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Few people know that Wayne Gretzky actually began his professional hockey career with the Indianapolis Racers of the World Hockey Association and that he didn't arrive in Edmonton until he was -sold- to the Oilers in 1978. The 20th anniversary of the Wayne Gretzky trade from Edmonton to Los Angeles is getting a lot of scrutiny this week because it changed the hockey industry. But the Aug. 9, 198 bcs football rankings 8 deal that sent Gretzky, Marty McSorley and Mike Krushelnyski to the Kings for Jimmy Carson, Martin Gelinas, millions of dollars and three first-round draft picks was not the first time Gretzky was moved. Gretzky started his career with the World Hockey Association's Indianapolis Racers, not Edmonton. Officially Gretzky was -sold- to the Oilers, but there seems to be more to that story.Fact or fi bcs football rankings ction? Was the Edmonton Oilers' Stanley Cup dynasty between 1984 and 1990 born on a backgammon table in 1978 as part of a bet? Depending who you ask, the answer is yes and no. There is a side to this legendary tale which leads to a yes answer, but others will tell you that the story behind the Gretzky -sale- to Edmonton by Indianapolis was simply an economic deal that was designed to bail out a fa bcs football rankings iling franchise, and that money was earmarked to have taken care of Gretzky's former teammates so they would get their paychecks until the end of the 1978-79 season.There is one indisputable fact -- Gretzky was moved by Indianapolis to Edmonton in what turned out to be the last year of play for the WHA, and the trade served as a significant building block in assembling one of the greatest teams in bcs football rankings NHL history. But the story behind the trade has always been a little murky.In the summer of 1978, the 17-year-old Gretzky, who had been a Canadian icon since he was 6, signed a personal-services deal with Indianapolis owner Nelson Skalbania. But his Racers career would last just eight games. On Nov. 2, 1978, Gretzky would be the centerpiece of one of sports' strangest deals.Indianapolis wasn't a bcs football rankings thriving hockey metropolis, but Gretzky's possible new city, Edmonton, was. Edmonton was also one of those -destination- cities. The NHL was allegedly interested in moving one of its financially failing teams there in the mid 1970s, and Edmonton was very receptive to either getting a failed team or being part of an NHL-WHA merger. 20th Anniversary of the Gretzky trade On August 9, 1988 the unth bcs football rankings inkable happened when Edmonton dealt their superstar captain, Wayne Gretzky to Los Angeles in a trade that would forever change the game. The cash was reported to be $850,000. Skalbania was off the hook in paying Gretzky and may have been hoping that the money would keep the franchise afloat until the end of the year and maybe, just maybe, he would be bought by his WHA partners as a thank you for bcs football rankings hanging in there should the NHL and WHA merge because Indianapolis was not going to be entering the NHL in any case. In 1976, the owners of the American Basketball Association's Spirits of St. Louis, the Silna Brothers of New Jersey, accepted a deal from the National Basketball Association that they would receive a share of TV revenues in perpetuity. The Silnas are collecting millions of dollars p bcs football rankings er year annually. The WHA was conceived by Dennis Murphy, the father of the ABA and worked out of the same playbook as the ABA. So it was possible that Skalbania could have received some money for going away if there was a merger. Author: Evan Weiner | NHL.com Correspondent bcs football rankings
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