One time, I saw Wayne Gretzky...

...make this impossible shot from near the goal line along the boards. Of course, the Oilers were playing the pre-Lemieux Penguins at the time (If my memory serves me, Roberto Romano was in goal for the Pens that night and Randy Carlyle was the Pens' big star. I looked it up at Let's Go Pens.com. It was February 19, 1983. The Oilers won 10 - 7. Since more than ten goals were scored in the game, all fans present got free chili at Wendy's.) but it was still something I'll never forget.

Today, Mr. Gretzky becomes head coach of the Phoenix Coyotes, of whom he is part owner. Don't worry about him ruining his legacy. (Remember, Ted Williams managed the woeful Washington Senators.) Wayne Gretzky will always be The Great One.

Wayne Gretzky says he is excited about moving behind the Phoenix Coyotes bench.

"I'll be honest with you, when I was 22, 23, 24, I never thought I'd be a coach in the NHL," Gretzky told the Arizona Republic on Sunday night.

"But I'm excited about the challenge . . . . The last couple of weeks I've been following my son's baseball team around and I kind of got the itch to coach, as silly as that sounds."

The Coyotes have a called a news conference for 4 p.m. ET to make the head coaching appointment official.

Gretzky told the Republic that former Detroit Red Wings associate coach Barry Smith, former Coyotes player Rick Tocchet, and Coyotes interim head coach Rick Bowness will be his assistant coaches.

"I'm ecstatic to have this staff," said Gretzky,

The Great One, who has a multi-year coaching agreement, will remain the team's managing partner and maintain his 18 per cent ownership in the team.

Gretzky told the newspaper he's not worried about his lack of coaching experience.

"By no means am I Scotty Bowman, but I know the game, I love the game, I have a really good staff and we have a really good team," Gretzky said. "It's exciting. I haven't felt this way since I was 17."
(Thanks to Yahoo!News for the heads up.)