Welcome to our collection of quotes (with shareable picture quotes) by Wayne Gretzky. We hope you enjoy pondering them and that you will share them widely.
Wikipedia Summary for Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Douglas Gretzky (born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One", he has been called the greatest hockey player ever by many sportswriters, players, the NHL itself, and by The Hockey News, based on extensive surveys of hockey writers, ex-players, general managers and coaches. Gretzky is the leading goal scorer, assist producer and point scorer in NHL history, and garnered more assists in his career than any other player scored total points. He is the only NHL player to total over 200 points in one season, a feat he accomplished four times. In addition, Gretzky tallied over 100 points in 16 professional seasons, 14 of them consecutive. At the time of his retirement in 1999, he held 61 NHL records: 40 regular season records, 15 playoff records, and 6 All-Star records.
Born and raised in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, Gretzky honed his skills at a backyard rink and regularly played minor hockey at a level far above his peers. Despite his unimpressive stature and strength, Gretzky's intelligence, stamina, and reading of the game were unrivaled. He was adept at dodging checks from opposing players, and consistently anticipated where the puck was going to be and executed the right move at the right time. Gretzky became known for setting up behind his opponent's net, an area that was nicknamed "Gretzky's office".
Gretzky was the top scorer in the 1978 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. In June 1978, he signed with the Indianapolis Racers of the World Hockey Association (WHA), where he briefly played before being traded to the Edmonton Oilers. When the WHA folded, the Oilers joined the NHL, where he established many scoring records and led his team to four Stanley Cup championships. Gretzky's trade to the Los Angeles Kings on August 9, 1988, had an immediate impact on the team's performance, ultimately leading them to the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals, and he is credited with popularizing hockey in California. Gretzky played briefly for the St. Louis Blues before finishing his career with the New York Rangers. Gretzky captured nine Hart Trophies as the most valuable player, 10 Art Ross Trophies for most points in a season, two Conn Smythe Trophies as playoff MVP and five Lester B. Pearson Awards (now called the Ted Lindsay Award) for most outstanding player as judged by his peers. He led the league in goal-scoring five times and assists 16 times. He also won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for sportsmanship and performance five times, and often spoke out against fighting in hockey.\n\nAfter his retirement in 1999, Gretzky was immediately inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, making him the most recent player to have the waiting period waived. The NHL retired his jersey number 99 league-wide, making him the only player to receive such an honour. Gretzky was one of six players voted to the International Ice Hockey Federation's (IIHF) Centennial All-Star Team. Gretzky became executive director for the Canadian national men's hockey team during the 2002 Winter Olympics, in which the team won a gold medal. In 2000, he became part-owner of the Phoenix Coyotes, and following the 2004–05 NHL lock-out, he became the team's head coach. In 2004, Gretzky was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame. In September 2009, following the Phoenix Coyotes' bankruptcy, Gretzky resigned as head coach and relinquished his ownership share. In October 2016, he became partner and vice-chairman of Oilers Entertainment Group.
When you're playing an exhibition, you're kind of letting everyone get an opportunity.
Canadian players have started to put more of an importance on the World Championships in the sense that as soon as they lose, they are called, they want to go play and they don't go only on the basis of if they are injured.
I think the Americans are ready to play, they want to beat us. I think that players like Chris Chelios and his leadership over there goes a long way.
The game is played out of instinct, but everyone on the ice has habits -- good and bad. So the key to the game is to exploit the bad habits of your opponent.
I'm probably the only guy in hockey who can win a scoring title and everybody is saying I had a bad year. I don't worry about it.
It doesn't matter what I think. It doesn't matter what other people think. You have to get on the ice and participate and play and the best team wins.
You'll never catch me bragging about goals, but I'll talk all you want about my assists.
No matter who you are, we're creatures of habit. The better your habits are, the better they will be in pressure situations.
Your friends, family, and kids have to understand that's your priority. It's the only way you can be successful.
Thankfully, in my youth I had the best financial advisor a son could ask for: my dad Walter. When I got that first signing bonus in 1978, Dad took my cheque, announced, 'This is what we're going to do,' and bought an annuity with it.
My answer is, why not? ... It's what I love, it's what I know. Glen Sather was the best coach that I had and what made him good was his confidence in what he did. I believe that I'm going
to be a good coach.
