Talk:Wayne Gretzky

Please add a total for major professional totals

When Gretzky retired, Gordie Howe expressed disappointment he wasn't able to pursue Howe's all time major professional goal total (namely WHA + NHL). Gretzky already holds the point record for this. Please add his Indianapolis totals to his NHL totals in a final row for Major Professional Hockey totals. This should probably be done for anyone who played in both leagues, but it only really matters for Howe & Gretzky.

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. Lightoil (talk) 23:06, 22 March 2023 (UTC)

As in Gordie Howe. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.137.20.57 (talk) 15:40, 7 April 2023 (UTC)

Edit request from Bytheway82, 12 May 2011

this is the offiacial Walter Gretzky website:http://www.waltergretzky.com/index.php?page=biography

please change the nationality he's not from bealarus or ukraine!! They are polish ethnic immigrants. The half of Bealarus and Ukraine was in this time polish!!

• This is a heavily contentious issue that is already addressed in the article, complete with extensive sourcing. At the time of the family's emigration, their home was in fact neither in Belarus, the Ukraine or Poland, none of which existed; it was in the Russian Empire.  Ravenswing  07:51, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

Not done: As above. Consensus will need to be reached before this is changed. Stickee (talk) 12:07, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

In the Ukrainian Weekly dated sunday May 9, 1982 (published by the Ukrainian National Association): When an Ukrainian-American reporter dropped by Walter and Phyllis Gretzky home to find out the truth of Wayne Gretzky's ethnic origin, he was told by Phyllis Gretzky, who stated she was All Canadian (English descent), that her husband Walter was Russian (father) and Polish (mother) descent. The reporter then phoned Mary Gretzky to confirm Phyllis's statement. He asked Mary Gretzky, Walter's mother if she was Ukrainian, she replied, NO, she was not Ukrainian, she was Polish and Catholic and her maiden name was Khodenetski (reporter's spelling). She also stated her husband was born in White Russia (which is Belarus). Mary also gave this reporter all the villages in her area with the Polish spelling. As a side note, my father is 100% Polish and ancestors settled in the area Mary Gretzky came from, his parents were Catholic (Roman) and could speak Polish and Ukrainian. In Western Canada there is a fairly large Polish ethnic group that came from where Mary Gretzky was born. Take it from me, A Ukrainian from this area would not refer to themselve as a Pole, and definitly a Pole would not say he was Ukrainian. There is no love lost between the two groups. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.72.220.80 (talk • contribs)

I can not believe you haven't at least admitted to Wayne Gretzky being of 25% Polish descent on Mary Gretzky's side by putting this information in the main Wikipedia autobiography. Mary Gretzky has stated she was not Ukrainian, she said she was POLISH! My Dad was of Polish ancestry close to Mary Gretzky's village and could speak Ukrainian as well as Polish. The Ukrainians were the majority in the area where his Mom and Dad came from. The two groups in Canada were antagonistic. Mary Gretzky would never say she was Polish if she was Ukrainian! Concerning Anton Gretzky, Walter's father, he was a landowner in Belarus, coming from Grodno ( as did my Polish noble great-grandparents) I would bet he was of Polish descent as the majority of landowners in Grodno were of Polish ancestry. Has anyone ever verifiably heard Walter Gretzky speak after coming off his coma. My Dad who is 100% Polish could have just as easily spoken Ukrainian as Polish coming off a stroke. Mary Gretzky was a Polish Roman Catholic, I have a strong feeling Anton Gretzky was of the same religious background. 50.72.209.149 (talk) 05:27, 11 May 2013 (UTC)

Please read WP:OR. Dbrodbeck (talk) 12:13, 11 May 2013 (UTC)

It almost seems the editors of Wayne Gretzky's biography are misogynists! I've given three proofs of Mary Gretzky's Polish ancestory, of which these arbitrators have totally ignored and not included in the main biographical body. Wayne and Walter say Mary Gretzky was Polish (as does Mary herself), but that is not good enough for the editors. Are the editors biased or afraid of getting it wrong. I am not 100% sure of Anton Gretzky being Polish, but his relatives in the present day Belarus say Mary was POLISH! This information is on a website! My great-grandfather was a Polish noble living in Belarus who married a woman from there who was also of Polish noble descent. Walter Gretzky's father, who was a son of landowners in Grodno, as was my Polish great-grandfather, was way more likely to be of Polish descent. Gretzky is the russified name of the more common Polish name of Grecki! 50.72.212.111 (talk) 14:46, 23 June 2013 (UTC)

Walter Gretzky in his book (ON FAMILY, HOCKEY AND HEALING) states "She (mother Mary Gretzky) was a devout Roman Catholic and her moral code ruled in our little farmhouse on the river". Please note Roman Catholic, it is the religion of the Polish group who inhabited the area of Podhajce. Ukrainians in this area were Greek Catholics, not Roman! The Polish ethnic group had a fairly large population group in this area. After WWII, when the boundaries of Poland were changed, most ethnic Poles were displaced to Southwest Poland, while the Ukrainians stayed behind. Lets stop being coy about Wayne Gretzky's paternal grandmother's Polish ancestry. Wayne, Walter, and Phyllis Gretzky all state that Mary Gretzky is Polish (they have never alluded to any other ethnic group). Mary Gretzky does not only say she is Polish, SHE STATES SHE IS NOT UKRAINIAN! There was a large Polish ethnic group who once inhabited the area now known as the Ukraine. At worst Wayne is one quarter Polish descent. The Belarusians and Ukrainians are going to have to fight over the other quarter. My comment on Walter's Dad is if Walter is correct about his father being of upper class/landowner from Grodno, there is a strong possibility that he was of the Polish ethnic group. Grodno had a huge Polish population and dominated as landowners (upper class). Not to mention Gretzky is a Polish name, correctly spelled as Grecki. ```` — Preceding unsigned comment added by Polonia2015 (talk • contribs)

