What a sight it would have been, Mike Bossy and Wayne Gretzky playing on the same team. Two legends of hockey teaming up to make goaltenders cringe across the NHL. According to recent comments from Mike Bossy himself, the hockey world was very close to seeing just that in the late 1980s.
In an article in the New York post, Bossy reveals he got a phone call from LA Kings owner Bruce McNall in the summer of 1988, just after McNall had pulled off the trade that rocked the NHL, as he picked up the Great One, Wayne Gretzky, in an exchange with Edmonton for players, picks and $15 million in cash.
"...my contract with the Islanders expired after I'd sat out the year because of my back,” Bossy told NY Post reporter Larry Brooks. “I hadn't announced my retirement, yet. Bruce said he wanted me as a free agent. He said, ‘I'd love to have you come out and play with Wayne.'
As explained in the article, the way it worked at the time was if Bossy had signed with LA as a free agent, the New York Islanders would have been due compensation that would have been decided by the league if the two teams could not come to an agreement.
“My first thought was, ‘You know, this could be interesting,' ” Bossy said. “But once I considered it, I didn't think I could do myself justice, and especially with the expectations would have been of Wayne and I lighting it up together. That's what I told Bruce. That was the end of it.”
Bossy was 31 at the time. Gretzky was 27. It would have been an awesome sight to behold, but never came to pass. Bossy officially retired from the NHL in 1988 after trying several different treatments to alleviate his back pain, but was unable to find anything that worked. He had scored 38 goals in 63 games the previous season, even while playing through the pain in his back.
Source: New York Post
