It took some gut to play the physical game against Wayne Gretzky. And it was just Dan Labraaten had. If you loved the WHA in the 70s, you definitely heard of him. But he isn’t the most household name in hockey.
Dan Labraaten was a great player in the Swedish league and one of few Swedes in the WHA during the 1970s.
He played for the Winnipeg Jets, Detroit Red Wings, and Calgary Flames. After retiring from hockey, he worked as a Scout for the New Jersey Devils, a job he kept for 28 years.
Last year, Labraaten was inducted into the Swedish Hockey Hall of Fame, and out of the many games he played throughout his career, he especially remembers the one against Wayne Gretzky.
”Me and Wayne didn’t get along that well,” Labraaten told Swedish Expressen.
”One time, I asked one of our enforcers why he didn’t play tough against Gretzky, and he said, ’I don’t want all of Canada after me.’ Sure, Gretzky was a valuable player and had great status, but he was very protected. I thought he got a little too much room.”
But when Labraaten played Gretzky, he took matters into his own hands. After an incident, Gretzky slammed back at the Swede with six absolutely brilliant words.
”In an exhibition game when I played in Calgary, I played in the same line as a goon, and one really tough guy. But I told them I had Gretzky, I know I skated better than him, so I was always on the right side of him, and I stole the puck several times,” he said.
”One time, I pushed him against the boards. It wasn’t dirty or anything, but he was really pissed and said, ’Go home to Sweden, you f—ker.”
Labraaten said that they got into yet another argument not long after that incident.
”Years later, I went up to him and said hello during a draft. He was still pissed,” he said.