Please see WP:SYNTH. You need to find a specific source that explicitly calls her Polish. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 16:07, 18 January 2015 (UTC)

Concur with NeilN. You clearly feel strongly about this issue, but we do not accept personal knowledge and original research as sources for our articles. Please locate reliable, neutral, third-party sources for this information. --Laser brain (talk) 16:12, 18 January 2015 (UTC)

In MacLeans Magazine dated July 25, 1988 and whose cover's headline title is The Royal Wedding, the union of Wayne Gretzky and Janet Jones in Edmonton at St.Joseph's Basilica (Roman Catholic), the issue of neither one being Roman Catholic is addressed by the Archbishop of Edmonton. This clergyman of virtue and high standing acknowledges Wayne is Anglican and Janet is Presbyterian, but he mentions that Wayne's grandmother Mary is "a good Polish Catholic". Wow, Mary Gretzky said she was Polish to a reporter whose ethnic background is not known for being pro Polish, and you shrug it off. All this language of speaking Ukrainian in the main article is a bunch of clutter to throw off the real facts of Wayne's ancestry. Was there a language expert in the Gretzky house to determine the legitimacy of it being Ukrainian and not a mixture of Polish-Belarussian. In response to you, I'm trying to keep my composure, have the decency to correct the spelling of the town Mary Gretzky came from! Mary would have referred to her town as Podhajce (the correct Polish spelling). Even the Ukrainian-American reporter talking to her stated Mary referred to all locations in the area as a Polish person would, as opposed to an Ukrainian. Give Mary Gretzky a little respect and don't let a certain ethnic group hijack this article. You say Wayne's background is not important in the grand scheme (your arrogance is showing). Wayne loved his grandmother dearly and from everything I read he was very proud of her Polish heritage, as was Dad Walter. Oh, by the way, the largest ethnic group in Podhajce (not Pidhatsi) was Polish (look it up, its recorded before WWII). About the language spoken by the Gretzky's at home, as a person who is descended from Poles in the area where Mary Gretzky comes from, I have inside experience of languages spoken. My Dad whose Polish on both sides speaks better Ukrainian than Polish as the Canadian neighborhood he grew up in had 3 Ukrainians for every 1 Polish Eastern Galician, and by no way does he consider himself an Ukrainian-Canadian. In Canada where Poles came from outside the current borders of Poland, this was the rule, not the exception.````— Preceding unsigned comment added by Polonia2015 (talk • contribs)

You know, in the grand scheme of things, how is where his grandparents came from even mildly notable anyway? I think we should not mention it at all. Dbrodbeck (talk) 22:32, 18 January 2015 (UTC)

Agreed. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 22:47, 18 January 2015 (UTC)

The first two paragraphs of the Early Life section could be pretty much deleted. Who cares who his mother's ancestor was? Or we could go to the other extreme and say his farthest back ancestors were from the Great Rift Valley in Africa like all H Sapiens...... Dbrodbeck (talk) 00:03, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

Agreed—might as well nuke it. --Laser brain (talk) 13:44, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

I agree with all three of you, and have noticed some issues with the insertion of unreliable sources related to his ancestry (Facebook and Twitter among others). With that in mind, I nuked most of the two paragraphs as suggested. There was some material in the first paragraph that was more traditional early life content, which I spared. The article is probably better off without the rest. Giants2008 (Talk) 19:35, 29 January 2015 (UTC)

Thanks! Dbrodbeck (talk) 21:15, 29 January 2015 (UTC)

Gretzky stating "Thank God I'm Polish"

When Gretzky was being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1999 he stated in an press conference "Thank God I'm Polish" in response to a joke about another inductee who wore a Scottish kilt. He was obviously referring to his ancestry so why is this not mentioned under the "Early years" section. Gretzky probably knows his family history quite well as his father probably explained it to him. He does not mention being Belorussian, Ukrainian, or Russian. I think it's important to include this information as these were his own words from his own mouth. I believe it was mentioned in the article a while back but someone removed it. There's a few sources online from the interview, for example on the CBS Sports website http://www.cbssports.com/u/ce/multi/0,1329,1618511_60,00.html Anyone who watched the press conference will remember him saying it. Please include this info in the "Early years" section. RangersFan99 (talk) 15:01, 4 November 2011 (UTC)

Sound like a reasonable addition to me.Moxy (talk) 15:16, 4 November 2011 (UTC)

Read his father's biography where he talks about waking up after his stroke being able to speak only the language of his childhood - Ukrainian. Walter also talks about his parents speaking Ukrainian at home. Obviously they were labelled Polish because these territories were under Poland then, but it sounds like they were ethnically Ukrainian. Rather than argue, I would leave it as is - all three nationalites - those were confusing times.Mykyta (talk) 03:53, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

I wonder how this is at all important or notable. Dbrodbeck (talk) 04:05, 19 November 2011 (UTC)

We can't speak about the past from our perspectives today. These times were difficult. All i can say, they all were from Russian Empire, so ancestors came from Russia, but who they were, it is hard to undestand as i see there are bunch of patriots from different ethnic groups who are trying to take a win on each other. Belarus, Polish, Ukrainian. Is it really worth to discuss? We can say - his ancestors were Slavs (cause all ethnic groups i mentioned are Slavs). Read this. http://alexovetjkin.blogspot.ca/2010/01/wayne-gretzkys-belorussian-roots.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.252.76.134 (talk) 22:18, 6 June 2013 (UTC)

Grey Cup Champion?

