Biography and Wiki
Wayne Douglas Gretzky was born on January 26, 1961, making him 64 years old as of early 2025. He is widely regarded as the greatest hockey player of all time, having played for the Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues, and New York Rangers during his 20-year NHL career. Gretzky's early life was marked by a passion for hockey, and he began playing at a young age, eventually turning professional by the time he was 17.
| Occupation | Hockey Player |
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| Date of Birth | 26 January 1961 |
| Age | 64 Years |
| Birth Place | Brantford, Ontario, Canada |
| Horoscope | Aquarius |
| Country | Canada |
Height, Weight & Measurements
- Height: 6 feet 0 inches (183 cm)
- Weight: 190 pounds (86 kg)
These physical attributes contributed to his agility and endurance on the ice.
| Height | 6 feet 0 inches |
| Weight | 86 kg |
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Dating & Relationship Status
Wayne Gretzky has been married to actress Janet Jones since July 1988. They have five children together: Paulina, Ty, Trevor, Tristan, and Emma. Gretzky is known for his strong family values and has maintained a stable personal life throughout his career.
Walter taught Wayne, Keith, Brent, Glen, and their friends hockey on a rink he made in the backyard of the family home, nicknamed the "Wally Coliseum". Drills included skating around bleach bottles and tin cans and flipping pucks over scattered hockey sticks to be able to pick up the puck again in full flight. Walter gave the advice to "skate where the puck's going, not where it's been". Wayne was a classic prodigy whose extraordinary skills made him the target of other children's jealous parents.
His play attracted considerable negative attention from other players' parents, including those of his teammates, and he was often booed. According to Walter, the "capper" was being booed on "Brantford Day" at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens in February 1975. When Gretzky was 14, his family arranged for him to move to and play hockey in Toronto, partly to further his career, and partly to remove him from the uncomfortable pressure. The Gretzkys had to legally challenge the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association to win Wayne the right to play in a different area, which was disallowed at the time. The Gretzkys won, and Wayne played Junior B hockey with the Toronto Nationals, in a league that included 20-year-olds. He earned Rookie of the Year honours in the Metro Junior B Hockey League in 1975–76, with 60 points in 28 games. The following year, as a 15–16-year-old, he had 72 points in 32 games with the same team, renamed the Seneca Nationals. Despite his offensive statistics—scoring 132 points in 60 games in Junior B —two teams bypassed him in the 1977 Ontario Major Junior Hockey League draft of 16-year-olds. The Oshawa Generals picked Tom McCarthy first, and the Niagara Falls Flyers picked Steve Peters second overall. With the third pick, the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds selected Gretzky, even though Walter Gretzky had told the team Wayne would not move to Sault Ste. Marie, a northern Ontario city that inflicts a heavy travelling schedule on its junior team. The Gretzkys made an arrangement with a local family they knew and Wayne played for the Greyhounds, at age 16. It was with the Greyhounds that Gretzky first wore the number 99 on his jersey. He originally wanted to wear number 9—for his hockey hero Gordie Howe—but it was already being worn by teammate Brian Gualazzi. At coach Muzz MacPherson's suggestion, Gretzky settled on 99.
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Net Worth and Salary
As of 2025, Wayne Gretzky's net worth is estimated to be $250 million. During his NHL career, he earned approximately $46 million in salary alone. His endorsement deals, which included partnerships with major brands like Nike, Coca-Cola, and McDonald's, added an additional $50 million to his earnings. Adjusted for inflation, his total earnings from playing and endorsements would be around $150 million.
Ultimately, it was Racers owner Nelson Skalbania who, on June 12, 1978, signed 17-year-old Gretzky to a seven-year personal services contract worth US$1.75 million. Skalbania opted to have Gretzky sign a personal-services contract rather than a standard player contract in part because by that point it was well known that a majority of NHL owners, if not yet the ¾ required to add new NHL franchises, were willing to absorb at least some WHA teams. While Skalbania knew it was unlikely the Racers would be one of these teams (in part because the WHA insisted that all of its surviving Canadian teams be included), he still hoped to keep the Racers alive long enough to collect compensation from the surviving teams when the WHA dissolved, as well as any funds earned from selling the young star.
