for the better, to blue letters on a white background with an orange oil drop. Previously in the WHA they had ill-advised and hard to read blue letters on an orange background on their home white jerseys and low contrast orange letters on a white background on their road blue jerseys.
In 1981-82 they changed from two color number to three color numbers, and in 1983-84 Gretzky was named team captain, and other than changes in manufacturers, the jerseys would remain the same through 1995-96 when the color scheme was altered to darken the blue and eliminate the orange.
In 1981-82 they changed from two color number to three color numbers, and in 1983-84 Gretzky was named team captain, and other than changes in manufacturers, the jerseys would remain the same through 1995-96 when the color scheme was altered to darken the blue and eliminate the orange.
Our first video today is about Gretzky's time in the WHA, including his time with Indianapolis.
Here is a behind the scene's look at Gretzky from a documentary from the 1980's called "The Boys on the Bus" that is a change of pace from the usual game highlights.
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