I see this in the category list, but that category is for those 'on' winning teams. There is another category for coaches, but not one yet for owners.Canoe1967 (talk) 09:43, 9 March 2012 (UTC)

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS EDIT?????

Gretzky's ancestry is typically described as English on his mother's side and either Lithuanian (even his family name has got Lithuanian root meaning fast (Greichius), like and neurologist Michael Greicius, who runs the Stanford University memory clinic)....it is just more in-depth knowledge about his ancestors...my family didn't know their roots and thought they are polish until I dug deeper and found that we are 100% Lithuanian just forcefully polonised during Lithuanian-Polish republic time 1569-1795. the same is true with most of former Lithuania people including the Gretzkys.

A reliable source (newspaper, magazine) must say Gretzky is Lithuanian on his father's side. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 20:24, 4 June 2012 (UTC)

Trevor

I reverted this edit [1] figuring it was too much detail on Trevor. What do others think? Dbrodbeck (talk) 19:47, 9 July 2013 (UTC)

As the first person to remove the content, I agree that it is too much. This article is not about Trevor Gretzky, and incremental updates of his baseball career is not relevant to Wayne. That his son is most famous for being drafted by a Major League Baseball team is all that requires note here, imnsho. Resolute 20:17, 9 July 2013 (UTC)

I was about to revert when Dbrodbeck beat me to it as well. It was clearly a case of WP:UNDUE. All that was needed was a note that he was drafted. -DJSasso (talk) 17:47, 10 July 2013 (UTC)

Agreed, that much detail does not belong in this article. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 18:38, 10 July 2013 (UTC)

Trevor was released by the Québec Capitales on July 19, 2016. http://capitalesdequebec.com/l-equipe/transactions/ Will someone please update. 47.152.248.207 (talk) 22:37, 27 March 2017 (UTC)

I added a couple of sentences to provide the update you requested. Thanks for bringing that up here. Giants2008 (Talk) 23:21, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

"Gretzky"

The usage of Gretzky (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) is under discussion, see talk: Gretzky (disambiguation) -- 76.65.128.222 (talk) 02:08, 14 August 2013 (UTC)

S, what has he won?

As someone getting into ice Hockey it's difficult to get an easy overview of what awards he won and when. Perhaps add an "honours" sections, like this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Beckham#Honours ? 194.28.127.52 (talk) 04:54, 16 January 2014 (UTC)

We don't have a section on his page because he has won so many awards it would overflow the page. If you want to see what he has won he has his own article just for his awards and records located at List of career achievements by Wayne Gretzky. -DJSasso (talk) 12:40, 16 January 2014 (UTC)

Under the Phoenix Coyotes section, which is lacking sufficient detail, there is a clear error stating that Steve Ellman owned Glendale (Jobing.com) Arena from 2006. The City of Glendale paid virtually the entire cost of construction and owns the arena.173.9.198.222 (talk) 16:50, 14 May 2014 (UTC)

It appears that you are correct about Elling, and I removed that from the sentence it was in. While I'm here, what details do you think are missing? Keep in mind that this is already a long article, so we need to be careful about adding too much more content to it. Giants2008 (Talk) 23:18, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

I went ahead and added a few facts to the Coyotes section from one of the cited articles, and have to admit that the section does look more filled-out now than it did before. Overall, I think you were on the right track, although I still believe we need to be careful not to bloat the article too much. Giants2008 (Talk) 22:22, 20 May 2014 (UTC)

NHL scoring achievements

Edit in question as seen below. Do we need this section ???....if so we have to format it better!!!

Comments

I personal think its over kill as the main achievements are covered in the article. -- Moxy (talk) 18:17, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

I agree. It's redundant, aside from being a malformed mess. If consensus develops to include the text, it will need to be properly formatted before being re-added. --Laser brain (talk) 18:40, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

Content

(see List of career achievements by Wayne Gretzky)

Gretzky has scored the most career points in both the regular season and the playoffs. ,

He currently ranks in the top 20 in nearly every major career NHL regular season statistical category: points per game (1st), goals (1st), goals per game (7th), assists (1st), assists per game (1st), games played (18th), power-play goals (14th), short-handed goals (1st), game-winning goals (T-15th), Plus-minus (4th), and shots on goal (6th).,,,,,,,,,,

He also currently ranks in the top 20 in nearly every major career NHL playoff statistical category: points per game (1st), goals (1st), goals per game (6th), assists (1st), assists per game (1st), games played (16th, 15th among skaters), power-play goals (T-3rd), short-handed goals (2nd), game-winning goals (T-1st), overtime goals (T-4th), Plus-minus (4th), and shots on goal (14th).

