“Never Really Saw It Coming”: Man Who Got Traded for Wayne Gretzky Once Revealed His Reaction to Being Part of Hockey History

Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky played in Los Angles for eight years after his historical trade from Edmonton Oilers in 1988. He had a glorious tenure with LA Kings carrying Los Angeles Kings into the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 1993. However, in 1996, St.Louis Blues made headlines by trading the greatest player in NHL with their five-player package.

Centre player Roman Vopat was one of the five players who got traded to the LA Kings. During an interview with Mayors Manor in 2020, the 46-year-old revealed what went through his mind upon knowing that he was exchanged for Wayne Gretzky.

Roman Vopat thought someone was bluffing with him about his trade

Roman Vopat was a part of the St.Louis Blues from the start of his career. Under the Blues, he worked on his skills before getting traded to the LA Kings along with players Craig Johnson, Patrice Tardif, and two draft picks. Vopat was a young player then playing with junior WHL teams. Of course, it felt surreal to him when he got to know that he was traded for Wayne Gretzky.

During an interview with Mayors Manor on their Flashback Friday episode, Vopat revealed how he was informed about his proud trade.

Vopat was in Prince Albert Raiders, a junior WHL team in those days along with his friends Curtis Brown and Ryan Smyth. The Litvinov native recalled that one night he received a call from the LA Kings GM, Sam McMaster. At first, he assumed that his friend Brown was playing a joke on him. So he immediately disconnected the call. But Vopat could not feel a thing when he received the call from McMaster five minutes later.

He told Vopat; “You just hung up on me,”

At that unbelievable moment, Vopat guessed that he got traded. However, once LA Kings GM mentioned that Vopat got traded for Wayne Gretzky, he was out of his mind. He told in the interview;

“Once he mentioned I got traded for Wayne Gretzky, I thought it was a joke. But, I never really saw it coming, that I could be part, a piece, of a trade for the greatest player of all time. It was just really, surreal.”

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Moreover, the next moment Vopat decided to make himself worthy of the grand exchange in LA Kings.

Wayne Gretzky’s short tenure in St. Louis Blues

After an eight year stint at the LA Kings, Gretzky was traded to the Blues. Although Wayne Gretzky’s admission to St.Louis Blues happened with great buzz, sadly it lasted for only 79 days. In his first game with the Blues, Gretzky scored in a match against the Canucks leading to a great win. In the regular season between 1995 to 1996, The Great One played in 18 games scoring eight goals and 13 assists.

However, Gretzky’s term with the Blues soon came to an end after the playoff match with Detroit Red Wings. Although, Hall of Famers including Gretzky, Hull, Fuhr, Al MacInnis, and Chris Pronger were in the Blues, but no one could bring the Stanley Cup for their teams.

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The Blues eventually tried to draft a new contract to retain Gretzky in the team but later they gave him away. The Great One signed with the New York Rangers in the offseason starting a new journey.