When I broke into professional hockey at 17 I was told that I was too small and too slow and I wouldn't make the NHL. Now it's kind of flip-flopped and the sense is I can't be a good coach because I was a great athlete.
We feel fortunate with Canada hockey team. We have got a lot of guys who love to play, but they also love to win even more. We are pretty happy. Although we are young, we like our group of players.
I have absolutely no complaints about my life. But people think I got handed everything, all this kind of fell in my lap, that I was just God-gifted with all this talent. I wanted people to realize it's a lot tougher than just waking up one day and you're in the NHL.
When emotions are high, things are said, things are done. Ultimately, these players want to play. I know too many of them love the game too much.
My best friend had a hockey scholarship at Ohio State, so I would get a couple of pairs at the beginning of the season and send them down to him. They practised two hours a day. He'd skate in them for three weeks then ship them back.
Hullie's a lot like a garbage can. You step on the pedal with your foot and the top opens up.
The last year I was playing, I asked the stick boy to get me a Diet Coke and he said, Really? But I always had one on the bench because that's what I did in 1979 when there wasn't Gatorade. If you needed energy you went and got a Snickers or a Kit Kat. Nobody knew any better.
Eight days ago, we were the toast of the town. Eight days later we're Thanksgiving turkeys.
We're in a tough situation because of teenage children, and then we have a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old, so my family and my responsibilities is sort of a juggle.
One of the key qualities that you need to be a great hockey player is fantastic anticipation and feel for the game -- if you know where the puck is going before it is hit, that is half the battle.
Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull and Jean Béliveau probably looked at us in the '80s and said, These guys are soft. We used to take the train.
People talk about skating, puck handling and shooting, but the whole sport is angles and caroms, forgetting the straight direction the puck is going, calculating where it will be directed, factoring in all the interruptions. Basically, my whole game is angles.
When I played in a 21-team league, there were six or seven goalies who were just average, and the equipment and pads were smaller. I came in the right era. I played for the right team. It was all speed, and creativity and imagination.
I think sports for kids is the greatest thing in the world because it teaches you how to share, about winning and losing and pressure. But I don't think you should force your kid to become a professional athlete.
It's just amazing how many companies suddenly want you to hold up their products after you've held up the Stanley Cup.
Lifting the Stanley Cup for the first time. There's nothing like it. It's the greatest story. In my era, they used to say you couldn't be a superstar without winning one. I remember thinking when I lifted it: Now they can't say that about me.
The 2002 (Olympic) team was a great team, we won the gold medal, they deserved all the accolades that they got. But this team seems to have a little more depth and maybe a little more talent to pick from. So it makes the job of picking the right 23 guys even more difficult.
We played in an era where you were taught to hate your opponent. But life changes. I raise my kids differently than my mom and dad raised their kids.
My kids are no different than anyone else's -- they tend to disagree with everything I say!
I'm very proud of our NHL players. I think they all handle themselves extremely well and they all work really hard.
And people who know me would tell you that away from hockey I'm really not that competitive.
When I was 5 and playing against 11-year-olds, who were bigger, stronger, faster, I just had to figure out a way to play with them.
The biggest difference between L.A. and Edmonton was that instead of people looking at me I was looking at them.
I get a feeling about where a teammate is going to be. A lot of times, I can turn and pass without even looking.
By no means could I play at the level of these kids who play in the NHL now but as 50-year-olds go, I feel really good and I feel blessed that I'm still healthy.
Listen, everything I have in my life is because of the NHL and because of hockey, and I love the game and I loved every minute of being a player, I loved coaching, I loved being involved in the NHL.
The only way a kid is going to practice is if it's total fun for him... and it was for me.
I couldn't beat people with my strength; I don't have a hard shot; I'm not the quickest skater in the league. My eyes and my mind have to do most of the work.
I think that from the time you start playing sports as a child you see that your responsibility to your team is to play the best that you can play as an individual... and yet, not take anything away from being part of a team.
I wasn't naturally gifted in terms of size and speed; everything I did in hockey I worked for, and that's the way I'll be as a coach.
Hockey is a unique sport in the sense that you need each and every guy helping each other and pulling in the same direction to be successful.
I knew at a young age, whether I was playing baseball or hockey or lacrosse, that my teammates were counting on me, whether it be to strike the last batter out in a baseball game or score a big goal in a hockey game.
A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.