The stick Wayne Gretzky used for the Edmonton Oilers in the series-clinching 1988 Stanley Cup Finals was purchased for $336,000, an all-time record for an NHL-used hockey stick, Sotheby’s announced Friday.
The stick was photo-matched by MeiGray, and James Spence Authentication certified the signature, which reads: “To Rick, Best Wishes, Wayne Gretzky, May 26th, 1988.”
Sotheby’s confirmed to ESPN that the stick was originally in the personal collection of Rick “The Stick” Elaschuk of Edmonton. Elaschuk was a longtime employee of the Oilers, since their inception as a World Hockey Association franchise, and the visiting team stick man.
Sotheby’s noted that 22 bidders amassed 79 bids for Gretzky’s last stick in Edmonton. The sale was announced just hours before the Oilers faced the Florida Panthers in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals on Friday night at Rogers Place in Edmonton.
The previous record for an NHL-used stick also belonged to Gretzky, one from his final career game that Sotheby’s sold in 2022 for $138,600. Other Gretzky items from the 1988 Stanley Cup Finals have cropped up in recent years: In June 2022, Gretzky’s final Oilers jersey sold for $1.452 million, the most ever paid for a hockey jersey, and his gloves from that final game sold for $204,162.
The Oilers swept the Boston Bruins in the 1988 Finals. Notably, Game 4 was suspended due to a power outage on May 24, 1988, at the Boston Garden. The game was never finished, the series went back to Edmonton, and the Oilers clinched two days later. It was the Oilers’ fourth title in five seasons and Gretzky’s last. Less than three months later, Gretzky was dealt to the Los Angeles Kings in arguably the most seismic trade in NHL history.
Gretzky notched 13 points — three goals and 10 assists — in the 1988 Finals, a series record that still stands. (Gretzky’s 10 Stanley Cup Finals assists is also still a series record.) Gretzky, a record nine-time league MVP, remains the only NHL player to have his number retired leaguewide.