, ,,,,,,,, ,,,

References

Some work needed

Giants2008, Resolute: It's been nearly 7 years since we helped this through FAR, and I think it needs some tuning. I did a bit of copyediting and added maybe a half-dozen citation needed tags. Some other issues:

• The "Influences and skills" section needs work: there are far too many 1- and 2-sentence paragraphs, and the information is poorly organized; some pruning might be in order, and/or subsections.
• The See also section seems a bit unwieldy; is there really a benefit in linking to each individual list?
• The External links section could also use pruning: the NNDB page, at least, adds nothing.
• The Lady Byng and Lester B. Pearson trophies are mentioned (and cited) in the lead but need to be included in the main article text.
• There's no mention in the article (neither prose nor citation) to support the inclusion of Category:Lou Marsh Trophy winners, Category:Canadian racehorse owners and breeders, Category:Recipients of the Olympic Order, or any of the "Canadian people of x descent" categories.
• We need to check carefully for deadlinks—many of the links I tried were simply soft-redirected to the source's homepage. Note: checked through Strategy section.
• I don't think the article adequately covers his vast array of endorsements over the years. No other NHL player approached his level of marketability—he had Coke, Dominos, Tylenol, McDonalds, Ford, etc—and the press wrote about it endlessly. I'm also surprised to see no mention of the video games.
• At least one of the items listed in References is not actually cited.

Would appreciate a sanity check on the above. Do you agree, and do you see any other problems I missed? Pinging EMP too as I see that you've been helping maintain the article. Thanks. Maralia (talk) 01:05, 10 May 2015 (UTC)

I saw the tags you added and either added new sources for the facts or removed them. The rest of what you say certainly seems valid, and I will try to address the issues if nobody else will, but it may take me a little while. After a lot of work on the Devils article, I am somewhat spent at the moment. Still, the original Gretzky FAR was what got me involved in the featured content processes, and I will do what I can to prevent the article from going back there if possible. Giants2008 (Talk) 01:29, 11 May 2015 (UTC)

I had no idea that was what drew you in to FC. Feels like you've been around forever!

Sorry if it sounded like I was just dropping a list and running—I'll absolutely pitch in. Just didn't want to start making big changes without running them by folks first. Appreciate any help, but no need for speed here. Maralia (talk) 14:40, 11 May 2015 (UTC)

Yes, very good points. I just printed out Influences and Skills and read it carefully for the first time in quite a while and I see what you mean. I'll do some work and if others want to take it further, be my guest. EMP (talk) 17:26, 11 May 2015 (UTC)

I cut the text of Influences and Skills by about 400 words (15 percent), put it in a more logical order, and added subtitles. It needed it. More work needed? EMP (talk) 22:04, 12 May 2015 (UTC)

I pruned the external links section. Giants2008 (Talk) 01:06, 13 May 2015 (UTC)

Many thanks for the pruning and reorganization. A few further thoughts:

1. The section "Strategy and effect on NHL play" should be a subsection of "NHL career".
2. The "Transactions" section is wholly redundant and should be removed. (Only our older hockey bio FAs have this section. All details in the section are already laid out in text here.)
3. I agree with some of the editors who posted above: this needs an "Awards and honors" section. I know it will be difficult to keep it reasonable, but we can't mention his awards in the lede without at least summarizing them in the main text. I'll take a stab at this if people agree.

Let me know what you think of the above. The "Skills and influences" section is looking much better, but I'm still vaguely dissatisfied by its organization even though EMP did just what I asked. Let's just let it sit for a while: sometimes it takes a few weeks and a few re-readings for inspiration to strike me. Maralia (talk) 15:13, 14 May 2015 (UTC)

Please do start an awards section if you can. It's one less thing to get done, and the comment about the trophies in the lead (but not elsewhere) should be resolved as well when this is complete. I trimmed the categories, by the way. Giants2008 (Talk) 02:05, 16 May 2015 (UTC)

Will do. Maralia (talk) 04:42, 21 May 2015 (UTC)

It had an Awards and Honours section, I feel like but may be completely miss-remembering, that at the FA discussion for this it was split out to its own completely separate page because it was way to large and over whelming for this page. With Gretzky you would never be able to mention some awards without mentioning all of them. If you are going to have a section it would probably best be a section that just talks about the fact that he has won a lot and links off to the other page. There are too many to cherry pick and most of them are all major enough that to cut them out wouldn't be right unless you cut them all out. -DJSasso (talk) 17:22, 22 May 2015 (UTC)

Just to give an update on the progress made, I've cleaned up the latest round of dead links, made the strategy section a subsection of the career section, and added some sponsorship-related information. Giants2008 (Talk) 01:31, 29 May 2015 (UTC)

Wayne Gretzky 99 Award

Is there any award other than Wayne Gretzky 99 Award? Recently Velan Nandhakumaran is awarded with "Wayne Gretzky Award".Lake Ontario Wind (talk) 03:52, 30 May 2015 (UTC)

An answer to this question was provided by another editor at the hockey WikiProject. Apparently the other award mentioned here is a youth hockey honor. Giants2008 (Talk) 18:02, 1 June 2015 (UTC)

Polish background

1) On Walter Gretzky's page, the family's Polish background is referenced. i.e. Walter mentions it.

2) 'Gretzky' appears to be a Russian or Belarusian rendering of the Polish surname Grecki. See Maksymilian Grecki for example.

3) Landowners in Western Belarus tended to be Polish or at least think of themselves as Polish. 1982vdven (talk) 17:20, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

Belarusian background

1) His grandfather came from Grodno. Ethnically, as landowners (with a Polish surname), the Gretzky family was more than likely Polish however.

