Wayne Gretzky Trivia
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
6correct to beat the crowd
47 free Wayne Gretzky trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
Wayne Gretzky trivia starts on a backyard rink in Brantford: Walter's Wally Coliseum, 378 goals at age ten, the tucked-in jersey, the boos that drove him to Toronto at 14, and the Sault Ste. Marie teammate who kept number 9 and gave the world 99. Then the WHA: Nelson Skalbania's $1.75 million contract, a proposed backgammon match for his rights, the flight to Edmonton, Peter Pocklington's birthday deal and a line with Gordie and Mark Howe. The Oilers years follow: the Calder he could not win, Marcel Dionne's tiebreak, 50 in 39, 92 goals, 215 points, four Cups, nine Harts, the Gretzky rule and the greatest team ever voted. Then The Trade of 9 August 1988, McSorley and Krushelnyski, $15 million, effigies in Edmonton and hockey booming in California, followed by Howe's 801, the Blues and Rangers, the last game against Pittsburgh, 61 records, the Hall of Fame's waived wait and 99 retired league-wide. International and later questions cover Lemieux in 1987, the Nagano shootout snub, Salt Lake gold, the Vancouver cauldron, the Coyotes, Janet Jones's 'Royal Wedding', Dustin Johnson, the Blue Jays offer, SNL, the Argonauts and TNT. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's article on Wayne Gretzky, with the supporting sentence attached to each question. Easy questions suit any hockey fan; the expert tier reaches Nelson Riis and Muzz MacPherson.
30 of 47 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which Ontario city was Wayne Gretzky born and raised?
Brantford
Brantford was home, but he first skated at age two on the frozen Nith River, below his grandparents' farm just outside town.
Q 02What was the nickname of the backyard rink Walter Gretzky built for his sons?
The Wally Coliseum
The Wally Coliseum was, in Walter's words, self-preservation: he was tired of freezing beside outdoor rinks while his son skated for hours.
Q 03How many goals did a ten-year-old Gretzky score in one season for the Nadrofsky Steelers?
378
378 goals in a single season: by his early teens he was already a celebrity across Canada.
Q 04Why did Gretzky always tuck one side of his jersey into his pants?
His first sweaters were too big
His first sweaters were too big, because at six he played on a team of ten-year-olds; the tuck stuck for life, and in 2013 the NHL began penalizing it.
Q 05Why did Gretzky wear number 99 instead of his hero's number 9?
A teammate already wore 9
A teammate already wore 9, so his junior club suggested doubling it, and 99 became so tied to him that in 2000 the NHL retired it for every team.
Q 06With which junior team did Gretzky first wear number 99?
Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds
Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds drafted him third even though his father had warned that he would not move so far north; the general manager talked the family round.
Q 07Which WHA team signed the 17-year-old Gretzky to a personal services contract in 1978?
Indianapolis Racers
Indianapolis Racers owner Nelson Skalbania signed the teenager to himself rather than the club, and the money-losing team sold him after eight games.
Q 08What game is owner Nelson Skalbania said to have offered to play Winnipeg's owner for Gretzky?
Backgammon
Backgammon, in the legend; Jets owner Michael Gobuty says no game was ever played for the player, and that his general manager had judged the teenager too skinny.
Q 09Which Oilers owner signed Gretzky to a personal services contract on his 18th birthday in 1979?
Peter Pocklington
Peter Pocklington signed him at centre ice beside a cake shaped like a 99, on a deal meant to run through 1999; nine years later the same owner traded him away.
Q 10With which boyhood idol and his son did Gretzky share a line at the 1979 WHA All-Star Game?
Gordie and Mark Howe
Gordie and Mark Howe set the teenager up for the opening goal against Dynamo Moscow inside the first minute, and the WHA All-Stars swept the three-game series.
Q 11Which Bruins defenceman won the 1979–80 rookie award for which Gretzky was ruled ineligible?
Ray Bourque
Ray Bourque took the Calder because Gretzky's one WHA season counted as major-league experience, so his 137 points never entered the books as a rookie record.
Q 12Who won the 1979–80 Art Ross Trophy despite tying Gretzky on 137 points?
Marcel Dionne
Marcel Dionne took the trophy on a tiebreak, 53 goals to 51; Gretzky answered by winning the next seven scoring titles in a row.
Q 13Whose 1944–45 mark of 50 goals in 50 games did Gretzky smash by scoring 50 in 39?
