Wayne Gretzky says he’s still involved with the Edmonton Oilers front office
By Zach Laing
1 year agoWayne Gretzky has never been shy about his love for the Edmonton Oilers.
The best player in hockey history has often made it known that he will always pull for the Oilers, and since he’s started working on broadcasts in the U.S., he’s even gone so far as to call out his colleagues who’ve taken aim at the Edmonton club.
Off the ice, Gretzky was the owner of the QMJHL’s Hull Olympiques from 1985 through 1992, and later became a minority owner of the Phoenix Coyotes, with whom he coached for four seasons in the mid-to-late 2000s.
He joined the Edmonton Oilers in an official role as a partner and vice-chairman in Oct. 2016, but resigned from that in May 2021 to pursue the aforementioned broadcasting gig with TNT.
But Gretzky, who joined Nick Alberga and former NHL’er Jay Rosehill on The Leafs Nation’s Leafs Morning Take podcast, said that he’s still involved with the Oilers.
Rosehill: The Stanley Cups you’ve won, the accolades, the titles, and hanging the banners you’ve done, you obviously have to have an incredibly competitive spirit to accomplish all of that. Have you ever thought about getting back in it and trying to win another Stanley Cup and having that experience, and if you do, what role do you think that could come as?Gretzky: That ship has sailed as far as being part of everyday, day-to-day, 24-hour a day job. You know I have a tremendous relationship with the Oilers, Darryl and Renee Katz are good friends of ours and our kids are close friends. I know everybody there including Paul Coffey, the coach, the general manager, Kenny. My brother is an assistant general manager here, so I talk to them a lot about the team.From an outside point of view, I’m kind of involved but I don’t have to worry about day-to-day. I’m an Oiler through and through and I will pull for them all the time. But I like what I do now. I don’t have the stress or the pressure of getting up every morning and going ‘oh gosh, how do we come back from being down two games to one in the first round?’ That stress is gone.I don’t think I’ll ever get back, but like I said, in a lot of ways I’m still involved with the Oilers and I pull for them and I hope they do well, and that’s the time I root for. If they can’t win, I think it would be great for hockey if Toronto can win a Stanley Cup. I think it would be unbelievable for Canada and for the game of hockey.
You can listen to the episode, and the aforementioned clip, in full below…
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Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@oilersnation.com.
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