2) We don't have a 'Canadian people of Belarusian-Polish descent' category, similar to the Canadian people of Belarusian-Jewish descent category, so the 'Canadian people of Belarusian descent' category will have to do. 1982vdven (talk) 21:08, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

Ukrainian background

1) His grandmother came from Pidhaitsi.

2) The only Slavic language his father speaks is Ukrainian.

3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNMvfjKEznM 1982vdven (talk) 21:08, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

His Parents

This edit [2] re added a bunch of stuff about his grandparents etc. I though we had decided that that was quite unimportant (see above). Thoughts? Dbrodbeck (talk) 18:27, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

Ok, so from what I understand, apparently Wayne is not of British, Belarusian, Polish and Ukrainian descent. He just came out of nowhere. Also, let's ignore my comments directly above. 1982vdven (talk) 18:53, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

If you read above we discussed this and sort of came to the conclusion that it really didn't matter. Like I said above, let's say he's African, all humans descend from people in the great rift valley anyway...... Dbrodbeck (talk) 19:53, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

So it doesn't matter what Walter Gretzky said? Because you know better? 1982vdven (talk) 20:24, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

That's not what I typed. We, by WP:CONSENSUS decided it was not notable. Who cares where his parents parents came from? Why is it important to the article? Dbrodbeck (talk) 21:15, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

A consensus of three people? Why don't you go the JFK page and delete references to his Irish heritage? But you won't do that. 1982vdven (talk) 21:55, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

Please point out why his parents' parents' ethnicity matters. And I don't actually give two shits about the JFK page currently, as it has bugger all to do with this one. Dbrodbeck (talk) 23:54, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

It is common for biographies (in the general sense beyond Wikipedia) to start with tracing the ancestry of the subject. I think a few brief sentences on the matter may be appropriate. isaacl (talk) 02:26, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

Something brief perhaps, but how many generations need we go back? Dbrodbeck (talk) 02:33, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

Drawing strictly from memory, my guess is that most biographies start with grandparents or great-grandparents, but it probably depends on how far back the biographer chose to dig and if their stories could be made sufficiently engaging. The Wikipedia policy answer is to look at what the best-written Gretzky biographies have done. isaacl (talk) 02:40, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

Lets be blunt here. 1982vdven's additions here is nothing more than a WP:COATRACK to try and re-introduce the fight over Wayne Gretzky's ancestry. That is the entire purpose of this, and it is just as silly today as it was before. If you want to add a couple sentences about his familial history, do so. Don't waste the reader's time with a pedantic obsession over ancestral nationality. Resolute 14:34, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

No this started when the categories 'Canadian people of British descent', 'Canadian people of Belarusian descent', 'Canadian people of Polish descent' and 'Canadian people of Ukrainian descent' were deleted without good cause. I couldn't even imagine what would have happened if I had added a couple of sentences in the actual article. Anyway, all the evidence is listed directly above in a clear manner and is taken from Walter Gretzky's page or the Gretzky page or a youtube video of Wayne Gretzky talking about his Ukrainian background1982vdven (talk) 16:35, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

My concern is that we would be giving undue weight to something that nobody cares about. Honestly, do people bring this up? Do articles about him say 'Gretzky, the Canadian hockey player of polish/Ukranian/Belarussian/English descent'? Dbrodbeck (talk) 18:09, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNMvfjKEznM1982vdven (talk) 18:10, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

So you're saying because of a youtube video where he was invited to a dinner that he is known for being of ethnicity x? Dbrodbeck (talk) 18:58, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

It doesn't matter what evidence I give because apparently you think your opinion (i.e. nobody cares) is more important than facts. Mark Messier is listed as a 'Franco-Albertan' in his article which I personally think doubtful, but I'm willing to give Wikipedia the benefit of the doubt. On the other hand, here we have actual facts that can be used to provide the slightest bit of context and background in the article but we can't use those facts.1982vdven (talk) 19:53, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

I don't think a lot of discussion is necessary, but I do think there are significant numbers of readers who care about heritage when it comes to reading a biography. I understand the desire to sidestep arguments on cultural background, but nonetheless it is a reasonable aspect of Gretzky's personal history to address. isaacl (talk) 19:58, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

I am much less concerned about the categorization thing than I am about a 4 thousand character treatise on where his great grandparents lived in the Russian Empire. Dbrodbeck (talk) 20:50, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

I wouldn't characterize the edit you referenced in that way, but I do think that everything from "In 1982..." onward isn't really revealing about how the family's heritage influenced their lives: it reads as someone trying to answer a challenge that the family ignored its Ukrainian past. As such it is superfluous; it's sufficient to note the family's Ukrainian background. The sentence about visiting Belarus could be revealing, but it needs more elaboration to understand how it affected Gretzky, and it may fit better in a section covering Gretzky's life chronologically. isaacl (talk) 23:43, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

Go back as far as his grandparents. That should suffice. GoodDay (talk) 23:19, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 23 July 2015

There is an error in section 5.2, the following line:

"In his second year in the league, weighing just 165 pounds, he broke the previous single-season scoring record, racking up 152 points"

152 points was the existing record set by Phil Esposito. Gretzky broke it that year by scoring 164 points. See http://www.hockey-reference.com/players/g/gretzwa01.html Saweiss (talk) 15:52, 23 July 2015 (UTC)

Thanks; I have completed the change. isaacl (talk) 16:02, 23 July 2015 (UTC)

