Talk:Wayne Gretzky

Error with Kings' Captaincy

Have to correct a very common error - Gretzky wasn't named LA Kings captain until his second season with the team; Dave Taylor was captain during Gretzky's first year with the team.

YouTube clip for verification - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfxdIRuXcdM. First time you clearly see the "A" on Gretzky's jersey is 4:40, the clinching goal in Game 5. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.231.121.2 (talk) 18:57, 20 June 2009 (UTC)

That's correct. GoodDay (talk) 20:01, 20 June 2009 (UTC)

Thank God I'm Polish

There's such information in article, quoting Gretzky to saying these words on Hall Of Fame ceremony. But the link in the note [13] provides to site that doesn't consist any of such data. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.105.5.57 (talk) 12:50, 26 July 2009 (UTC)

What is source?

Pardon me, if I'm missed it. But I'm looking at the references and I see one "Raymond", ex: cite 69, but I cannot, for the life of me, see what the reference is! To What source does this refer? BashBrannigan (talk) 00:50, 24 September 2009 (UTC)

Yeah... odd. There seems to be two years with that name... I'm guessing that the Raymond, 1993 cites should be Redmond, 1993, and the Raymond 1994 cites should be Taylor. Unless someone can confirm that, I'm not going to make a change until I get a chance to confirm the cites are accurate via the books themselves. Resolute 02:15, 24 September 2009 (UTC)

"I moved because I was traded and that's where my job is"

This quote is interesting, in light of a special that aired last night on ESPN 2. In it, Wayne mentions he was already living full time in LA before he was ever traded there. Does this have a place in this article? --MichiganCharms (talk) 20:01, 13 October 2009 (UTC)

Well you have to remember his wife already lived there. So he is most likely referring to the fact they had a second home there prior to being traded there. Not really all that important I don't think. -DJSasso (talk) 03:35, 14 October 2009 (UTC)

Polish ancestry

I've reverted Zwirski's edits here. There may be content we can use but as it stood, it was overwhelming the first paragraph of the Early years section. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 17:35, 2 January 2010 (UTC)

What? Gretzky a "Canadian-American"?

I was just reading the bio of Wayne Gretzky who was chosen to be the final torch bearer for the Olympic games in Vancouver. I see that Gretzky is called a Canadian-American. I think that this a great distortion of reality. Gretzky is a Canadian who has married an American girl and lives in America. Gretzky is as Canadian as any other Canadian who resides in a foreign country. When given the chance to play at the national level, Gretzky plays for the Canadian national team. In the Salt Lake City Olympics game between Canada and USA, Gretzky coached Canada, his native country. At points during the game, you could see the intensity of his emotion and his national pride singing the Canadian National Anthem. There is no question that Gretzky is emotionally Canadian and Canadian in ever way but resides in USA.

He has never coached any Canadian Olympic team. Gretzky was Executive Director of the Canadian men's hockey team in 2002 and 2006. The rest I agree with completly.

I think this reference was written by an American nationalist who may like the idea of Gretzky being an American, but it is not the truth. Matters of people's nationality should be taken seriously. The nationalism of writers should not be allowed to contaminate the encyclopedia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by John Lincoln (talk • contribs) 15:17, 13 February 2010 (UTC)

I have to agree that the Canadian-American thing bites at me as well, (I live in Gretzky's hometown) but he is a Dual Citizen of Canada and the US.. Thus, he is as much an American citizen as any other "immigrant" in the States as he is a naturally born Canadian. If I had my druthers, I would remove it as well, but it's a completely accurate statement. Dphilp75 (talk) 15:31, 13 February 2010 (UTC)

He has held US citizenship for quite some time. While he certainly self identifies as a Canadian he lives and works in the US. If I did I would want to become a citizen too just to vote etc. The statement is factually correct. He is a dual citizen. There is no need to worry about it. Dbrodbeck (talk) 17:30, 13 February 2010 (UTC)

As much as I'd rather not get into the debate again, the confusion does exist because the expectation of that statement is nationality rather than citizenship. Gretzky is a Canadian expat with dual citizenship. To my view, a "Canadian-American" would be someone like Brandon Kozun, who has a Canadian and and American parent, and grew up in both nations. But, we've been through his all before. Resolute 23:48, 13 February 2010 (UTC)

Indeed, Brett Hull is a Canadian-American. GoodDay (talk) 00:24, 14 February 2010 (UTC)

Yeah I guess its open to interpretation, because to me a Canadian American is an American citizen with Canadian ancestry, or was a Canadian at one point themself. -DJSasso (talk) 03:01, 14 February 2010 (UTC)

Quite right that it is open to interpretation, because to me, what you described would be an American Canadian, as opposed to a Canadian American... :) I guess I tend to think of it as the person's "birth/Ethnic" nationality first, and where they currently reside, further citizenship ETC second; as in African American. Of course, I suppose one could argue that if that were universal, we should call Quebeckers Canadian French rather than French Canadian.. (But then, there are Quebeckers that would identify that way! :S)Dphilp75 (talk) 03:58, 14 February 2010 (UTC)

That is exactly what I said....Gretzky was born in Canada so Canadian first. And now lives in the US, so American last. Canadian American.-DJSasso (talk) 04:15, 14 February 2010 (UTC)

I just wanted to make a quick note of a useless point. You described it as an "American who was a Canadian at one point." I'm not sure if you are aware of this or not (And no offense meant here) but Gretzky has dual citizenship. He is no less a Canadian Citizen now, then he was when he was born.

