 After changing the team colors to silver and black, McNall acquired the league's best player, Wayne Gretzky, in a blockbuster trade with the Edmonton Oilers on August 9, 1988.The trade rocked the hockey world, especially north of the border, where Canadians mourned the loss of a player they considered a national treasure.Gretzky's arrival generated much excitement about hockey and the NHL in Southern California, and the ensuing popularity of the Kings is credited for the arrival of another team in the region (the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, renamed the Anaheim Ducks in 2006), as well as the arrival of a new team in Northern California (the San Jose Sharks) and the NHL's expanding or moving into other Sun Belt cities such as Dallas, Phoenix, Tampa, Miami, and Nashville.