Good catch, isaacl, and thanks Saweiss for making the fix. Much appreciated. EMP (talk) 01:26, 24 July 2015 (UTC)

It's the other way around: thanks to Saweiss for finding the issue! isaacl (talk) 02:01, 24 July 2015 (UTC)

I stand corrected, and I second the motion of thanks to Saweiss the spotter (also Isaac1 the fixer!). EMP (talk) 06:10, 25 July 2015 (UTC)

wayne gretzky real father's ancestry

Walter Gretzky has always acknowledged his mother's Polish ancestry. He confirmed her religion (and proudly) as Roman Catholic, the faith of people of Polish origins (making up at least 20% of population in once modern Western Ukraine.) The village where his mother came from, Podhajce, had a larger Polish(largest) and Jewish population than Ukrainian. Walter Gretzky has always said his mother spoke Polish as a first language, while his father was most comfortable in Belarussian. Polish nobility settled in Belarus, in Grodno (Walter's Dad was a landowner). Grodno was dominated by Polish nobility landowners. Grecki is a Polish nobility surname (translated in Belarussian as Gretzky). Most Poles in Grodno referred to themselves as Polish, but some used the more regional name of White Russian (Belarussian). The key to finding out what ethnic group Anton Gretzky (Walter Gretzky's Dad) considered himself could be what religious group he married into. He married a Polish Roman Catholic woman (Mary Gretzky), indicating he himself was Roman Catholic and thus a Polish ethnic from Belarus!Polish srokowski (talk) 14:13, 5 July 2016 (UTC)

Yes, I get it, you want him to be Polish... not really. They were Polish in terms of citizenship, like most Belarusians were at some point, but ethnically, they were Belarusian. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A00:A040:18B:1251:F913:F77F:C969:561A (talk) 00:04, 24 April 2020 (UTC)

Citizenship again

Regarding this edit: has anything changed since Gretzky's 2010 interview where he said his only citizenship is Canadian? isaacl (talk) 22:22, 15 December 2016 (UTC)

• Nothing to note beyond a continued lack of ironclad sources attesting to the contrary. Ravenswing 03:24, 21 December 2016 (UTC)

Nothing that I have seen no. Dbrodbeck (talk) 12:54, 21 December 2016 (UTC)

For the record, this is one of the cases where, by consensus discussion, priority has been given to a first party source over third party sources (including various newspaper articles). Does anyone else have any feedback, or objections to restoring the earlier text? isaacl (talk) 16:45, 21 December 2016 (UTC)

• There are sentences in the Family and Political activity sections saying that Gretzky is a dual citizen, and a small paragraph in Personal life that reads, "He is a naturalized American citizen." If you decide that the prior consensus is still valid, then please consider removing/modifying these sentences, as leaving them intact will create internal inconsistencies and encourage future edits to the lead. Giants2008 (Talk) 01:08, 24 December 2016 (UTC)
  • It's hard to say what current consensus is without more participation. Would anyone else like to weigh in? isaacl (talk) 04:34, 24 December 2016 (UTC)
    • I have no objection to restoring the previous text, although I still believe those other sentences I brought up should be dealt with if bringing back the earlier text is the consensus here. Giants2008 (Talk) 16:14, 24 December 2016 (UTC)
    • Go ahead and bring it back. Lack of comments would also indicate that the consensus still holds. -DJSasso (talk) 16:31, 3 January 2017 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 10 January 2017

in the side bar it says center in french on the english siteb Batsanta (talk) 22:22, 10 January 2017 (UTC)

Not done: In Canadian English, the position is spelled "centre". isaacl (talk) 22:56, 10 January 2017 (UTC)

Trevor Gretzky

Why do we have a stub article on Trevor Gretzky in here? --NeilN ^{talk to me} 23:25, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

It has crept in over the years. Dbrodbeck (talk) 12:07, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

We could remove almost all of it and say 'Trevor is a former minor league baseball player'. Dbrodbeck (talk) 13:53, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

I guess I contributed to that stub, didn't I? :-( Go ahead and remove it if you like. I'll probably get around to it later if no one else does, if that is the consensus here. Giants2008 (Talk) 23:07, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

Okay, I cut the mention of Trevor Gretzky down per Dbrodbeck's suggestion. Upon reflection, it probably was too much content on him for this article. Giants2008 (Talk) 22:06, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

Championships

Does anyone know why championships for hockey players aren't included on the side like for NFL and NBA players? My cousin didn't even know he had won titles because it didn't say it on the side like usual. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bmorrow151 (talk • contribs) 00:23, 11 May 2017 (UTC)

Bmorrow, I looked at several other biographies of well-known NHL players after seeing this comment, and none of them listed Stanley Cup-winning years in their infoboxes (the term for the box of information on the side). I'm willing to bet that this is the result of a style decision made by the Ice Hockey WikiProject somewhere along the line. You might want to ask about this at WT:HOCKEY, as the project will likely be able to point to a prior discussion thread where the issue came up, as well as the rationale for the style decision. Giants2008 (Talk) 02:32, 11 May 2017 (UTC)

I agree. I spent several minutes looking over this page and still can't tell you years and number of championships. 2605:A000:123C:C30E:D818:520F:FBD0:E074 (talk) 02:37, 18 September 2020 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 9 January 2018

tities 108.160.116.90 (talk) 20:20, 9 January 2018 (UTC)

Request declined. Flibirigit (talk) 20:40, 9 January 2018 (UTC)

This is significant! Robin Thicke and his father are each famous under their own steam. Gotta put this in! The people need to know about this crazy circumstance!!

