Turning Cliff Ronning into Mark Messier

Many know that Gretzky almost signed here in the summer of  1996, after his brief stint with St. Louis, and for a cruel consolation prize the Vancouver Canucks signed Mark Messier the following year instead.
Of course with the planned run at Gretzky in the works, the Canucks decided not to tender a certain little sparkplug named Cliff Ronning a decent offer, and he signed on the first day of free agency with Phoenix, July 1, 1996.


After the Canucks pressured Gretzky, reportedly in the middle of the night, and he backed away from signing in Vancouver,  he then signed on with the NY Rangers (July 21, 1996) and joined Messier for a season. The following year, Messier decided to take the huge contract the desperate to make a splash Canucks threw at him (20million - 3 years + options), and Messier was a Canuck for 3 miserable, losing years.


Gretzky played 3 years in New York, and then retired.


Messier never played another playoff game, and after 3 years in Vancouver, returned for 4 more in New York.


Ronning (a hometown boy from Burnaby) went on to play another 8 seasons (7 of them 50+ points) , and led the Nashville Predators in scoring there first 4 years in the NHL.


Ronning Stats