Wayne Gretzky reveals the most important piece of advice he ever received

Wayne Gretzky sat down with Paul Bissonnette and Ryan Whitney on the Spittin' Chiclets podcast this week and shared a great story involving Mr. Hockey, Gordie Howe, stemming back from when Gretzky was on the cusp of breaking his record.

Wayne's late father, Walter Gretzky, gave excellent advice to his son that has stuck around with him to this day. This all has added context, as Gretzky's all-time goal scoring record is quite possibly going to be broken by Alex Ovechkin, and Gretzky himself is in full support of Ovi breaking his record.

Currently, Ovechkin stands at 828 goals in 1,378 games played. Gretzky holds the all-time record of 894. Ovechkin has a couple of factors that could hinder his chances of beating the record. Firstly, he's 38 years old and starting to show signs of slowing down. This season has not been as active as he hoped.

Secondly, his Washington Capitals are nowhere near the team they were when they won the cup in 2017. He's lost his linemate and primary playmaker in Nicklas Backstrom to an ongoing hip injury. Not having Backstrom dishing him the puck on a nightly basis could also prohibit him from reaching the 894 mark.

Ovechkin needs 66 more goals to tie Gretzky's record. If this happens, we will see if Wayne took his father's advice and shows the same dignity and respect that Gordie Howe had shown to him. I'd imagine that he will be every bit as gracious as Howe was to him and then some, because Gretzky has always been a class act.