Heretic Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Apparently, Mr. McCaw made the mistake of pushing Gretzky to sign right now instead of waiting until the morning...else The Great one would have probably finished his career with the Canucks. Edit: for the record I'm not saying I wish we had Gretzky back then - I doubt we would have had enough pieces for a Cup run....I just thought it's interesting how things tun out. As other have posted below, we probably wouldn't have gotten the Sedins...etc... ---------------------- If not for one pushy phone call back in 1996, Wayne Gretzky would have been a Vancouver Canuck. Back in the summer of 1996, John McCaw, then owner of the Canucks, thought his team would be able to sign the Great One as a free agent after he had spent a half-season with the St. Louis Blues. The late Pat Quinn, then Vancouver’s president and general manager, was in charge of the negotiations. “The Canucks had (Gretzky) signed at night verbally, and he (told Quinn), ‘Look. I’ll sign the papers formally in the morning,’ Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman told Sportsnet 590 The Fan’s Brady & Walker, Friday. “McCaw got on the phone to Quinn (Vancouver’s president and GM) and said, ‘We want this done tonight.’ “ LISTEN: Elliotte Friedman talks Brodeur, Jets and how Gretzky nearly signed with Vancouver Quinn told McCaw that Gretzky was committed and not to worry. “No, no, no. We’re doing this tonight. I want it formalized. No questions,” McCaw instructed Quinn. Quinn called Gretzky back and asked him to sign the papers that night. Gretzky replied with: “I told you I’d sign them the morning.” “Nope,” Quinn said. “I need to have it tonight.” The whole deal blew up over that, Friedman explained. Gretzky, we know, also considered signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs that off-season, before finally signing with the New York Rangers, where he would play the final three seasons of his career. “It was a difficult summer. At one point I thought I was going to be a Vancouver Canuck and it fell through the wayside,” Gretzky said on the same radio show in 2013. “Everything happens for a reason, and I ended up signing with the New York Rangers… and truly enjoyed it.” http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/wayne-gretzky-vancouver-canucks-new-york-rangers-toronto-maple-leafs-pat-quinn/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonMexico Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 It's really too bad that it worked out the way it did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khay Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 &^@# McCaw, I think the guy was even considering to move the team at one point. No loyalty to the team, just wanted to make money and failed. If only we had an owner who was willing to spend during the WCE era (remember, there was no salary cap), we would have a cup or two by now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slegr Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 It's a sad story. Bure's numbers would have gone through the roof, and I imagine he would have wanted to stay a bit longer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronalds.Kenins41 Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 guys calm down, even if he did come to Vancouver he was in his twilight years, would not have made much a difference like he did with Edmonton. He would have brought people to the games and would have been a pleasure to have but his best days were behind him. Who knows if we signed him and he became a star and made Bure stay maybe we would have been a bit better and then got a lower draft pick and miss out on drafting the sedins. 1. The wheeling and dealing began when Vancouver sent defenseman Bryan McCabe and a 2000 first-round pick [Ed. Note. -- This pick was acquired as part of the Pavel Bure trade to Florida.] to the Chicago Blackhawks (which became Pavel Vorobiev, who did next to nothing) for the fourth overall pick (which landed with the Rangers and became Brendl). 2. Brian Burke then sent the No. four selection and a pair of third-round picks to the Tampa Bay Lightning for the top overall pick. [Ed. Note. -- According to Burke, this wasn't easy.] 3. Next, Vancouver sent the top pick to the expansion Atlanta Thrashers for the No. two selection and a conditional 2000 third-rounder. The deal was that the Thrashers would take Stefan, leaving the Canucks to take the Sedins in sequential order. http://blogs.thescore.com/nhl/2010/10/16/looking-back-at-the-1999-draft-and-how-vancouver-drafted-the-sedins/ Had Gretzky come here and made an impact, and made Bure stay we would not have drafted the sedins. Even if Bure was still traded, if gretzky played well we would not have dropped to the third overall pick making drafting the sedins almost impossible. Like Gretzky said everything happens for a reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhillipBlunt Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 guys calm down, even if he did come to Vancouver he was in his twilight years, would not have made much a difference like he did with Edmonton. He would have brought people to the games and would have been a pleasure to have but his best days were behind him. Who knows if we signed him and he became a star and made Bure stay maybe we would have been a bit better and then got a lower draft pick and miss out on drafting the sedins. Just like he said everything happens for a reason.It's funny to hear you tell other people to calm down, Mr. You Need to Provide a Source Immediately or You'll Get Banned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McBackup Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 This has been beaten to death. I don't know why people keep bringing it up, it's about as fruitful as "OMGZ we could've drafted Kopitar/Weber/Lucic/Whoever else!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roland Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 And because of it we got the Sedins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Fig Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 frack McCaw, I think the guy was even considering to move the team at one point. No loyalty to the team, just wanted to make money and failed. If only we had an owner who was willing to spend during the WCE era (remember, there was no salary cap), we would have a cup or two by now. While McCaw was far from an deal owner, he ate the bills and kept the team through some lean times when his heart was not in it. Things could have gone a whole lot worse than they did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronalds.Kenins41 Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 It's funny to hear you tell other people to calm down, Mr. You Need to Provide a Source Immediately or You'll Get Banned. provided the source right at the end of the quote, if you missed it here it is http://blogs.thescore.com/nhl/2010/10/16/looking-back-at-the-1999-draft-and-how-vancouver-drafted-the-sedins/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toni Zamboni Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 old news. i aint even mad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Losing With Pride Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 The biggest thing is Vancouver signing Gretzky would have actually put Vancouver on the map of hockey. Not like the Messiah Messier. That plus Paulina. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronalds.Kenins41 Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 And because of it we got the Sedins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoted Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 old news. i aint even mad. Yeah, a long time ago and really if the fans knew of all would have been trade talks between managers there would be a lot of 'what ifs' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRussianRocket. Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 old news. i aint even mad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOMapleLaughs Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeremyCuddles Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 This SOB sullied Patty Quinn's name. Patty Quinn had this deal done. For shame. No sense crying over spilt milk but it does go to show what happens when a Owner over steps his boundaries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elvis15 Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 old news. i aint even mad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E Street Band Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Ugh. Hate hearing this. If you include Larscheid leaving the radio, these might be my two personal most dreaded canuck stories. Ahh and Bure's departure also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heretic Posted January 30, 2015 Author Share Posted January 30, 2015 This has been beaten to death. I don't know why people keep bringing it up, it's about as fruitful as "OMGZ we could've drafted Kopitar/Weber/Lucic/Whoever else!" We could have had Kopitar?!?!??!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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