I only mention it because of the slight difference in our interpretations of "Canadian-American". When you say "American who was a Canadian at one point." & "or was a Canadian at one point themselves", it just sounds (to me) like someone who had given up one Citizenship in favour of an American citizenship. No big deal or anything, just a point of clarifying where I was coming from! :) Dphilp75 (talk) 03:55, 17 February 2010 (UTC)

No I just mean that they had Canadian heritage or Canadian citizenship at some point in time. Be it currently or in the past. And since you don't lose heritage it will always be Canadian-American. -DJSasso (talk) 12:18, 17 February 2010 (UTC)

I changed Canadian-American to Canadian and put his American citizenship in the last sentence of the leading paragraph. The reason is that he was a Canadian player, and became famous as Canadian. He was not an American player, so it is good to be distinguished in new sentence. Good example about this is the article about Bobby Fischer. He was American, and Icelandic, rennouncing his US citizenship, but never was an Icelandic chess player, so he was an American player.--Kiril Simeonovski (talk) 20:11, 16 February 2010 (UTC)

He actually spent most of his professional career in the US. So that argument isn't all that strong, that being said I don't mind the solution you used.-DJSasso (talk) 20:19, 16 February 2010 (UTC)

It is not same. He played in the United States, but actually it is not an argument about sportspeople. Nowadays, most of the sportspeople play abroad, and many of them are abble to adopt new citizenship. It would be suspiciously, if you equal the new one with the first citizenship. The NHL is a typical example for globalization in sport. I would agree with Canadian-American, if he played just one international game for the United States, but in his career he played only for Canada, although he lived in the United States. My point is that he was not an American player, and Canadian-American player would not be appropriate. Maybe, another change in the lead paragraph would gratify your wish: 'He resides in the United States, and obtained citizenship of the United States.' --Kiril Simeonovski (talk) 20:56, 16 February 2010 (UTC)

Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with him being listed purely as Canadian. I am just pointing out that Canadian-American is not wrong, because he is an american citizen who has canadian heritage. Which is what Canadian-American typically means. Since he was a Canadian-American playing hockey, he was a Canadian-American hockey player. Like I said way up at the top its all a matter of interpretation, you are interpretting it differently that I was in this particular example. That sentence has nothing to do with who he played for intenationally, its meant to describe his citizenship/nationality. Down below in the article is where his international playing experience is described. But as I said, I don't actually care what the sentence was, I was just pointing out the original was not incorrect as was implied by the original poster. -DJSasso (talk) 02:33, 17 February 2010 (UTC)

I understand you. It's ok, but not for all. For some readers, Canadian-American player means representing both countries. This is not the only example on Wikipedia.--Kiril Simeonovski (talk) 15:41, 17 February 2010 (UTC)

Yes, well, the objections to this come a great deal more from amour propre than anything legitimate. I very much doubt many on Wikipedia would believe becoming a citizen of one nation was anything other than a declaration of the nationality to which the subject claims identification.  RGTraynor  16:14, 17 February 2010 (UTC)

I have removed the reference to American citizenship. Gretzky said in an interview with Peter Mansbridge which just aired that he does not hold any other citizenship and explicitly said he does NOT hold dual citizenship. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.231.163.135 (talk) 05:46, 28 February 2010 (UTC)

Thank You! That was getting frustrating. People really shouldn't post information without any sort of proof to back it up. Go Canada! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.168.144.141 (talk) 17:22, 28 February 2010 (UTC)

Where did this rumour begin? He has said explicitly in two recent interviews with Peter Mansbridge on Mansbridge One on One and Matt Lauer on The Today Show that he does not have dual citizenship. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.231.163.135 (talk) 20:47, 28 February 2010 (UTC)

It's because he married an American. He doesn't have full citizenship, but he has a lower level which I forget the name of at the moment. Landed Imigrant maybe? I forget. -DJSasso (talk) 23:47, 28 February 2010 (UTC)

Lead picture and lack of an international section

A couple things I thought I should bring up. I feel like the lead should showcase the best quality picture available that most represents the content of the article. The current one looks grainy and is taken in a pretty generic setting. I would personally love to see the first picture in the Rangers section be in the lead. Secondly, for a featured article, I'm surprised there is no "International career" section, as per most ice hockey articles in FA and even GA. I think the "NHL career" section should only contain information on the club teams. Normally I would have just gone ahead and edited the article to address those issues, but seeing as this is Gretzky here, I figured I should bring it up here first. Orlandkurtenbach (talk) 23:06, 22 February 2010 (UTC)

I think it is a fine idea. Dbrodbeck (talk) 01:45, 23 February 2010 (UTC)

I agree with creating an International career section. That's a good idea. I disagree about the photo. The lead photo is neutral, which is an important aspect. The Rangers period was the last three years of his career, and really not that notable in comparison. A more representative picture would be one in an Oilers uniform, or LA, for that matter. ʘ alaney2k ʘ (talk) 15:28, 23 February 2010 (UTC)

I think the same as Alaney on this one. -DJSasso (talk) 15:53, 23 February 2010 (UTC)

Indeed, I see the point on the photo. Dbrodbeck (talk) 22:56, 23 February 2010 (UTC)

In fact I think in the FA process that is why it was insisted we use the one not linked to a particular team if I remember correctly. It might have been the FA review. Either way I know this isn't the first time people wanted the rangers picture in the box. -DJSasso (talk) 13:15, 24 February 2010 (UTC)

Fair enough, I can see that point. I will, however, go ahead with starting an international section soon when I have some extra time. Thanks for the feedback. Orlandkurtenbach (talk) 05:11, 25 February 2010 (UTC)

Article has a little error: "Oilers also won the Cup with Gretzky in 1985, ..." Should read as "Oilers also won the Cup with Gretzky in 1984, 1985, " The Fifth Column (talk) 03:05, 10 June 2010 (UTC)