In 1999, while a member of the New York Rangers, Wayne Gretzky called a press conference to announce his retirement. At the time, the Brantford native tried to make fans understand why he wanted to walk away from the game even though he seemingly had several good years left. “It’s a gut feeling, something I believe is right,” he said at his presser (via The Herald-Times). Playing 20 years in the NHL had taken a toll on the Hall of Famer. “I started to feel fatigue — mentally and physically — that I never felt before,” he added.
Years later, Gretzky spoke about how opponents started treating him differently during games, and how that impacted his choice to step away from the ice. “But I knew it was time to retire when I was playing my last year and people I was playing against, before they would hit me, they would scream my name,” he said on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” in 2014 (via For The Win!).
There were multiple outside sources who tried to convince Gretzky to play a few more seasons. That included Rangers owner James Dolan, who apparently offered Gretzky $1 million to take an extra week to reconsider his retirement with no strings attached — although Number 99 had made up his mind. “You know in good conscience I just can’t take your money because I know I’m done,” he recalled telling Dolan during a 2016 interview on “In Depth with Graham Bensinger.” Gretzky’s playing days were over, but his career was not.
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