NHL ALL-STAR WEEKEND

January 24, 1999

Wayne Gretzky

WAYNE GRETZKY: It was a nice weekend. I think we all had a lot of fun. Everything was really well-organized and it was a lot of fun to play the game. I was telling the coaches yesterday when they told me what the line was, I said that they were really smart coaches because Theoren and I and Recchi had played together in the past. You know, I was lucky, I got to play with two very unselfish guys. We moved the puck, we had a lot of chances. It was a lot of fun to play.

WAYNE GRETZKY: I'd like to get both. Is that too greedy? You know, they're both -- the one thing that makes -- to me, that separates stars from super stars is the guys that aren't selfish. And both those guys are very unselfish and they love to play and they both won championships and that's why they've won. The worst thing in the world for anybody to go through, believe me because I've done it, to be an unrestricted free agent. It's really tough. I talked to those guys yesterday for a little bit, hopefully it works out for them. As I said, many times, if they can't stay where they are, we'll take them in New York.

WAYNE GRETZKY: You know, in my career I played 20 years and 21 years I have gone through winning awards, cars, and I think that -- I don't know the exact number I've been fortunate enough to win. I've never kept one car. And I'm going to keep this one. It's like a memento to me. I want to keep it, I want to have it. I'm going to keep this one. It's kind of like a trophy to me.

WAYNE GRETZKY: Well, you know, in playing this league you have to have talent, to stay around for a long time you have to love the game and you have to not only play hard but practice hard. Guys like Raymond and Murphy and myself, we really love to play. We come and we practice hard and we enjoy the game. And these kinds of things are lots of fun. We don't look at this as an obligation; we don't look at it as something we have to do; we look at this as a privilege. We love to get out there. It's something, you know, I don't know why, but the game of hockey is lucky. The guys that are the example guys, the guys that are the leaders are good people. The game is very fortunate that we have guys like Ray Bourque and Yzerman and guys like that.

WAYNE GRETZKY: I don't want to sound disrespectful, but I haven't even thought about that. You know, I feel lucky that I won. I feel fortunate that I won it. I'm proud of it. However it relates to Michael Jordan, I don't know.

WAYNE GRETZKY: One of the greatest parts of our game is the history. And I mean the Stanley Cup itself, the original six teams, and the star players who created the National Hockey League. Sometimes there's some guys that don't get as much recognition as they deserve for getting the game to the level that it is today. And I was just telling him at center ice I wanted to make sure I didn't just shake his hand; I wanted to make sure I told him that the National Hockey League was lucky to have him in the game and that it was a -- it's a great honor for any player who gets an opportunity to win his trophy and that he's a wonderful representative of the game, and I said the trophy is beautiful. And that was about it. I was thinking that I wish they would have had that trophy 15 years ago, I might have got my name on it. But it's just a great -- it will be a great honor for the guy who gets to put his name on that trophy first, and that's what our game is all about.

WAYNE GRETZKY: You know, I don't think there's much of a difference for me because the excitement that I still have is the same today as it was in 1980 when I played my first game in Detroit. The difference now is when I look over and see number 9, it's Paul Kariya. When I looked over and saw number 9 earlier, it was Gordie Howe. But I still have the same amount of respect for a guy like Paul Kariya who is a wonderful player. I've gone from being this young guy looking up to old guys from this older guy looking up to younger guys. I have the same energy and the same feeling on the bench today as I did in 1980. It hasn't changed.

WAYNE GRETZKY: I think I've won 16. 16, 17, maybe 17. 16. Probably because I've -- everything I've ever won I put in my dad's basement, and my restaurant. And I haven't kept any of my cars. I want to keep this to be a reminder of this game. I had a wonderful weekend in the City of Tampa Bay, and it was a fun game. After 21 years of professional hockey, 20 in the NHL, I just feel like this is the one thing I want to keep; I want to have it and I want to remember it. I don't want to forget it.

WAYNE GRETZKY: I don't think there's any kind of a rivalry. I don't look at it that way. Because I look at Mats as a friend, and I look at him as a wonderful player and a tremendous example in the City of Toronto. By no means do I have any kind of a rivalry with him at all, no, not at all.

