THE FRONT ROW WITH BRUCE BOURQUIN: Friday, July 24, 2015

Gracious with his time as ever, Wayne Gretzky spent three minutes talking with The Press the other day.

The Great One talked about local star Tyler Johnson, who wrapped up his second season by playing in the Stanley Cup Finals with the Tampa Bay Lightning, trying to bring a National Hockey League team to Seattle and playing in the Hockey Fest on July 10 at Frontier Ice Arena in Coeur d'Alene.

Gretzky, now 54, spoke after his "St. Louis" team won 9-5 over the "Tampa Bay" team.

The first was about Johnson, the 24-year-old who led the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs this past season with 13 playoff goals and 23 points. Johnson played through a broken right wrist, suffered during his check on an opponent in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals, a 4-2 series loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in which he scored one goal in his last nine playoff games. So he was not able to play in last week's game but he still showed up and coached. According to media reports last month out of Tampa, Fla., Johnson will not need surgery on the wrist.

Johnson, a former Coeur d'Alene Laker and Spokane Chief, scored 29 goals and had 72 points, 14th in the league, in his second full season (and third overall) with Tampa Bay.

"He's a wonderful story," Gretzky said. "He's another case of a young man with a passion for the game. He's never given up in making his dream come true, he's very unselfish, a team player that works hard and all the accolades and all of the positive words that are directed to him now are really well-deserved and he's really played some games he should be very proud of and I'm sure the community looks up to him."

LAST YEAR, Gretzky was among a group of investors who were looking to bring an expansion franchise to Seattle.

But as of Monday, Seattle did not submit an expansion bid by the NHL's expansion deadline, despite the fact three different ownership groups were reportedly interested in buying a franchise in the region. Las Vegas, which does not have a major professional franchise, and Quebec City, which had the Quebec Nordiques playing in the NHL there from 1979-95, submitted expansion bids.

"I think it's wonderful," Gretzky said of the possibility of having a team one day in Seattle. "I think the NHL obviously had a chatter with Seattle and Las Vegas. I think that the commissioner (Gary Bettman) has done such a nice job of running the National Hockey League and has taken his time to make sure that (things) are right. I don't think there's any question that Seattle is obviously a perfect fit for the National Hockey League and hopefully that bodes well for them (Seattle)."

I REMEMBER watching Gretzky dazzle opponents, teammates, fans and anyone else, while he played for the Los Angeles Kings from 1988 to 1996. Before that, I remember the brouhaha surrounding his trade from Edmonton when I was only 10 years old. It was my first exposure to the soap opera surrounding him and his then-new wife, Janet Jones Gretzky, who was also very gracious in last year's Hockey Fest, when she allowed me to interview her when I could not quite get a postgame quote from Wayne.

Gretzky led the Los Angeles Kings to the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals, losing 4-1 to Hall of Fame goalie Patrick Roy and the Montreal Canadiens. But he jumpstarted interest in hockey in southern California, as I remember some of my friends back then were playing roller hockey, screaming "Car!" every now and then when a soccer or hockey mom drove past us.

The Gretzky trade is widely credited with the rush of NHL expansion teams in the Sunshine states, starting in the 1990s, including Johnson's Tampa Bay Lightning (whose first season was in 1992), the Florida Panthers (1993), the Anaheim Ducks, located near where I went to high school (1993), Nashville Predators (1998) and San Jose Sharks (1991).

Anyway, back to Gretzky.

"It's really enjoyable," Gretzky said of playing in Hockey Fest. "At the end of the day, we all love the game of hockey. Everybody I've ever met in my life is because of hockey. Everything that's been done in my life is due to hockey, so I only play once a year. I never really skate anymore."

He may not physically skate anymore, but to fans, both young and old, he'll always be skating in their memories.

Bruce Bourquin is a sports writer at The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2013 or via e-mail at bbourquin@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @bourq25