NHL AWARDS CEREMONY

June 24, 1999

Wayne Gretzky

WAYNE GRETZKY: Well, I was thrilled for him. Other than Stanley Cup, which is the greatest trophy of all, this is a really nice second. So many great players in the game today, it's so hard to pick one guy each year that has done something really special above the other guys. Maybe it's tougher now than it's ever been to win. I thought the other two guys were deserving nominees, and I thought he was a deserving winner. He's a good person; he's a great player. I was happy for him.

WAYNE GRETZKY: I was shocked. Quite honestly, my wife and I were getting ready to come. We were preparing our lines to present the Hart Trophy. Somebody asked me around 7 o'clock about the Lady Byng. I said, "Well, I thought I wasn't going to win." You know, it's a wonderful game. It was a wonderful evening for me. It's just a tremendous way to kind of finish my career after yesterday getting voted in the Hall of Fame and today getting this trophy unexpectedly. The Ranger locker room has kind of an All-Star hallway, so to speak, with where all the guys who won trophies get their names on the awards in the locker room. Last game of the year, I thought, "I'm never going to get a name on atrophy here." I got my name on a trophy, so it was a nice, special feeling, and the ovation I got, it was a fun evening.

WAYNE GRETZKY: I talked to Brett yesterday. He said it was a goal. That was good enough by me (laughter). I just felt that we got into a little bit of a controversy at the beginning of this program. I thought that was a little bit unfair to the Dallas Stars who worked for eight months to win a championship. For people who think they won the Stanley Cup only because of a disputed goal is not right. They won the Stanley Cup because they won the President's Trophy, they got to the finals, up three games to two. In my mind, it was a good goal. That happens. Unfortunately, there was a little bit of a controversy. As far as I'm concerned, from an NHL point of view, from a guy who's played for 20 years, to me that was a goal, and should be end of story. I'm disappointed for the Buffalo Sabres and their fans because you hate to lose. We lost four straight in Edmonton and came back and won the Stanley Cup the next year. It's over and done with. The Dallas Stars deserve all the credit they are getting.

WAYNE GRETZKY: No.

WAYNE GRETZKY: No, no, no. Spent the last week with Paul Coffey at his lake house. We reminisced about a lot of great old times; we had a lot of fun. I actually said to him, "I'm looking forward to September. When everyone thinks I'm going to be disappointed and devastated, I'm going to start to really enjoy my retirement." I'm going to miss hockey. I'm going to miss everything about the game, everything that goes with it. But it was just time for me to move on in my life. I made the right decision. I have for qualms about it.

WAYNE GRETZKY: I saw a report today that I was going to be doing color commentating work with John Davidson. That's absolutely not true. I don't like JD that much (laughter). I have no interest in that whatsoever. I'll tell you what I've told friends. Anything that the National Hockey League would like me to help them with, be a part of to help sell our game, I'm more than willing to do that. But I'm not by any means committed or obligated to any particular team, or for that matter to the National Hockey League. I have a big golf tournament next week in Tahoe where I'm probably going to go embarrass myself in front of 25,000 people again, as I did in Pittsburgh a week ago. Spend some time in Toronto with my parents and family. I'm going to a 20-year Oiler reunion at the end of August in Edmonton that I'm looking forward to. The 1st of September, my wife and I are going over to Monte Carlo for a charity golf tournament for the Prince over there. Those are kind of the fun things that we're looking forward to doing. Those are I guess the rewards and benefits of a lot of work and time playing in the NHL. I'm looking forward to that fun. Thank you to the writers for the award. I loved it.