Hockey Book Reviews.com

Out today is the paperback release of 2009's I'd Trade Him Again: On Gretzky, Politics and the Pursuit of the Perfect Deal As is industry norm, the 2010 soft cover edition includes bonus material. There is an additional chapter looking at Peter Pocklington's current troubles with the legal system down in California. The chapter made headlines in the Edmonton Journal today as it was revealed that it was actually current Oilers owner Darryl Katz, not former Oilers general manager Glen Sather, who posted Pocklington's bail lin connection with the 2008 bankruptcy case. Katz, somewhat of a hero in Edmonton for saving the team, claims to have no connection with Pocklington. He did it as a favor for mutual friend Sather. Here's the Edmonton Journal story . And here are the sale links for Pocklington's paperback release: Amazon.ca - Chapters -  Amazon.com

One of the biggest hockey books of 2009 is without doubt Stephen Brunt's Gretzky's Tears: Hockey, Canada, and the Day Everything Changed . Canada's leading sports journalist digs deep to recreate the events of the day Wayne Gretzky was traded from Edmonton to Los Angeles in 1988. He leaves almost no stone unturned as he expertly looks at what may be the most important event in the past 20 years of hockey history. I say almost no stone unturned because there were two people Brunt was not able talk to about that infamous day - the Edmonton Oilers owner - the man who traded Wayne Gretzky - Peter Pocklington, and Wayne Gretzky himself. Why is that? Pocklington would not talk, to no surprise, because he has his own book out now about his life and specifically about hockey, the Oilers and Gretzky. It's confrontationally called I'd Trade Him Again: Peter Pocklington on Gretzky, Politics and the Pursuit of the Perfect Deal . Gretzky would not talk to Brunt claiming after 2...

According to the Canadian Press, the new Peter Pocklington book I'd Trade Him Again: Peter Pocklington on Gretzky, Politics and the Pursuit of the Perfect Deal claims he and Harold Ballard almost traded cities : "Harold phoned me and said, 'Would you consider moving to Toronto with your team and I'll move to Edmonton with mine, and I'll need $50 million," Pocklington told The Canadian Press when reached Sunday at his Palm Desert, Calif., home. "So I thought about it and said, 'Yes Harold, I'll go for that."' The scheme called for the entire team to move to Toronto to play in Maple Leaf Gardens while the Leafs, in turn, would have found a home in Edmonton's new arena, which at that time was called the Coliseum. According to Pocklington, Ballard was in financial straights when he made the proposal in 1981. However, a short time later Ballard backed out of the deal. Here's the full link . You can order the book here: Amazon.ca - Ch...