(Originally written Feb. 28, 2025…)
Canada is done with Wayne Gretzky.
By now, everyone is aware of Gretzky’s appearance at the 4 Nations Face-Off Final as Team Canada’s honourary captain. Whereas the American captain, Mike Eruzione, came out wearing a Johnny Gaudreau Team USA jersey and interacting with the American team on the bench, Gretzky was in a typical blue suit and barely acknowledged the Canadian team while out on the ice. He didn’t look like he relished the opportunity to support the country he’s represented several times during his life; instead, he looked like he was simply fulfilling a duty, and reluctantly at that.
Gretzky’s lack of enthusiasm and patriotism led to widespread criticism from the Canadian media, with an especially harsh take coming from Cathal Kelly at The Globe and Mail, who wrote, “Canada turned on Don Cherry, and now it was turning on Mr. Gretzky. That’s a full fall-from-grace cycle. It’s unlikely that Mr. Gretzky is interested in doing the reputational renaissance that should come next. It would mean coming back to Canada and talking about something other than the good old days, which he avoids. So that’s it then. A nearly 50-year romance done.” (from ‘Just like that, Canada’s nearly 50-year romance with Gretzky is over,’ The Globe and Mail – 24/02/2025).
Were this just a few years ago, it’s unlikely any of this would have made the news; no one expects Gretzky to come barreling out of the gate sporting one of his old jerseys. That’s not his style. But with Canada and the USA more at odds than ever, Gretzky’s subdued performance put a magnifying glass on the former hockey superstar and he hasn’t come out looking great. Maybe it’s time for Canada to embrace a new hockey hero.
What Makes a Hockey Hero?
There are many aspects that make a hockey hero, and arguably it starts with success on the ice. For years, Gretzky was Canada’s golden child. He was the cornerstone of the Edmonton Oilers for years, helping them win four Stanley Cups from 1983-84 to 1987-88. During that time, he was also the most dominant player on the ice, winning three Ted Lindsay Trophies as the NHL’s MVP as voted by the players, four Hart Trophies as the league MVP, and was selected to the first All-Star team four times. He went on to with the Hart five more times, making him the most decorated NHL player of all time and likely to keep that record. He is, after all, still called “The Great One.”
Better yet, Gretzky accomplished most of his feats with a Canadian team, bringing the spotlight onto Canada in the midst of the NHL’s increased expansion into American markets. His feats likely wouldn’t have meant the same if he won all these awards while playing for the Los Angeles Kings or St. Louis Blues. Just look at Mario Lemieux, who bested Gretzky in the scoring race twice in the 1980s and was one of the most dominant players in the 1990s, yet is almost always considered second at best to Gretzky.
Adding to Gretzky’s mythos is his international record. He was named the Best Player at the 1978 World Junior Championships, led the 1982 World Championships in points, won three Canada Cups, was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame, and even has a tournament named after him. However, all of that pales to his performances at the 1987 Canada Cup, where his set-up of Lemieux’s game-winning goal came to define a generation of Canadian hockey fans, much like Eruzione’s goal that sent the Americans their first Olympic gold medal game in 1980 or Paul Henderson’s goal at the 1972 Summit Series.
Related: “Miracle on Ice” 45 Years Later: Where Are They Now?
The final piece to making a hockey hero is what someone does with their fame, and this is where Canada can improve. To be fair, Gretzky has supported many charities over the years, including the Wayne Gretzky Foundation that helps underprivileged kids play hockey across Canada and the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, and has donated tens of thousands of dollars to the University of Alberta brain centre in Edmonton. But his involvement and support of Canadian-based charities have waned over the years, and looking closer as to why that could be reveals a much bigger issue with Canada’s selection of its honourary captain.
Gretzky’s Disconnection with Canada
Rumours that Gretzky no longer wants to be in Canada have been around since he married American actress Janet Jones in 1988, who he met in Los Angeles. Although the ceremony was in Edmonton, he was already spending a lot of time in California, and the subsequent trade to the Kings that summer only fueled the rumours that he preferred the United States. After his retirement, he was highly involved in Canada’s hockey world, serving as the executive director for the Canadian Olympic Team in 2002, during which he ranted against American propaganda, and reprised his role in 2006. He was also an ambassador for Vancouver to host the 2010 Winter Olympics and was a torchbearer at the ceremony. So far, so good.
But recent years have seen him lessen his connections to Canada. He left the Oilers’ ownership group for a job as an analyst for an American broadcaster in 2021. He backed Stephen Harper in 2015 for Prime Minister but wasn’t able to vote because he had not lived in the country for over five years. In 2009, he was awarded the Order of Canada, but still has not accepted the prestigious award, which led Christopher McCreery, an expert on the honour system, to say, “It’s just embarrassing…(it’s) insulting to the others who get them. All are supposed to be in the same category, yet they think they are on a plane above everybody else.”
To be unable to find time for Canada’s highest honour is already disrespectful, but the final nail in the coffin for many fans is Gretzky’s close ties to US President Donald Trump, who has made repeated claims that Canada will become the 51st state. Gretzky attended the President’s election party in 2024 and was seen wearing a white and gold MAGA hat, and when the President claimed he told Gretzky he could be Canada’s governor, his wife shared a somewhat-cryptic Instagram story with the words, “You miss 100% shots you don’t take.” Even Trump’s attempt to soothe Canadians was half-hearted at best, tweeting that Gretzky has been “low-key about Canada remaining a separate country.”
“What we’re seeing right now is some tension between the [hockey] values we want to uphold, such as the excellence that Wayne Gretzky embodies, [and] these other values that are just as important, like independence, respect, friendliness and neighbourliness and collaboration. People might be feeling torn that he’s not upholding those things — and in fact, he’s actually supporting people who are actively trying to annex Canada.”
