Wayne Gretzky stayed out of the spotlight during the Western Conference Final, but the Great One will certainly be in attendance when his former team, the Los Angeles Kings, make their second-ever appearance in the Stanley Cup Final.
"For sure, I'll be at Game 3 (at the Staples Center)," Gretzky told TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun in an interview for ESPN.com on Wednesday.
Gretzky, 51, played eight seasons with the Kings from 1988 to 1996 and also coached the Phoenix Coyotes from 2005 to 2009.
"The biggest thing of all is that those two teams both earned the right to get there and both had worked so hard," said Gretzky. "I just really felt it wasn't my place to sort of steal some of the attention away from the players and the organizations that worked so hard to get there. I thought it was just best to stay on the sidelines that series.
"The Kings have been playing unreal. The Coyotes had an unreal year. Wow. I don't know if anybody picked L.A.-Phoenix for the Western final, but they both earned the right to be there, that's for sure."
The Stanley Cup Final may yet feature another Gretzky tie-in if another of his former teams - the New York Rangers - defeat the New Jersey Devils in seven games to challenge for the Cup for the first time since 1994.
"I have nothing but great memories of being in New York, and of course there's Glen (Sather) there and Mark (Messier) part of the team," said Gretzky. "It's a great city, a great place. Obviously the Devils still have a lot to say about things."
During his time with the Kings, Gretzky helped lead the club to a deep postseason run in 1993, ultimately falling shor with a 4-1 series loss in the final to the Montreal Canadiens. Many have called Game 7 of the Kings' Campbell Conference Final against the Toronto Maple Leafs - where he scored a hat trick in a 5-4 win - his greatest postseason game.
But The Great One isn't making comparisons between his 1993 club and the one that starts the final next Wednesday.
"What made that team so special is that we weren't the best team," Gretzky told LeBrun. "It was very similar to this team in the sense that we started every series on the road. We had to win a really tough Game 7 in the semifinals in Toronto. We were a team that really believed in the coach and the system...It just was a team that came together. The reality, though, is that this L.A. team today has more depth than we had. I don't mean this as any disrespect to our team in '93 - because it was a great run - but this team is a legitimate contender that deserves to be where they're at right now. When we lost in '93, the best team won the Stanley Cup (Montreal). Going into the finals this year, whether it's the Devils or the Rangers, I would tell you that L.A. is a good team and they'll be ready to play. They're firing on all cylinders."
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