Jitters, Twitter And "What Have You Heard?"

For many NHL players, the trade deadline is a gut-wrenching time

Tim Vizer/Icon Sportswire

Not even the Great One was immune to the stress of the NHL trade deadline.

In late February of 1996, the Los Angeles Kings - in the midst of a dreadful season and an ownership group in chaos - were considering what would have seemed unthinkable just a couple of years before: trading Wayne Gretzky.

The Great One had been largely responsible for making hockey cool in Hollywood and much of the American Southwest. His trade to the Kings by Edmonton in 1988 was so big that CNN broke into its regular programming in America when it happened. Gretzky got the Kings to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1993 and was still one of the top scorers in the league 17 years into his NHL career.

But with the Kings in turmoil and management looking to both rebuild and shed payroll, they explored trade avenues for Gretzky and those who were around him at the time remember a very stressed Gretz.

“Those were very nerve-wracking times for him,” said Eric Lacroix, the former Avs winger and current TV analyst, who was a teammate of Gretzky’s in L.A. in 1996. “People need to remember, this is not fantasy hockey. It’s actually real and people like wives and kids are affected by these transactions.”