Maurice 'Rocket' Richard's
Q 21What did the NHL's 1985 'Gretzky rule' take out of the game?
Four-on-four play after matching minors
Four-on-four play after matching minors gave Edmonton's skaters too much open ice, so the league let teams stay at five a side; the change was reversed for 1992–93.
Q 22Which team did fans vote the greatest in NHL history for the 2017 centennial?
The 1984–85 Edmonton Oilers
The 1984–85 Edmonton Oilers lost the opening game of the Final 4–1 in Philadelphia, then won the next four to keep the Cup.
Q 23Which Oilers tough guy did Gretzky insist must come with him to Los Angeles in the 1988 trade?
Maurice 'Rocket' Richard's mark had been matched only once, by Mike Bossy the season before; Gretzky blew past it with four goals in game 38 and five in game 39.
Q 14Whose single-season record of 76 goals did Gretzky break in February 1982?
Phil Esposito's
Phil Esposito's 76 had stood for 11 years, and he trailed Gretzky from city to city to see it fall; in Buffalo he handed over the puck and admitted he was tired of following him around.
Q 15Where was 'Gretzky's office'?
Behind the net
Behind the net he had space from defenders, and anyone who came to flush him out left a teammate open.
Q 16Which single-season feat has no NHL player but Gretzky ever managed?
A 200-point season
A 200-point season had looked out of reach: the record when he arrived was 152. He got there four times in five years, and the closest anyone else has come is 199.
Q 17What did the Oilers do two years after trading Gretzky?
Won the Cup
Won the Cup, their fifth in seven years and the first without him, after sweeping Gretzky's own Los Angeles Kings in the second round on the way.
Q 18Which team swept the Oilers in the 1983 Stanley Cup Final, a year before Edmonton's first Cup?
New York Islanders
New York Islanders players were too battered to celebrate the sweep: Gretzky walked past their dressing room expecting a party, and said the sight taught Edmonton what winning costs.
Q 19Which trophy did Gretzky win eight seasons in a row?
Hart Trophy
Hart Trophy voters first named him most valuable player in 1980, the same season he was ruled ineligible to be rookie of the year; a ninth followed in Los Angeles in 1989.
Q 20Which trophy did Gretzky, an outspoken opponent of fighting, win five times?
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy voters reward gentlemanly play; soon after reaching Los Angeles he argued that hockey would never go mainstream while fighting was condoned, and says it got him into a lot of trouble.
Marty McSorley
Marty McSorley was both a close friend and his protector on the ice; the Kings' owner recalls Gretzky being adamant that he be part of the deal.
Q 24How much cash did the Kings send Edmonton as part of the Gretzky trade?
$15 million
$15 million in cash went north with Jimmy Carson, Martin Gélinas and three first-round picks; furious Edmonton fans burned the Oilers' owner in effigy.
Q 25Who broke Gretzky's NHL record of 894 career goals in April 2025?
Alex Ovechkin
Alex Ovechkin scored number 895 with Gretzky watching in the arena, and the game stopped for a ceremony on the ice; the record had stood for 31 years.
Q 26Which California city got an NHL team in 1991, the first of two to follow Gretzky's arrival in Los Angeles?
San Jose
San Jose got the Sharks in 1991 and Anaheim the Mighty Ducks two years later; people inside the game say neither team would exist without his move to the Kings.
Q 27Whose career goal-scoring record of 801 did Gretzky break in the 1993–94 season?
Gordie Howe's
Gordie Howe's 801 fell in Los Angeles on 23 March 1994, when a give-and-go left Gretzky an empty Vancouver net for number 802; he retired with 894.
Q 28Which team traded for Gretzky in February 1996, only to see him sign with the Rangers that summer?
St. Louis Blues
St. Louis Blues fans saw him for just 31 games: the run ended in double overtime of a Game 7 against Detroit, one win short of the conference final.
Q 29Which former Oilers teammate, who left for Vancouver a year later, did Gretzky rejoin on the 1996–97 Rangers?
Mark Messier
Mark Messier was the reason he chose New York, for less money than he was offered elsewhere; together they reached the 1997 conference final before Messier signed with Vancouver.
Q 30Against which team did Gretzky play his final NHL game, on 18 April 1999 at Madison Square Garden?
Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh Penguins star Jaromír Jágr ended it 2–1 in overtime, yet Gretzky called the defeat his greatest day in hockey.