The Gretzky Cup

You can thank The Great One[tm] for this: When Anaheim squeaked a 4-3 victory over Detroit at the Honda Center last night, it marked the first time two post-Bruce McNall expansion franchises would meet each other to battle in the Stanley Cup finals.

Bruce McNall, of course, is the man who brought Wayne Gretzky to Los Angeles and as a consequence ushered in a new age in which the NHL seized the attention of a captive American audience. It was a match made in hockey heaven: Gretzky had just wed a (B-)movie star, he hosted Saturday Night Live, he had endorsements, and celebrities flocked to his games like the trendy fad-junkies they are. Indeed, he was a legitimate star on par, in some minds, with the likes of Joe Montana, Michael Jordan and Bo Jackson.

The NHL, having a stable roster of franchises since the immolation of the WHA in 1979, recognized the burgeoning interest in their product and created a cross-state rival to the Kings by awarding the brothers Gund, former owners of the Minnesota North Stars, a franchise in San Jose. Two more franchises were awarded to Ottawa and Tampa Bay in 1992. Corporate America got involved the following year as Blockbuster owner Wayne Huizenga was awarded a franchise in Miami, while Disney successfully bidded for a team in Anaheim which was stupidly named after one of their hit movies.

It should be noted that four out of these five new franchises were set in Florida and California. Ottawa was the odd-man out, and was created primarily to satiate the Canadian fan base in a time of the Americanization of the national sport.

Five years later, four additional franchises--Nashville, Atlanta, St Paul and Columbus--were created under Commissioner Gary Bettman, and three out of the four WHA franchises had changed addresses to points south. In these expansion decisions, Wayne Gretzky was a much smaller factor--due to his diminishing skills, not to mention McNall's incarceration--and the potential of television markets was the primary concern.

Even so, fans of the Sharks, Sens, Ducks, Bolts and Panthers all have Wayne Gretzky to thank for their success to date. While not all are ideal franchise locations, and while all have had varying degrees of on- and off-ice success, their very presence in the league today is a direct result to the lasting impact the man continues to have on the game.

In another curious twist of fate, these playoffs are relevant in a different sort of way: While last season saw the first title fought between former WHA franchises, not one of the four WHA carry-overs were able to muster their way into this post-season, marking the first time any WHA franchise has not been able to compete for their league championship since 1972.

Of course, Wayne Gretzky is related to this: the man not only began his illustrious career in the WHA, as an NHL head coach he bears some responsibility for the dismal regular season results of the Phoenix Coytoes--formerly the WHA's Winnipeg Jets.

Go Sens.