St. Louis Blues legend Brett Hull shared a hilarious story from his time playing with Wayne Gretzky. Hull recalled logging significant minutes and catching his linemate Gretzky off guard, leading to a hilarious interaction on the bench.
The Blues acquired Gretzky via a trade with the Los Angeles Kings at the 1996 NHL trade deadline. Gretzky brought championship pedigree and was expected to be a difference-maker.
As a result, Gretzky’s arrival received a lot of attention, and rightfully so. St. Louis also had the luxury of pairing ‘The Great One’ with Hull, who was among the leagues’ top goalscorers.
Brett Hull Shares Hilarious Interaction With Ex-Blues Linemate Wayne Gretzky
Brett Hull admittedly did not have the best relationship with former Blues coach Mike Keenan. However, Hull did appreciate that Keenan allowed him to play regularly and log plenty of ice time.
Hull recalled Wayne Gretzky being unaware of the arrangement the Blues winger had with Keenan. The two hockey legends were only teammates for a brief period, but Hull quickly found out what Gretzky liked and disliked.
‘The Great One’ was not prepared for the additional workload and let his linemate hear about it.
Hull shared the hilarious interaction he had with Gretzky on the bench. He said ‘The Great One’ made his feelings known and was not too fond of the additional playing time.
“I played 30 minutes a game with Keenan [as coach]. As much as there is animosity there, I appreciated the fact that he just kept putting me out there. And I’d play 28, 30 minutes a game and I was in heaven. Then Wayne [Gretzky] came and our first game was in Vancouver. We go out there and we’re playing. And we’d come off the ice and one line would go out there and I’d look and go, ‘We’re ready.’ [Keenan would] go, ‘Okay, Wayne, go,'” Hull said during his Ice Guardians Podcast.
He continued:
“I don’t know how many shifts it took, but we came back and I looked back and he grabs me, and he goes, ‘If you tell him we’re ready one more [expletive] time, I’m gonna kill you. I’m so tired right now. It’s not funny,'” Hull said. “I go, ‘I get it.’ But it was a cool deal playing with Wayne as short as we did.”
Hull Opens Up About Gretzky’s Decision Not to Re-Sign With St. Louis
Hull also shared his thoughts on Gretzky’s decision not to re-sign with St. Louis because of how Keenan treated him. He signed with the New York Rangers instead.
The legendary Blues scorer blamed Keenan because he believes Gretzky would have returned in much better shape.
“You’re traded for the Babe Ruth of hockey. You give up how many draft picks? How many players? And now all of a sudden you start the next season, you don’t have all those draft picks, those players, and you don’t have Wayne Gretzky. Way to go, guys. Another quality move,” Hull said during his Ice Guardians Podcast.
“[Gretzky] would have trained so hard in the summer and come back ready to just roll because we still had a really good team. We were kind of veterans, but we were still really good. And Grant Fuhr would have been healthy, and it would have been something. But, no, can’t do it. [Keenan] had to think he was king of [expletive] hill.”
Blues Legend Brett Hull Shares Hilarious Story From Playing With Wayne Gretzky