On August 9, 1988, the Oilers traded "The Great One" for Carson, Gélinas, $15 million in cash, and the Kings' first-round draft picks in 1989, 1991 and 1993. "The Trade", as it came to be called, rocked the hockey world, especially north of the border, where Canadians mourned the loss of a player they considered a national treasure.

Wayne Gretzky won the Hart Memorial Trophy a record nine times during his career, including eight consecutive wins from 1980 to 1987.

Not only is Wayne Gretzky the only NHL player to total 200 points in a season, but he did it four times: 1981-82 (212 points), 1983-84 (205 points), 1984-85 (208 points), and 1985-86 (215 points).

Wayne Gretzky was a remarkably clean player, but he does have two regular-season bouts on his NHL fight card, including one against Neil Broten of the Minnesota North Stars in 1982, just before he was honored as "Sportsman of the Year".

Wayne Gretzky holds the NHL record with 2,857 career points, which is 936 more than Jaromir Jagr, who ranks second. So even if Gretzky had never scored any of his 894 goals (also an NHL record), he would still be the league's all-time leading scorer with 1,963 assists.

At the time of his retirement in 1999, he held 61 NHL records: 40 regular season records, 15 playoff records, and 6 All-Star records.

In 1991, NBC broadcast a Saturday morning cartoon called Pro Stars featuring Gretzky, basketball great Michael Jordan, and baseball player Bo Jackson as a superhero team of athletes who helped kids fight crime. Gretzky himself appeared alongside Jordan and Jackson in a pre-recorded live-action introduction for each episode.

In place of the lyrics "O Canada, we stand on guard for thee", Bryan Adams ad-libbed, "We're gonna miss you, Wayne Gretzky".

In 2000, he became part-owner of the Phoenix Coyotes, and following the 2004-05 NHL lock-out, he became the team's head coach. Gretzky made his coaching debut on October 5, 2005 and won his first game on October 8 against the Minnesota Wild.

The NHL retired his #99 jersey league-wide, making him the only player to receive such an honor.