Kings Ransom

August 9th, 1988. The day Canada froze over

On August 9, 1988, the NHL was forever changed with the single stroke of a pen. The Edmonton Oilers, fresh off their fourth Stanley Cup victory in five years, signed a deal that sent Wayne Gretzky, a Canadian national treasure and the greatest hockey player ever to play the game, to the Los Angeles Kings in a multi-player, multi-million dollar deal. As bewildered Oiler fans struggled to make sense of the unthinkable, fans in Los Angeles were rushing to purchase season tickets at a rate so fast it overwhelmed the Kings box office. Overnight, a franchise largely overlooked in its 21-year existence was suddenly playing to sellout crowds and standing ovations, and a league often relegated to “little brother” status exploded from 21 teams to 30 in less than a decade.

• Release date
• September 13, 2009
• Runtime
• 53 min
• Genres
• Documentary
• Director
• Peter Berg

Cast

Wayne Gretzky Himself Janet Jones Herself Luc Robitaille Himself Glen Sather Himself Peter Berg Himself

B

Bruce McNall Himself