When Robin Thicke was 11, Wayne Gretzky had been babysitting him while his father Alan Thicke was on vacation when the Edmonton Oilers player learned he had been traded to the Los Angeles Kings and had to suddenly leave. Alan reportedly didn't find out that his son was home alone until he called home the next morning and found out that Gretzky had to leave because he was traded. In 2013, on the 25th anniversary of Gretzky's trade, TSN hockey announcer Gord Miller tweeted that it was Robin who answered the telephone call from Kings owner Bruce McNall confirming the trade: "(He) wasn't sure he should admit that Gretzky was there, but McNall insisted that he bring him to the phone."

This sounds like a textbook example of trivia and not something that belongs in an encyclopedia article on Gretzky. Giants2008 (Talk) 22:24, 13 January 2019 (UTC)

References

Gretzky voting in Canadian elections

The Wayne Gretzky article states that "He is currently unable to vote in Canadian elections as he does not live in the country." However, as of January 2019, this is no longer the case - Canadians who live outside of the country are able to vote in Canadian elections. This change in Canadian law is noted in the Canada section of this article - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_of_expatriates_to_vote_in_their_country_of_origin. This sentence should accordingly be deleted. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.40.130.135 (talk) 17:11, 4 March 2019 (UTC)

I just removed the sentence that contained the outdated information. Thanks for bringing that to the community's attention. Giants2008 (Talk) 17:11, 19 March 2019 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 5 May 2019

In his post retirement section, under "Heritage Classic" it inaccurately states "he took to the ice one last time." Gretzky has since played in another alumni game; preceding the 2017 Winter Classic as part of the St. Louis Blues alumni. Suggest changing the title from "Heritage Classic" to "Alumni Games", adding a main article link to the 2017 Winter Classic, and adding a paragraph at least stating "Gretzky also played for the St. Louis Blues alumni team prior to the Winter Classic in 2017".

This should be resolved now. I've added a small paragraph on the game (which I learned was actually held at the end of 2016 before the 2017 Winter Classic), edited the "one last time" bit out of the previous paragraph, updated the subsection's title and added another main article link. I used a different NHL.com page as a source, as it had more information than the one provided here. Nicely spotted. Giants2008 (Talk) 17:24, 20 May 2019 (UTC)

References

Level of Detail Per Season

Why does the main text section seem to have less detail on each year of his career than some other players? Bobby Orr's has a subheading for each season of his career. Lemieux's and Ovechin's seem to have more information as well. Same with Sidney Crosby. Heck for top tennis players they have an article for each year.

This happens a lot with athletes who played most of their careers before Wikipedia's existence - and I think it's largely a good thing to avoid too much season-by-season content. It better reflects our purpose as an encyclopedia (rather than as a newspaper) that way. Wikipedia was already alive and well when Ovechkin and Crosby made their NHL debuts, so people have been able to sit there and watch SportsCenter or a live game on TV and type in events as they happened (sometimes this leads to an overly detailed and hard-to-read entry). For a guy like Gretzky, an editor would be doing research rather than just transcribing events, and thankfully that keeps the size manageable.

Restraint does not always come very naturally to people, and it's hard for editors (especially newer ones) to know what can be left out, so sometimes this is one of the harder parts of preparing an article like this one for Featured Article status. Over at WP:BASEBALL, we have a guy who has been literally typing in a paragraph every time a certain popular pitcher pitches a game, and we have to block him to get it to stop... so that we don't end up with a bloated article with 300 trivial paragraphs. Larry Hockett (Talk) 07:46, 1 October 2019 (UTC)

I agree with Larry. Just because another article has more detail doesn't necessarily mean that this page should, and my belief is that the Gretzky article has a pretty good amount of detail already. As Larry said earlier, it's easy for such pages to acquire bloat, which is best avoided. Giants2008 (Talk) 14:14, 16 October 2019 (UTC)

Unforgettable

Gretzky has made several TV appearances, including as a Dance Fever celebrity judge, and an 'unforgettable appearance', acting in a dramatic role alongside Victor Newman in The Young and the Restless in 1981.

This is terrible. Unforgettably good, unforgettably bad, unforgettably uncomfortable, unforgettably odd, unforgettably miscast, unforgettably unexpected ... ????

Whenever I visit my sister for dinner, I always somehow manage to regale her and her bemused partner about some "unforgettable" instance in her childhood about which she professes to have no recollection at all. (I'm a bit older, but we were closely spaced.) Totally different filters on unforgetability. — MaxEnt 19:31, 8 January 2020 (UTC)

Point taken. I've removed the offending quote from the article. Giants2008 (Talk) 02:18, 14 January 2020 (UTC)

Stanley Cup Wins

Hello. Is there a way that Gretsky can have all of his Stanley Cup titles listed in the infobox? Why do Stanley Cup titles only have to be listed for coaches? On Scotty Bowman's page, there is a way you can list Stanley Cup titles. There is a tab that says | stanley cup wins as a coach = . However, it doesn't say coach when you view the article; it only says Stanley Cup wins. Can this be done for Gretzky? It is very confusing to see which Stanley Cups he won, especially for those not familiar with his career. Jgwilliams873 (talk) 21:35, 21 September 2020 (UTC)

I'd swear that I've written something similar here before, but in case I haven't, I recommend bringing this topic to WT:HOCKEY, as adding championships to the NHL biography infobox would potentially affect many NHL players' pages, not just this one. In that case, it would be best for the hockey editors to form a consensus on the issue, one way or another. Giants2008 (Talk) 16:09, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 9 April 2021

• Gretzky is one of only two players to ever break 200 points in a season, along with Mario Lemieux. 2605:8D80:406:803E:15B1:41D2:E482:999 (talk) 11:36, 9 April 2021 (UTC)

 Not done: Mario Lemieux came close to that mark once but he never reached it. Deadman137 (talk) 12:06, 9 April 2021 (UTC)

(Spelling) - Semi-protected edit request on 20 July 2021

In this section

Change
However, the chemistry everyone expected with winger Brett Hull never developed. Gretzky was also forced to ensure public criticism from his head coach for the first time in his career.

