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CALGARY — The theory that Wayne Gretzky might coach Canada's 2010 men's Olympic hockey team — once considered a mostly fanciful notion — is starting to look far more realistic these days, as the Great One starts to get his coaching chops down.
Indeed, one could argue that at the midpoint of the NHL season, Gretzky is the leading candidate for the Jack Adams trophy as the NHL's coach of the year for what he's done with his Phoenix Coyotes to date. The Coyotes were expected to challenge for top spot in only one category this year - the draft lottery - after cleaning house and deciding once and for all to go with a youth movement.
While many of the other long-time Western Conference also-rans bolstered their line-ups with free agent signings, the Coyotes made a few tweaks around the edges of the line-up, but mostly decided to play their kids (Peter Mueller, Michal Hanzal et al) and take their lumps.
Instead, as of Tuesday morning, the Coyotes were hanging in there, just outside the Western Conference playoff picture, with more wins than losses, more road wins than all but three teams in the NHL and a bright future that will also include Kyle Turris, offensive star of Canada's world junior tournament.
That Gretzky is managing all this, even without his coaching right-hand man, Rick Tocchet, who is scheduled to return to the team in a month's time, is extraordinary.
Now, there is a difference between coaching a team of improving youngsters and the sort of talent that Canada normally assembles for an Olympics, but Gretzky's long-time association with Hockey Canada and his ability to handle the pressure of coaching a home-town Olympic team might make him just the right choice for 2010.
Normally, Gretzky gets together with Hockey Canada president Bob Nicholson to discuss Olympic matters whenever he visits Calgary, but Nicholson was out of town Tuesday.
"I talked to him the other day and tried to arrange dinner, but had to go to Quebec and Halifax for the worlds," said Gretzky. "I'm sure we'll have lunch next time we're in town."
Gretzky has clearly matured as a coach these past few years (Tuesday's game was the 200th of his career).
Coyotes' defenceman Ed Jovanovski, a member of Canada's 2002 gold-medal winning Olympic team (of which Gretzky was general manager) has played for a lot of different coaches over the years. What makes Gretzky unique?
"I think it's how much he cares for his players," answered Jovanovski. "He's very nurturing. We have a young team, so I'm sure he's careful sometimes about what comes out of his mouth.
"The biggest difference between this year and last year is the accountability he's putting on his veteran players. He relies on us older guys, on and off the ice, to set the tone for these young kids and pave the way for them and show them about professionalism. He preaches that a lot — about being professional. He's just been a treat to be around."
Like a lot of coaches, Gretzky suddenly became a lot better at his job soon after Ilya Bryzgalov arrived via the waiver wire from the Anaheim Ducks. Bryzgalov joined the team in mid-November and has posted a 12-8-1 record in less than two months with the Coyotes. Getting good goaltending takes some of the pressure off the other elements of the team, enabling the young Coyotes to make mistakes and not always have them end up in the back of the net.
It was a formula the Edmonton Oilers of Gretzky's early playing days also relied upon — with both Grant Fuhr and Andy Moog — although that team included the most talented collection of youngsters of its time and that era featured a more wide-open playing style.
According to Gretzky, the primary similarity between the Oilers of the early 1980s and the Coyotes of today is that both teams picked "the right older guys to have around the team … pros who play hard and practice hard. That's the right way to learn."
The miracle in the Desert is predicated mostly on improvements to the team's speed, which Gretzky said made them more competitive in their division and is keeping them out of the penalty box the eight or nine or 10 times per night they took hooking and holding penalties. The Coyotes are down almost a full goal-a-game defensively in the first half (they were 27th overall last year after 42 games, having given up 140 goals up to that point of the season). Of course, it's worth noting that Phoenix was also on a seven-game winning streak at this time last year, in which they raised their record to 20-20-2. The bottom fell out in the final 40 games, when they went 11-26-3 and finished at the bottom of the Western Conference. Only the Philadelphia Flyers managed fewer points. But their discipline is better and their defence is better and those are two qualities directly impacted by coaching.
"People had the expectation that because of everything Wayne's done on the ice, he's got all the answers," said Jovanovski. "But he surrounds himself with good people and with Rick coming back, it'll be even better. His desire and his enthusiasm to coach are pretty unique."
It doesn't hurt that he lived the life of a professional athlete for 20 years and understands every aspect of it — the late nights and early mornings; when to rest and when to push them hard.
"He's the first guy to say, 'go out and have some fun' but he'll come right to the older guys and say, 'make sure we're in at a decent hour,'" said Jovanovski. "He played and so did Ulfie (Samuelsson) and so did Rick. They all know what goes on. It's no secret. There's fun in this game. It's not just all about being a boot camp and having an army squad. It's about enjoying your accomplishments as a player, but when it's time to come to work, you better be ready to work."
