Wayne Gretzky shocks the hockey world, reveals who he wanted to play for as a kid

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Mike Armenti
July 24, 2023 (8:58)

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If you had told a young Wayne Gretzky from Brantford, Ontario that he'd grow up to one day be referred to as "The Great One" and the consensus best hockey player of all time, I'm sure he wouldn't have believed you. Brantford is just over an hour away from Toronto, almost two hours from Buffalo, New York and also three hours away from Detroit, Michigan. No, this isn't a geography lesson, but these 3 cities do have a significance when talking about Gretzky and Brantford; they're the three closest cities with NHL franchises.

In an interview with The Athletic, Gretzky opened up about which team he wanted to play for when he was younger. The Buffalo Sabres. No, this isn't a joke. Gretzky himself explained why the Sabres were so appealing to him growing up.

"They were fun to watch. At that time, the Flyers were a tough team. The Sabres were trying to be this finesse team. My dad would always say to me, 'We need the Sabres to win because we need finesse back in hockey. It will be good for you and your career.' So I became a huge Sabres fan."

"It goes back to Punch Imlach. He made the Buffalo Sabres. He drafted Gilbert, got Richard Martin, got Rene Robert, Jim Schoenfeld, Roger Crozier, and Tim Horton. I can still remember thinking, 'Gosh, I wish one day I could wear that Buffalo Sabre jersey.' It was amazing. When you're a kid you dream, right? That's the best thing about being a kid. You dream about things that you love." - Gretzky on wanting to be a Buffalo Sabre

It's crazy to think about what the landscape of the NHL would have looked like had Gretzky been a Sabre instead of an Oiler or a King during his prime years. It's also sort of a mind-blower to consider where the Oilers and Kings franchises would have been were it not for The Great One.