Wayne Gretzky went on Conan Thursday night and addressed one of the NHL’s older unwritten rules: You don’t hit Wayne Gretzky.

“It’s not true …” Gretzky told host Conan O’Brien. “I got hit, I didn’t get hit as much as people probably wanted me to get hit — especially on the opposing teams.

“But I knew it was time to retire when I was playing my last year and people I was playing against, before they would hit me, they would scream my name and I remember thinking, ‘Wow something’s not right about this.'”

“Yeah, I don’t want to be the guy who killed Wayne Gretzky,” O’Brien panned.

It’s funny, but probably true. No other player has ever accomplished what Gretzky did during his career. He has 40 regular season records and won the Hart Trophy eight years in a row (and nine times total). The man is a living legend, and there are few people who would ever want to cross him.