Wayne Gretzky. The Great One. Irrefutably the greatest hockey player of all time, posting career regular season numbers of 894 goals, 1,963 assists, totaling 2,857 points. He holds 60 official NHL records. Putting up insane career numbers isn’t easy at all, and for most players it would be almost impossible to do it with one team (I mean, we can’t all be Marty Brodeur, right?). Wayne Gretzky throughout his career played for 4 different NHL teams, most notably the Edmonton Oilers and the Los Angeles Kings.

Now, time for a little background for those a little lacking in hockey history:

Gretzky was protected by the Edmonton Oilers in 1979 during the folding of the WHL as the Oilers joined the NHL. After earning his second Conn Smythe trophy and carrying the Oilers to their 4th Stanley Cup victory in 5 seasons, the hockey world was shocked as “The Great One” was traded to the Los Angeles Kings in 1988, for “$15 million [$18.5 million Canadian] plus some players."

So what does this have to do with the severely overinflated egos (and one of my biggest pet peeves in the NHL today) of LA Kings fans?

Well it’s simple. In 1988, there were 21 teams in the NHL, most of them Canadian (the Stanley Cup Final that year being a battle of Canada, Calgary vs. Montreal). Only one hockey team existed in California, with the second closest team being the Vancouver Canucks. California, being a warmer climate, didn’t exactly have a rocking fan base for hockey. This changed with the Gretzky trade. Having a legend playing hockey in Los Angeles excited the entire area, creating a hotbed of hockey that no one foresaw. The Gretzky trade is one of the largest reasons for NHL expansion including Californian teams, with the San Jose Sharks being founded in 1992, and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (now the Anaheim Ducks) in 1993. Today, California is a surprisingly large hockey consumer base, with territory battles between NorCal and SoCal fans consistently raging.

Now I’ll be the first to admit that I’m biased, although I am a Devils fan above all, my second favorite team in the NHL is most definitely the San Jose Sharks. However this bias does not stop me from recognizing the greatness of some teams, such as the Tampa Bay Lightning, Chicago Blackhawks, or even (as much as I may not like that team) the New York Rangers.

However, Los Angeles has experienced some rather dumb luck in the last few years, between 2012-2015 the team alternated Stanley Cup Championships with the Chicago Blackhawks, both teams winning the cup twice in four years. Now I’m not going to go as far as to say “The LA Kings are a bad team and didn’t deserve to win." They’re not the Buffalo Sabres, the Kings do have intelligent management and experienced trainers, heck they do even have a roster that at one point was one of the best in the League. That said, they did have a few incredibly lucky breaks in the post-season (going against injured Sharks and Blues that were transitioning and didn’t really have any place being in the playoffs). All in all, they’re a team that’s truly no better than either California team. Just because they’re the first, doesn’t necessarily mean they’re the best.

The fan base for the Los Angeles Kings also deals with it’s fair share of bandwagoners, but that’s to be expected by any team that has a string of good luck. But any fan who thinks that they’re team is leagues better than 29 other teams simply for being a trend-setter is a fan that I absolutely cannot agree with. LA Kings fans please, realize that you have your ups and downs like every other team, but know that just because Gretzky played for you way back when, doesn’t mean you’re still the best team in the National Hockey League.