To
However, the chemistry everyone expected with winger Brett Hull never developed. Gretzky was also forced to endure public criticism from his head coach for the first time in his career. SearndAF (talk) 20:58, 20 July 2021 (UTC)

 Done – see Special:Diff/1034607712. Thanks for spotting SearndAF! --Ferien (talk) 21:36, 20 July 2021 (UTC)

Youth Hockey

Does Wayne care if a youth hockey player wears 99 2601:1C0:6280:2650:0:0:0:2A69 (talk) 22:28, 21 November 2021 (UTC)

Undrafted

Someone who is undrafted in hockey is a player who was eligible for the NHL Entry Draft and wasn’t selected. Due to the unique circumstances surrounding him, Gretzky was never eligible for the draft and thus he is not considered an undrafted player. The draft parameter should be removed from his infobox. --75.88.89.194 (talk) 13:51, 14 December 2021 (UTC)

No undrafted is anyone who was never drafted. Players before the draft existed are also called undrafted. -DJSasso (talk) 19:02, 14 December 2021 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 18 July 2022

According to Gretzky, lacrosse was where he learned to protect himself from hard checks: "In those days you could be hit from behind in lacrosse, as well as cross-checked, so you had to learn how to roll body checks for self-protection."[168] Gretzky adroitly applied this technique as a professional player, avoiding checks with such skill that a rumour circulated that there was an unwritten rule not to hit him.[169] This was how Gretzky avoided serious injuries despite being undersized and entering the NHL during its "rough and tumble time"; Gretzky noted that his contemporary Mike Bossy “took a beating to score goals, which consequently led him to retire because his back to a beating”.[170] Defencemen found Gretzky a most elusive target. Fellow Hockey Hall of Famer Denis Potvin compared attempting to hit Gretzky to "wrapping your arms around fog. You saw him but when you reached out to grab him your hands felt nothing, maybe just a chill." The 205-pound (93 kg) Potvin, a three-time winner of the Norris Trophy for best defenceman, added that part of the problem in hitting Gretzky hard was that he was "a tough guy to dislike ... what was there to hate about Gretzky? It was like running Gandhi into a corner."[171]

Change “because his back to a beating” to “because his back took a beating.” Brh2000 (talk) 00:50, 18 July 2022 (UTC)

 Done RudolfRed (talk) 02:05, 18 July 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 01 September 2022

"one of only two players in professional sports history to receive such an honor, along with Jackie Robinson, who's uniform number 42 was retired by Major League Baseball in 1997"

This needs to be updated now that Bill Russell's number has also been retired league-wide in the NBA. Also that should be "whose", not "who's". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.71.19.92 (talk) 22:16, 1 September 2022 (UTC)

Awards section is missing

Gretzky’s page doesn’t have an awards section like other players, where you can see Stanley Cup wins, MVPs, etc 96.240.11.142 (talk) 17:29, 14 December 2022 (UTC)

International goals

In case it should be added, here are Gretzky's complete Team Canada records for international friendlies/exhibition games (to match what is similarly recorded in football, etc. Source published book "The Wayne Gretzky Goals Record" (ISBN 1006489991) so I won't add it myself.

• Team Canada international - GP / G+A = PTS
• 1981 International exhibition - 4gp / 4+2 = 6pts
• 1981 Canada Cup - 7gp / 5+7 = 12pts
• 1982 World Championships - 10gp / 6+8 = 14pts
• 1984 International exhibition - 6gp / 1+8 = 9pts
• 1984 Canada Cup - 8gp / 5+7 = 12pts
• 1987 International exhibition - 7gp / 6+12 = 18pts
• 1987 Canada Cup - 9gp / 3+18 = 21pts
• 1991 International exhibition - 3gp / 3+1 = 4pts
• 1991 Canada Cup - 7gp / 4+8 = 12pts
• 1996 World Cup of Hockey - 8gp / 3+3 = 6pts
• 1996 International exhibition - 4gp / 1+7 = 8pts
• 1998 Olympic Games - 6gp / 0+4 = 4pts

• Team Canada totals - 79gp / 41+85 = 126
• International exhibition - 24gp / 15+30 = 45
• Canada Cup - 31gp / 17+40 = 57
• IIHF World Championships - 10gp / 6+8 = 14
• World Cup of Hockey - 8gp / 3+3 = 6
• Olympic Games - 6gp / 0+4 = 4

Semi-protected edit request on 27 April 2024

2600:1700:BD2A:3440:690D:940C:2502:C15A (talk) 04:24, 27 April 2024 (UTC)

And is fine now

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. '''[[User:CanonNi]]''' (talk|contribs) 04:37, 27 April 2024 (UTC)