The City of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, cried the night Wayne Gretzky made his well-publicized 1988 departure to Los Angeles to join the L.A. Kings. Canada’s favorite son had met the woman of his dreams, Janet Jones, and after much negotiating with the Edmonton Oilers front office, the decision was made to trade arguably the greatest player in league history to the Kings for two players, three upcoming first-round draft picks and $15 million in cash. After nine seasons and four Stanley Cup Championships with the Oilers (1984, ‘85, ‘87 and ‘88), “The Great One'' was the most sought-after player in league history and the Kings and their owner, Bruce McNall, paid him a king’s ransom. Gretzky would stay in L.A. for eight seasons – and notch his sixth and final Stanley Cup appearance – before being traded to the St. Louis Blues for the final 18 games of the 1995-96 season. That summer, he was traded one last time to the New York Rangers and that’s where he played out his last three NHL seasons, cementing his incredible career totals for the NHL record books. When Gretzky played his last NHL game, he made it count. The date was April 18, 1999, and the opponent at Madison Square Garden that evening was the Pittsburgh Penguins who was captained by Jarimir Jagr. As is only fitting, the league’s all-time career points leader tallied his final point (2,857) with an assist on Brian Leetch’s goal at the 19:30 mark of the second period. This lot offers one of the game-used, Wayne Gretzky-signed Hespeler hockey sticks, this one gifted to Rumun Ndur, a short-time NHL defenseman who played in 31 games that season for the Blue Shirts including Gretzky’s final contest. The left-handed Hespeler CS Pro stick features Gretzky’s trademark blue “Jack the Gripper” sleeve at the top, black tape wrapped around the blade, and a special “99” (Gretzky’s uniform number) branded into the wooden blade insert of the stick. "Gretzky" is also branded at the hosel, beside the aforementioned "99" and Gretzky's bold autograph in blue fiber-tip marker to which he added his uniform number (“99”) and the date ("4/18/99"). The Great One’s signature is bold and true and would rate no less than a 9/10. It also includes “1487” written on the butt end of the stick to reflect the total number of games played in the NHL. Upon his retirement, Gretzky held or shared 61 NHL records. Those records included 40 regular season, 15 playoff and six All-Star Game records. As of the start of the 2022–23 NHL season – 23 seasons after his retirement – Gretzky still held or shared 58 NHL records. This game-used farewell stick from “The Great One,” will only add prestige and importance to any hockey enthusiast’s personal collection. This stick was presented to us as game-used and in our opinion, shows appropriate use. Accompanied by a Letter of Provenance from Rumun Ndur and a LOA from JSA for the autograph (YY19119).