Fansided

Wayne Gretzky passes his skills to grandson Tatum

By Darrell Samuels

Mar 6, 2014; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Wayne Gretzky addresses the media during the first intermission of the game between the Edmonton Oilers and the New York Islanders at Rexall Place. Mandatory Credit: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 6, 2014; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Wayne Gretzky addresses the media during the first intermission of the game between the Edmonton Oilers and the New York Islanders at Rexall Place. Mandatory Credit: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports /
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Grandson Tatum Johnson learns hockey skills from Grandpa Wayne

Over the past 45 years, various names in the National Hockey League come to mind as to who was the best player in the game.

Older fans might believe that former defenseman Bobby Orr, of the Boston Bruins, was the best player to ever lace his skates. Younger fans of the 1970s and 80s might compare Pittsburgh Penguins centre Mario Lemieux versus Edmonton Oilers Wayne Gretzky. It could be compared to current day versions of putting statistics of Washington Capitals Alex Ovechkin versus Pittsburgh Penguins Sidney Crosby. Who was, or is, the best?

Personal view here, but The Great One has to be the best player ever to lace his skates. To those who may not be familiar with his story, he grew up in Brantford, Ontario Canada about an hour away from Toronto. His father, Walter, built a hockey rink in their family backyard and Wayne used to play there and eventually fine tune his craft to become one of the most cherished Canadian NHL players in history.

He played with the Oilers before moving to the Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues and the New York Rangers. His career started in the NHL during the 1979-80 season and concluded at the end of the 1998-99 campaign. He was a scoring machine over his 21 year career as he played in 1,487 regular season games and finished with 2,857 points total. He scored 894 goals and 1,963 assists. His best year was during the 1985-86 season when he scored an electrifying and mind-boggling 215 points as a 25 year old centre. He is currently a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Since retiring from the game, he was part of Team Canada’s management team that won the 2002 gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. After the elation of the medal, he stepped into NHL management with the Arizona Coyotes. He later left the Coyotes and enjoyed life away from the game. He became a grandfather and appears to show no signs of wanting to get back involved with the league that made him a superstar.

Wayne’s daughter, Paulina and nine time PGA golf winner Dustin Johnson have recently had a child together and Sportsnet.ca was able to capture a photo of grandson, Tatum, learning how to play the game of hockey from Grandpa Wayne. Tatum has not even celebrated his first birthday yet but could the youngster possibly gain skills from his grandfather’s teaching to make him a potential NHL great?

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