Wayne Gretzky's Ghost Read Online Free
Author: Roy Macgregor
knew, he confessed to his own deeplyreligious side. âI believeâIâm not at all ashamed to say soâand I also believe in life after death.â
He allowed himself, at one point, to gaze into hockeyâs future, and saw expansion into Europe, the levelling off of salaries (though not for the top players), the survival of the then-struggling Canadian teams and improved equipment to cut down on collision injuries. He predicted three rule changesâdropping the red line and âtouch-upâ offsides that would allow the defence to fire the puck back into the offensive zone without waiting, and opening up the game by having officials call obstruction penaltiesâall of which eventually came to pass.
He addressed the rumours of his own return to hockey as a potential investor in Steve Ellmanâs purchase of the Phoenix Coyotes. âI never made any bones about my intent of one day returning to what is, essentially, the only thing Iâve ever known. Hockey has been a large part of my life, itâs given me and my family a great deal, and I still love the game and all the crazy, wonderful people involved in it. There were a few chances early on, but I knew immediately that the timing wasnât right. Nor, for that matter, was the location.â Location, it turned out, was of extreme import, as he then said what had long been believed. âWhat living here most gives us,â he said about the familyâs home in California, âis the opportunity to live a fairly normal family life.â Phoenix, he said, would also give the family that chance. Phoenix, he said, was âa natural fit. Tougher to ignore. It was made clear right from the start of discussions that I wouldnât be expected to move. I wouldnât be the coach. I wouldnât be the general manager. I wouldnât be the team president.⦠One thing I am certain on is it couldnât possibly be coaching â¦â
Naturally, there was criticism over his column. Those who wanted him to slam the league over whatever was the issue dujour were disappointed, but slamming had never been his personality. He has always been a team player when it came to the overall league, as well as when it came to whatever team he was on, and while he might prod and suggest, he was loath to condemn.
The criticism came my way, too, one journalist charging I was somehow in a conflict of interest in doing the column. It seemed a strange charge, given that virtually all newspapers have from time to time featured columns written by staff members that appear under the byline of a well-known athlete. Even the paper that threw up this charge had been doing it with a well-known Canadian golfer, the column ghostwritten by staff. I was a staff writer assigned by my editor and publisher to help out on the column. And not only did I not receive a single extra penny for doing so, I actually
lost
on the deal, given that for a year I had to give up a column of my own each week in order to produce Gretzkyâs.
It was, in fact, my second experience at ghostwriting, the first coming way back in 1973 when I was just beginning my journalism career at
Macleanâs
magazine. In the months following the 1972 Summit Series, the young goaltender in that epic battle, Ken Dryden of the Montreal Canadiens, was approached to put his name to an article on his experiences, and as I was the only staffer with a keen interest in the game, I was assigned to be Kenâs âghost.â The Cornell graduate and law student had kept copious notes, some dictated, some scribbled, and his thoughts filled a couple of red binders that he passed on to me to see what might be made of the musings. I was impressed. I took the notes, wrote one version of an article, and he took my version and returned it to me, rewritten. I went to the editor, Peter C. Newman, and suggested that Ken was a strong enough writer that he didnât really need a ghost, but rather
He allowed himself, at one point, to gaze into hockeyâs future, and saw expansion into Europe, the levelling off of salaries (though not for the top players), the survival of the then-struggling Canadian teams and improved equipment to cut down on collision injuries. He predicted three rule changesâdropping the red line and âtouch-upâ offsides that would allow the defence to fire the puck back into the offensive zone without waiting, and opening up the game by having officials call obstruction penaltiesâall of which eventually came to pass.
He addressed the rumours of his own return to hockey as a potential investor in Steve Ellmanâs purchase of the Phoenix Coyotes. âI never made any bones about my intent of one day returning to what is, essentially, the only thing Iâve ever known. Hockey has been a large part of my life, itâs given me and my family a great deal, and I still love the game and all the crazy, wonderful people involved in it. There were a few chances early on, but I knew immediately that the timing wasnât right. Nor, for that matter, was the location.â Location, it turned out, was of extreme import, as he then said what had long been believed. âWhat living here most gives us,â he said about the familyâs home in California, âis the opportunity to live a fairly normal family life.â Phoenix, he said, would also give the family that chance. Phoenix, he said, was âa natural fit. Tougher to ignore. It was made clear right from the start of discussions that I wouldnât be expected to move. I wouldnât be the coach. I wouldnât be the general manager. I wouldnât be the team president.⦠One thing I am certain on is it couldnât possibly be coaching â¦â
Naturally, there was criticism over his column. Those who wanted him to slam the league over whatever was the issue dujour were disappointed, but slamming had never been his personality. He has always been a team player when it came to the overall league, as well as when it came to whatever team he was on, and while he might prod and suggest, he was loath to condemn.
The criticism came my way, too, one journalist charging I was somehow in a conflict of interest in doing the column. It seemed a strange charge, given that virtually all newspapers have from time to time featured columns written by staff members that appear under the byline of a well-known athlete. Even the paper that threw up this charge had been doing it with a well-known Canadian golfer, the column ghostwritten by staff. I was a staff writer assigned by my editor and publisher to help out on the column. And not only did I not receive a single extra penny for doing so, I actually
lost
on the deal, given that for a year I had to give up a column of my own each week in order to produce Gretzkyâs.
It was, in fact, my second experience at ghostwriting, the first coming way back in 1973 when I was just beginning my journalism career at
Macleanâs
magazine. In the months following the 1972 Summit Series, the young goaltender in that epic battle, Ken Dryden of the Montreal Canadiens, was approached to put his name to an article on his experiences, and as I was the only staffer with a keen interest in the game, I was assigned to be Kenâs âghost.â The Cornell graduate and law student had kept copious notes, some dictated, some scribbled, and his thoughts filled a couple of red binders that he passed on to me to see what might be made of the musings. I was impressed. I took the notes, wrote one version of an article, and he took my version and returned it to me, rewritten. I went to the editor, Peter C. Newman, and suggested that Ken was a strong enough writer that he didnât really need a ghost, but rather
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