PHOENIX - Wayne Gretzky, the most prolific scorer in NHL history, will coach the Phoenix Coyotes this season, hoping to revive a perennially disappointing team in a league emerging from a lockout.

“I heard people say, ‘Why would he want to do this?’ My answer is ‘Why not?’ It is what I love. It’s what I know,” Gretzky said at a news conference Monday.

Co-owner Steve Ellman said Gretzky’s stake in the team remains the same but his five-year contract with the ownership group is now an open-ended agreement.

The move should help revive a sport that missed an entire season due to a lockout, Ellman said.

“It’s huge. Fans around the world will tune in to watch Gretzky coach,” he said.

A coaching job for Gretzky, the team’s managing partner and hockey operations director, has long been speculated, but he had pushed off questions until the lockout was resolved last month.

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Gretzky said he was looking forward to the challenge of coaching. The nine-time league MVP said he feels he’s the best person to lead the team, and didn’t solicit anyone’s advice before taking the job.

“I knew it was a decision I had to make,” he said.

He said he was encouraged by a discussion with Pat Riley, the president of the Miami Heat and former coach of the Heat and the Los Angeles, who told him coaching was exciting “and that I would probably love it.”

Gretzky retired in 1999 after 20 seasons in the NHL. He helped the Edmonton Oilers win four Stanley Cups and set 61 NHL records, including career goals (894), assists (1,963) and points (2,857).

He is unproven as a coach, but his fans note that he helped Canada win its first men’s ice hockey gold medal in 50 years during the 2002 Winter Olympics. He served as executive director of the club that year, a role he will revive for the 2006 games.

Asked what kind of coach he would be in Arizona, Gretzky said, “You know I believe in common sense. I really believe in basics, fundamentals of the games.

“We’re going to be a team with speed,” he said. “We’re going to be a team that’s unselfish. We’re going to be team that works together.”

His decision to become coach, first reported by several media outlets Sunday, has already served as a boost for the Coyotes. Ellman said the team’s switchboard has been overloaded with fans looking to buy season tickets.

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This season will be the Coyotes first full one in its new $220 million, 18,000-seat arena. The Coyotes opened the Glendale Arena in December 2003 and have yet to play a full season there because of the lockout.

“We definitely need to win some people back,” Gretzky said. “We hope we can reach out to people as best we can.”