Peter Pocklington Peter Pocklington was born on November 18 , 1943 , in London , Ontario . Pocklington became a partner in the Edmonton Oilers with Nelson Skalbania in 1975 . He acquired Skalbania ' s half in 1977 . During their final year in the World Hockey Association , he bought Wayne Gretzky from the Indianapolis Racers and later signed him to a 21 - year contract . After the team moved to the National Hockey League , the team enjoyed tremendous success , winning 5 Stanley Cup s 1984 - 85 - 87 - 88 - 90 in a 7 year span . After the Edmonton Oilers won their first Stanley Cup in 1983 – 84 , Peter Pocklington included his father , Basil Pocklington , on the list of people and players who were to have their names engraved on the trophy . The NHL did not check the validity of the names on the list , and the Cup was engraved as usual . After the mistake was discovered , NHL executives , via the Hockey Hall of Fame , had the engraver strike out the name of the senior Pocklington by engraving a series of " X " s over his name . Of the two dozen engraving errors that appear on the Stanley Cup all but one are spelling errors . Basil Pocklington is the only name that is covered . When the junior Pocklington was confronted with the issue , he protested that it was the engraver ' s fault , not his , that the engraver had mixed up the people who were actually technical members of the team ( Basil was not one of them ) with a list of individuals who were to receive miniature replica Cups ( Basil " was " one of them ) . After this error , the NHL and Hockey Hall of Fame adopted policies to confirm the roster and the relation of the people on the engraving list to the championship team . On August 9 , 1988 , Pocklington shocked hockey fans by trading Gretzky to the Los Angeles Kings for Jimmy Carson , Martin Gelinas , $ 15 million cash , and the Kings ' first - round draft picks in 1989 , 1991 and 1993 . One member of the Canadian House of Commons demanded the government block the trade , another man burned Pocklington in effigy , and Gretzky ' s bride , actress Janet Jones , was branded hockey ' s Yoko Ono . There is debate as to whether Gretzky " jumped " or was " pushed . " A book by former Kings owner Bruce McNall quotes Pocklington as saying Gretzky had become impossible to deal with since he began dating Jones , who let it be known that she was not going to live in Edmonton after they got married . Pocklington claims he has had only nice things to say about the couple , yet admitted the trade was a business decision that he would not hesitate to make again . Sale of the Oilers . By the mid - 1990s , the Edmonton Oilers were a lackluster team with a dwindling fan support and financial hardships who were unable to afford or retain top players . Pocklington threatened to move the team to the States several times if season ticket sales remained low . Pocklington did not endear himself to fans , as he paid himself around $ 2 million annually in management fees out of the Oilers ' funds . Meanwhile , Pocklington became bankrupt , owing millions of dollars to Alberta Treasury Branches ( ATB ) . ATB forced Pocklington to sell the Oilers in 1998 . Businessman Leslie Alexander almost bought the team , planning to move it to Houston , but at the deadline the club was purchased by the Edmonton Investors Group consortium which kept the team in Edmonton .