Career, Business, and Investments
Gretzky's career on the ice was marked by numerous records and accolades. He is the all-time leader in goals, assists, and points in NHL history. After retiring, he ventured into various business opportunities:
- Sports Team Ownership: Gretzky is involved as a co-owner of the Las Vegas Desert Dogs, a professional lacrosse team.
- Vineyard and Winery: He also owns a vineyard, which contributes to his business portfolio.
- Real Estate Ventures: Gretzky has invested in real estate, previously owning a large property in Beverly Hills.
Wayne Douglas Gretzky (born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One", he has been called the greatest ice hockey player ever by the NHL based on surveys of hockey writers, ex-players, general managers and coaches. Gretzky is the leading career point scorer and assist producer in NHL history and has more assists than any other player has total career points. He is the only NHL player to total over 200 points in one season, a feat he accomplished four times. In addition, Gretzky tallied over 100 points in 15 professional seasons. At the time of his retirement in 1999, he held 61 NHL records: 40 regular season records, 15 playoff records, and 6 All-Star records.<ref name="Greatest">For his titles, see
Born and raised in Brantford, Ontario, Gretzky honed his skills on a backyard rink and regularly played minor hockey at a level far above his peers. Despite his unimpressive size and strength, Gretzky's intelligence, stamina, and reading of the game were unrivaled. He was adept at dodging checks from opposing players, consistently anticipated where the puck was going to be, and executed the right move at the right time. Gretzky became known for setting up behind his opponent's net, an area that was nicknamed "Gretzky's office".
Gretzky was the top scorer in the 1978 World Junior Championships. In June 1978, he signed with the Indianapolis Racers of the World Hockey Association (WHA), where he briefly played before being traded to the Edmonton Oilers. When the WHA folded, the Oilers joined the NHL, where he established many scoring records and led his team to four Stanley Cup championships. Gretzky's trade to the Los Angeles Kings on August 9, 1988, had an immediate impact on that team's performance, ultimately leading them to the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals, and he is credited with popularizing hockey in California. Gretzky played briefly for the St. Louis Blues before finishing his career with the New York Rangers. Gretzky captured nine Hart Trophies as the most valuable player, 10 Art Ross Trophies for most points in a season, two Conn Smythe Trophies as playoff MVP and five Lester B. Pearson Awards (now the Ted Lindsay Award) for most outstanding player as judged by his peers. He led the league in goal-scoring five times and assists 16 times. He also won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for sportsmanship and performance five times and often spoke out against fighting in hockey.
The team Gretzky played on at age six was otherwise composed of ten-year-olds. His first coach, Dick Martin, remarked that he handled the puck better than the ten-year-olds. According to Martin, "Wayne was so good that you could have a boy of your own who was a tremendous hockey player, and he'd get overlooked because of what the Gretzky kid was doing." The sweaters for ten-year-olds were far too large for Gretzky, who coped by tucking the sweater into his pants on the right side. Gretzky continued doing this throughout his NHL career.
Social Network
Wayne Gretzky is active on social media platforms, though his personal accounts are not highly publicized. He frequently appears at hockey events and participates in charity games, maintaining his connection with the sports community.
After his retirement in 1999, Gretzky was immediately inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, making him the most recent player to have the waiting period waived. The NHL retired his jersey number 99 league-wide. Gretzky was one of six players voted to the International Ice Hockey Federation's (IIHF) Centennial All-Star Team. He was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2000, and received the Order of Hockey in Canada in 2012. Gretzky became executive director for the Canadian national men's hockey team during the 2002 Winter Olympics, in which the team won a gold medal. In 2000, he became part-owner of the Phoenix Coyotes, and following the 2004–05 NHL lock-out, he became the team's head coach. In 2004, Gretzky was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame. In September 2009, following the Phoenix Coyotes' bankruptcy, Gretzky resigned as head coach and relinquished his ownership share. In October 2016, he returned to the Oilers as a minority partner and vice-chairman of their parent company, Oilers Entertainment Group. He left in 2021 to become an analyst on Turner Sports' NHL coverage.