Former Canadian Olympian Jennifer Walinga, professor of communication and culture at Victoria’s Royal Roads University
This is not a criticism of Gretzky’s political leanings; many hockey players are more conservative in their beliefs. But the fact that Gretzky is closely affiliated with a person who has frequently made comments disparaging Canada and disrespecting its sovereignty and has made no attempt to disprove the accusations is, frankly, inexcusable. Canada deserves to have a person who will defend its interests on the international stage.
Gretzky has proven that he is no longer worthy of the title of a Canadian hockey hero.
A New Face for Canadian Hockey
Canada has no shortage of fantastic hockey players who could replace Gretzky as the face of Canadian hockey. Many would look to Team Canada’s captain at the 4 Nations Face-Off, Sidney Crosby, who’s been a Canadian icon after his Golden Goal at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Since that great moment, he’s added multiple gold medals to his name while representing his home country and remains one of the best hockey players in the NHL. The same goes for Nathan MacKinnon or Connor McDavid, but because they are currently under contract, none could have appeared as an honourary captain at the event. Since we’re trying to find a replacement for Gretzky, we’ll skip over any active players and focus just on those who have retired from the league.
We don’t have to go back too far to find our first worthy candidate. Jarome Iginla was one of the best power forwards in the NHL in the 1990s and 2000s, winning two Maurice Richard Trophies, an Art Ross Trophy, and a Lester B. Pearson Award (now the Ted Lindsay Award) with the Calgary Flames. He represented Canada several times, donning the maple leaf at the Olympics in 2002, 2006, and 2010, winning two gold medals and serving as the alternate captain twice. He also has a World Championship gold medal, a World Junior gold medal where he also led the 1996 World Juniors in points, and a World Cup gold medal. He may not have a golden goal, but he assisted Crosby’s game-winner in 2010 and scored twice to beat the Americans 5-2 in 2002.
But what makes Iginla so special is his actions away from the rink. He started a non-profit hockey school in 2002 while he was still in the NHL, which he continues to operate, and donates all proceeds to Diabetes research. As a Black Canadian, he has also spoken out against racism and actively passed the torch to other hockey players of colour. His generosity and kindness are legendary, yet he has never sought attention for his actions, making him a true gentleman both during and after his NHL career.
Carey Price is another fantastic option. The longtime Montreal Canadiens’ goalie became a Canadian icon before he ever played an NHL game. At the 2007 World Juniors, he was instrumental against the Americans in the Semi-Final, turning away Peter Mueller’s second attempt in the shootout to advance to the Final against Russia. Then, in 2014, he joined Team Canada at the Olympics in Sochi, where he finished with a perfect 5-0-0 record and was awarded the tournament’s Best Goaltender Award, and of course, a gold medal. He was recognized for his abilities on the ice in 2015 when he was awarded the Lou Marsh Trophy (now known as the Northern Star Award) as Canada’s top athlete across all sports, just one of 10 hockey players to be given the prestigious honour since it was introduced in the 1930s.
But, like Iginla, Price has used his esteemed position to benefit others following his retirement. After entering the Player’s Assistance Program in 2021 due to depression and alcohol abuse, he became a staunch advocate for better mental health and asking for help. He also set up the Price Family Foundation, which supports Special Olympic athletes and breaking barriers for people who require additional support, and used his own background as an Indigenous player to support Indigenous communities across Canada.
But I would argue that the best candidate to replace Gretzky never even played in the NHL. Instead, Canada should fully embrace Hayley Wickenheiser as their hockey hero. Her dominance on the international stage is unmatched: four Olympic gold medals, seven World Championship gold medals, two-time World Championship Best Forward recipient, two-time Olympic MVP, two-time Olympic highest scorer, and a two-time Olympic Best Forward. It’s no wonder she was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame immediately after she hung up her skates. But her fiery speech about the Americans disrespecting the Canadian flag ahead of their 2002 gold medal win will live on in the hearts of Canadians forever.
Wickenheiser was also a trendsetter for women’s hockey around the world. She became the first woman to play in Finland’s third division in 2003, helped her team earn a promotion to the second tier with five points in nine playoff games, and then became the first woman to play in Finland’s Mestis in 2003-04. She returned to Canada and joined Calgary in the Western Woman’s Hockey League (WWHL), scoring 155 points in just 51 games over three seasons, as well as taking home three championships. She enrolled in the University of Calgary in 2010, and after three seasons she became the team’s second-highest-scoring player of all time while taking home their first championship in franchise history. Finally, at 38 years old, she joined the Calgary Inferno in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) in 2015-16, where she helped the team get their first title, too.
Following her career, Wickenheiser has been an ardent supporter of women’s hockey and was one of the first women hired to a player development role with an NHL team, joining the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2018 and was later named assistant GM in 2022. She also made headlines in 2021 when it was revealed that she had been working in the medical field as a family and emergency physician for the past three years and was passionate about banding together to keep the country healthy. Everything she’s done, she’s excelled at with hard work and dedication, making her an a perfect Canadian hockey hero. Oh, and she accepted her Order of Canada in person in 2011, giving her an other leg up on Gretzky.
In a time where sports and politics are becoming increasingly intertwined, Canada deserves more than just a former hockey superstar who shows up to special events. Canadians deserve an advocate who speaks out against inequalities, gives back to their communities, and passionately supports their home, no matter the threat. Gretzky has shown that he no longer is willing to do that, so it’s time to look elsewhere. Thankfully, there are more than enough former players out there who would happily take his place as the new face of Canadian hockey, and Canada would be better for it.
