Was the Gretzky trade to Los Angeles in 1988 really that big of a deal? Did he really save hockey in California? I spent 2 years in California (1981-1984) playing youth hockey for the Conejo Valley Hockey Club and while hockey wasn’t hugely popular, there were quite a number of kids who played. We didn’t have to travel too far to play either.

When you look at the potential 2008-09 roster for the Phoenix Coyotes, there aren’t many teams that have young talent at forward like the Coyotes do.  In many ways you can almost see how Wayne Gretzky envisioned his team and you can tell that he started mapping that blueprint a few years ago.