By age ten, Gretzky had scored an astonishing 378 goals and 139 assists in just one season with the Brantford Nadrofsky Steelers. His play attracted media attention beyond Brantford, including a profile by John Iaboni in the Toronto Telegram in October 1971. In the 1974 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament, Gretzky scored 26 points playing for Brantford. By age 13, he had scored over 1,000 goals.
Gretzky scored his first professional goal against Dave Dryden of the Edmonton Oilers in his fifth game, and his second goal four seconds later. However, he played only eight games for Indianapolis. The Racers were losing $40,000 per game. Skalbania told Gretzky he would be moved, offering him a choice between the Edmonton Oilers and the Winnipeg Jets. On the advice of his agent, Gretzky picked the Oilers, but the move was not that simple. On November 2, Gretzky, goaltender Eddie Mio, and forward Peter Driscoll were put on a private plane, not knowing where they would land and what team they would be joining. While in the air, Skalbania worked on the deal. Skalbania offered to play a game of backgammon with Winnipeg owner Michael Gobuty, the stakes being if Gobuty won, he would get Gretzky and if he lost, he had to give Skalbania a share of the Jets. Gobuty turned down the proposal and the players landed in Edmonton. Mio paid the $4,000 bill for the flight. Skalbania sold Gretzky, Mio and Driscoll to Oilers owner Peter Pocklington, a former business partner. Although the announced price was $850,000, Pocklington paid $700,000. The money was not enough to keep the Racers alive; they folded that December.
By the end of the regular season, the signings of Gretzky and other young stars in addition to other factors had compelled enough of the hardline NHL owners to change their positions, and an agreement (recognized as the 1979 expansion by the NHL) was finalized. Under the agreement, the WHA agreed to fold after the 1979 season with the Oilers and three other teams (the Hartford (New England) Whalers, the Quebec Nordiques and the Winnipeg Jets) joining the older league as expansion franchises. The Oilers, like the other three teams, were to be allowed to protect two goaltenders and two skaters from being reclaimed by the established NHL teams in the 1979 NHL Expansion Draft. The NHL also lowered its minimum age, ensuring players such as Gretzky would not need to return to the junior level, albeit with the caveat that such previously underaged players were supposed to be placed into the 1979 NHL Entry Draft pool. Nevertheless, to avoid any potential for litigation over the validity of Gretzky's personal services contract the Oilers were allowed to keep him on their roster as one of their priority selections. In exchange for agreeing to keep Gretzky off the draft board, the NHL placed Edmonton at the bottom of the draft order.
"He was, I think, the first Canadian forward to play a true team game", said hockey writer and former NHL goaltender Ken Dryden. The focus of the game before Gretzky's arrival, he said, especially among the Canadian teams, was on the player with the puck—getting the puck to a star player who would make the big play. "Gretzky reversed that. He knew he wasn't big enough, strong enough, or even fast enough to do what he wanted to do if others focused on him. Like a magician, he had to direct attention elsewhere, to his four teammates on the ice with him, to create a momentary distraction to move unnoticed into the open ice where size and strength didn't matter. ... Gretzky made his opponents compete with five players, not one, and he made his teammates full partners in the game. He made them skate to his level and pass and finish up to his level or they would be embarrassed."
Education
Gretzky attended the Paul Dwyer Catholic High School in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. However, he did not pursue higher education, focusing instead on his hockey career.
Wayne Gretzky's legacy extends far beyond his on-ice accomplishments, as he has successfully transitioned into a successful entrepreneur and sports icon. His net worth and business ventures reflect his savvy approach to building a lasting financial empire.
