Give Gretzky credit for making great move

OPINION

By Craig Custance

updated 7:11 p.m. ET Sept. 26, 2009

Finally, some good news for Coyotes fans.

Wayne Gretzky stepped down as coach of the team, ending his awkward absence during training camp while the ownership situation is being settled in court.

With Phoenix set to start its regular season a week from Saturday, Gretzky mercifully ended a situation that was growing uglier with each day of training camp he missed.

Last season, I asked Gretzky how he would handle the time when it was apparent his coaching days were numbered, because nobody would want to fire the Great One.

"There might come a day in time where maybe there should be somebody else who should take the next step with this group," he answered. "I would never stand in the way of this organization."

Today, Gretzky showed he is a man of his word. In a statement Gretzky released on Gretzky.com, he said he approached Phoenix general manager Don Maloney about a head coaching change when it was apparent that both bidders fighting to buy the Coyotes didn't have Gretzky in their future plans.

His staying would have only been a distraction.

"Don has worked hard and explored many options," Gretzky said in the release. "I think he has made an excellent choice, and so now it's time for me to step aside."

The team hasn't made the playoffs since 2002, not once under Gretzky. The development of talented young players like Kyle Turris and Viktor Tikhonov has stalled. After spending most of last season in the NHL, both have already been sent to the minors.

Former Coyotes, usually without naming Gretzky, questioned the systems being run in the desert.

We're not here to pile on Gretzky, whose failure as a head coach is as much a product of the Coyotes' lack of talent in a competitive conference as it is his inability to lead that group to wins. But it's clear that this is the best result for all parties involved. At the very least, Gretzky wasn't worth the $6.5 million he was set to earn this season.

Not when there's a group of available proven head coaches, like Dave Tippett, Peter Laviolette, Bob Hartley and Craig MacTavish. All could be had for a fraction of the price Gretzky earned.

Hours after Gretzky resigned, the Coyotes introduced Dave Tippett as his successor on Thursday. The 48-year-old Tippett spent the last six seasons as coach of the Dallas Stars, compiling a 271-162-59 record.

But even in the midst of an ugly court battle over ownership, rumors the team is being moved everywhere from Kansas City to Hamilton and the distraction that came with Gretzky's absence, the man who was running the team in Gretzky's absense, Ulf Samuelsson, was enthusiastic about what he saw on the ice.

It's been a tougher training camp under Samuelsson and he said the players anticipated as much. They arrived in better shape because of it.

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He thinks the team has more talent than last year's 79-point Coyotes club, and said that talent more than anything was the driving force behind Turris and Tikhonov's ticket to the minors.

Samuelsson took a training camp plan that Gretzky and the coaching staff devised and put the finishing touches on it himself.

Despite the turmoil off the ice, Samuelsson said he hasn't seen any sign that it's affecting the players on it.

"It hasn't. I know for a fact it hasn't," he said. "We're going on fine, we're developing players every day. They have gotten better, they have gotten stronger."

And now they're going to have stability behind the bench. At least until the new ownership comes in and brings in their own guy.

That leaves the question: Will Gretzky's failure as a head coach tarnish his legacy as hockey's greatest player or does the Phoenix disaster just become a footnote.

That was the topic of conversation last year with somebody who spent as much time on the ice with Gretzky as anybody. Longtime referee Don Koharski shot down any thoughts that Gretzky's failure as a coach might erode his image as a player.

"You'll never forget him for his greatness on the ice," Koharski said at the time. "Not a hockey fan or sports fan in the world will ever forget what he did for the game on the ice. All the naysayers out there are probably ready to pounce on him for his coaching career. But his coaching career isn't going to be what he's famous for."

The failure in the desert made sure of that.

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