12. What Really Made Wayne Gretzky Migrate South?

Did the NHL have a hidden agenda that drove the most famous trade in hockey history? In 1988, the sport's biggest draw, Wayne Gretzky, was traded from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings for a number of very solid reasons (the Oilers' owner was broke, Gretzky had a wife who was an actress). But could it have been that the NHL, desperate to gain popularity in the U.S., engineered the move that would send the sport's most recognizable figure to a Southern California team? If so, it worked. Within five years the league added four new American teams.