Mounties have suspect in stolen $400Gs Wayne Gretzky jersey

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The thriller of the stolen Wayne Gretzky jersey stays, with RCMP in Alberta and police in Sweden nonetheless making an attempt to unravel all of the issues.

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The estimated price of the jersey is $400,000.

It was apparently stolen from the house of Kent Nilsson, the previous NHL star and longtime shut good friend of Gretzky. When Gretzky was dominating the Nationwide Hockey League in scoring, he as soon as referred to Nilsson as probably the most gifted participant in hockey.

When the 1984 Canada Cup match got here to an finish, with Group Canada beating Group Sweden within the ultimate, Gretzky and Nilsson spontaneously selected the ice to trade jerseys.

The jersey grew to become the centre level of a group that began with Nilsson’s mom.

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She gathered her son’s jerseys from each group he performed on — from the Winnipeg Jets of the WHA and the Flames of Atlanta and Calgary and the Minnesota North Stars earlier than he performed with Gretzky on the Edmonton Oilers. She had all of the Swedish jerseys and all of the European groups he performed for after leaving the NHL prematurely.

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Nilsson had his personal assortment as effectively. It included sweaters from Paul Coffey, Mark Messier and Glenn Anderson, all of them Nilsson’s teammates in Edmonton.

Nilsson is aware of who broke into his dwelling initially — it was his nephew, his sister’s son, a relative with a severe drug downside.

He wasn’t on the lookout for hockey memorabilia as a lot as he on the lookout for a solution to get excessive. The relative turned the jersey over to someone — apparently for $500 — not having a clue of what it was actually price.

Now the jersey, Nilsson stated, has one way or the other made its solution to Alberta. Up north in Fort McMurray, apparently. Nilsson believes he is aware of who has the jersey. He believes police know as effectively. The query now’s finding it — and at similar time ensuring it isn’t offered publicly in any manner.

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“I’d give him one other one,” Gretzky stated on his mobile phone, remembering the on-ice trade from 1984. “However the one different one I had is within the Corridor of Fame now. I want I had one for him.”

Police in Fort McMurray paid a go to to the obvious proprietor of the stolen jersey. They went to choose up the jersey and probably arrest the person. The primary time they went, thought, they weren’t allowed in.

After they got here again with a search warrant, the workplace was open, however the jersey was gone.

“We now have a suspect,” stated Emanuel Rojas-Grenier, the RCMP officer who was first assigned to the case and has since been transferred elsewhere. “Clearly I can’t provide the determine of that particular person as a result of they haven’t been charged or something like that.

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“I can’t actually go into particulars with you on this as a result of it’s an ongoing investigation.” Rojas-Grenier stated, however did admit that they had attained a search warrant for the suspected proprietor’s workplace.

“So far as we perceive, the jersey was stolen and made it its solution to Canada. I do know there’s a story right here and there shall be curiosity on this, however there’s not a contented conclusion in the mean time … Perhaps getting some publicity for this shall be useful with our investigation.

“We need to get this jersey again. I feel it might be nice for Kent and nice for the hockey group.”

It isn’t the price of the jersey that bothers Nilsson — though that actually issues — it’s what the jersey means to him.

Nilsson was as soon as a 131-point scorer in Calgary when Gretzky led the NHL with 164 factors in Edmonton. Hockey in Alberta in these days was higher than hockey anyplace else.

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Now it’s Nilsson at 68 years of age and Gretzky at 63 with their taking part in careers lengthy behind them — however the connection by no means ends. That’s how it’s in hockey. The friendship stays continents aside.

“We have to put strain on this man so he gained’t have the ability to promote the jersey,” stated Nilsson, who was known as Magic Man lengthy earlier than Pavel Datsyuk set foot within the NHL. “I used to be very optimistic (that police have been shut on this). After which they received there and the jersey was gone.”

Gretzky needs Nilsson to get the jersey again.

“You’d hope police can discover this and settle the state of affairs,” Gretzky stated. “I can’t think about somebody will have the ability to promote the jersey. The collectibles world is a fairly small one. As quickly because it was out there, individuals can be tipped off to the place the jersey is and who has it.”

Gretzky isn’t a lot of a collector himself. His dad took care of that for him. He does nonetheless have his rookie of the yr award from the WHA.

“I attempted to present it again,” Gretzky stated. “However I didn’t know who to present it again to. The league folded.”

Now he’d wish to discover a manner — as would the RCMP — to get the stolen jersey again to his good friend Nilsson.

ssimmons@postmedia.com

twitter.com/simmonssteve

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