WAYNE GRETZKY: Well, I don't think it's something you work at. I think that either you want to do it or you don't. I love hockey. I was telling Ken yesterday that some people talk about hockey. I can talk all day long. It's probably one of my faults. I try to accommodate people, I try to do the best I can to help sell our game. You come here, it's a weekend that is supposed to be fun, and yet it's business in another sense. I got a little wiser, when I leave the rink, I don't stay where it's really crowded, I go to an out of the way place so I can get peace and quiet for a while. It's fun, over the last years I've done that. When you come here, you're at the arena, that's what it's about. People want to talk about the game; they want to talk about our super stars. We were telling old hockey stories all last night and all today. That's my life. I love it.

WAYNE GRETZKY: Oh, I have no idea. You know, I said this before, the game owes Wayne Gretzky nothing. Everything I have in my life I owe to the NHL. The last thing I want to do is get in a situation where it becomes a real kind of frenzy not only for me but for my teammates. At the end of the year I'll sit down and decide what I'm going to do. I'm sure things will leak out before that time. But I haven't even thought about yes or no at this point in time. I'll finish the year and sit down at the end of the year to figure out what I'm going to do. That's not a matter of being disrespectful, it's just the game has been good to me and doesn't owe me anything.

WAYNE GRETZKY: I've loved it. I got a car. How many people go to Tampa Bay and get a new car? It was a wonderful weekend. We put on a first-class event. Yesterday I thought the skills competition was fun. People really got excited about it and enjoyed it. It was -- we really got excited the first period tonight when Wendel got an assist on the first goal because it was a local guy, he's a fan favorite. He's a favorite in the locker room. So at that point you kind of, you know, there's just hoping for guys in the locker room. We were hoping he would get a goal and win a car for the people in Tampa Bay. But it was a great experience. We all had a tremendous time, not only the players but all the families.

WAYNE GRETZKY: That's one of the gutsiest questions that's ever been asked. I would say I'm more proud today than I was when I was 20. To give you an honest answer. I think I'm really excited about it, and I was just -- I was really excited at the age of 19 and 20, but there's something special about being two days from 38 and playing with the players that we have today. I think the players today, and I said this earlier, the players today are better than they were 20 years ago. I don't care what anybody says. That's not to be disrespectful, because in ten years the players are going to be better than they are today. Our game is just growing and getting better all the time. So I'm very proud of the way I am today.

WAYNE GRETZKY: Oh, absolutely. I look up every single game to see where my wife is and where my father is. I've been the same way since I was six years old. It's almost like a part of my link, you know. I know where they sit. I know when they get there. Yeah, that's the best part about it.

WAYNE GRETZKY: These are tough questions. (Laughing) I think yesterday I said this, yeah. But I thought the same thing last year, that maybe that was going to be my last game. And I had a wonderful experience in Vancouver. The whole time, I don't know what I'm going to do at the end of the year, this might be my last All-Star Game. I thought that today. But I don't have a definitive answer until the year's over. I don't want to put any thought in to it. I love to play too much and, you know, I enjoy playing for the Rangers and living in New York. I just play the rest of the year and we'll see what happens in June.

WAYNE GRETZKY: It was a different era back then. It was kind of an era where it's a tier system where the top players made a lot of money, then the middle guys made okay money, then there was a tier of guys who didn't make a lot of money. But I felt that the bottom guys in the salary category were very important to my success and the success of the hockey team. I don't believe we would have, as an individual player, I would have had the same success I've had without Dave Semenko. I just felt it was my way of thanking him for what he had done for my career and the career of a lot of guys on that team. And I just felt that it was my way of showing him that I appreciated what he did for the Edmonton Oilers as a team. And the other side of it was I had a lot of great years in Edmonton and I wanted the truck to stay in that city.

WAYNE GRETZKY: We played together at the World Cup, here, and we played again in the Canada Cup in '91, Theoren and I have played with Recchi, so it was fun.

WAYNE GRETZKY: My dad took it. Are you kidding? I didn't get near it. (Laughing) Those were the days where he just grabbed everything. (Laughing) Yeah, my dad took the first one I won.

WAYNE GRETZKY: My sister has it now, I think. Anybody else? Any questions? Thank you.