Gretzky visits Stars locker room after series-clinching Game 6

DALLAS -- As postgame visits go, this was a Great One.

Wayne Gretzky stopped by the locker room after the Dallas Stars’ 2-1 overtime win against the Winnipeg Jets in Game 6 of the Western Conference Second Round at American Airlines Center on Saturday.

The Stars advanced to the Western Conference Final. Their opponent? Gretzky’s original NHL team, the Edmonton Oilers. Game 1 is here Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC).

“Congratulations,” Gretzky said at the end of a short speech. “And now we’ve got Edmonton-Dallas.”

“Who you cheering for?” someone said.

Gretzky looked down as everyone laughed. Stars coach Pete DeBoer patted Gretzky’s back and yelled, “Don’t put him on the spot!”

“Hey, can we enjoy the night tonight?” Gretzky said with a smile.

Oh, they enjoyed it.

“He said we’re going up against a pretty good team now,” Stars captain Jamie Benn said. “I had to ask him who he was cheering for. It felt right. He didn’t answer.”

Ha. Of course not.

“Did he say anything?” DeBoer said. “What if I told you he was hoping that Dallas would win? You think that’d be headlines in Edmonton?"

DeBoer laughed.

“He would never say that, and I would never put him in that spot,” DeBoer said. “But he was very respectful of our group and the job we had done to that point. I think we all understand his allegiance to Edmonton and appreciate that, so he never went beyond that. But it was great to see him.”

Gretzky had been watching the game with Stars owner Tom Gaglardi. Cameras caught a couple of interactions with players in the locker room.

“Don’t worry about scoring goals,” Gretzky told Benn. “You’re playing unreal.”

“I’m just a checker now,” Benn said with a big grin.

“That’s OK,” Gretzky said. “It’s important.”

Benn has one goal in the Stanley Cup Playoffs but brings a lot of other elements.

“It’s doing whatever it takes for your team to win and whatever role that might be,” Benn said. “It’s that time of year to make sacrifices. As long as you’re winning games, that’s the most important thing.”

Gretzky introduced himself to Stars center Wyatt Johnston.

“You’re such a good player,” Gretzky told him. “I always told my brother. He didn’t draft you. They picked another guy over you, and I always give him [a hard time]. You’re a good player.”

Assistant general manager Keith Gretzky has been part of the Oilers front office since July 2, 2016. Dallas selected Johnston with the No. 23 pick of the 2021 NHL Draft, after Edmonton selected center Xavier Bourgault at No. 22.

“The draft was crazy,” Johnston said. “I was just hoping I would go in the first round. At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter. But it’s pretty cool he said that. I’ll take it.”

Johnston said he had said met Gretzky before, because one of his coaches growing up was Gretzky’s old teammate Paul Coffey. But this was different.

“I think I said hi to him once, but I mean, that was the first time, I guess, really of him kind of acknowledging my existence to some extent, rather than just saying it to some random little kid,” Johnston said. “Yeah, it was pretty cool. To have him say that, it’s really cool. Crazy.”