The Arizona Republic reports that Wayne Gretzky has decided to coach the Phoenix Coyotes.

 

Gretzky, the team's managing partner, is expected to be announced as coach Monday, NHL sources told the paper.

 

The Republic also reports that former Detroit Red Wings associate coach Barry Smith will be named one of Gretzky's two assistants.

 

Former Coyotes player Rick Tocchet or interim head coach Rick Bowness will be Gretzky's other assistant, according to the report.

 

The NHL's all-time leading scorer and Hall of Famer had tentatively agreed to the post, but opted to wait until a new collective bargaining agreement was in place before officially deciding whether to take on the coaching job.

 

 

 

Rumours of Gretzky going behind the bench have been nothing new, with general manager Mike Barnett publically addressing the issue as recently as last month.

 

Barnett brushed aside suggestions in July that Gretzky might coach only home games to minimize his travel obligations.

 

"Anyone that knows Wayne Gretzky knows that if he would take on this role, he would take it on with the same voracious approach that every other of the 29 head coaches in the National Hockey League do - full-time and very committed to it," Barnett said at the time.

 

The Great One would take the post from interim head coach Rick Bowness, who was hired after the team let go of Bob Francis in February of 2004. The Coyotes currently have 20 players under contract - more than any other NHL team.

 

A nine-time Hart Trophy winner, Gretzky is league's all-time leader with 894 goals, 1,963 assists and 2,857 points in his 21-year career. He has been the Coyotes' managing partner since 2000.

 

More to follow.

 

From tsn.ca.

 

 

WOW! Hopefully the Great One does well, I personally like the Coyotes.

Great players rarely make great (or even good) coaches.

 

Just a thought.

Gretzky might be able to become a great coach. He already said that he will put 100 percent of his time into it. And I would think the players would listen, I mean he is the greatest of all time.

Update: It appears to be an early call on the announcement being tomorrow. But sportsnet.ca reports that he should come to a decision by the end of the week,

Finally, a hockey-related news story that I've paid a little bit of attention to. :plain

i highly doubt that he'll even be a good coach. maybe decent but not good

if Mario Lemiux can be an player-owner then Gretzky can be a player-coach

Gretzky said during the lockout that if there was no lockout he probably would have coached the team, but nobody knew what would happen after the lockout finally ended.

 

Hopefully the Great One goes the route of Admin Bird who won coach of the year and not Magic Johnson....

OTL Nightly right now is featuring a piece on Gretzky becoming a coach and the history of the most gifted players becoming coaches and their successes/failures.