Gretzky out as King in? UPDATE: Dave Tippett confirmed as PHX head coach

SI.com ran an AP report today about Dave King's hiring in Phoenix as Assistant Coach. With Gretzky's multi-million contract being a major point of contention in the legal battle, apparently Gretzky will not receive any payments after October 1st.

Is this a step towards removing Wayne from Wayne's World?

SI seems to think so with their headline:

Hiring of King casts doubt on Gretzky's future

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- The Phoenix Coyotes hired Dave King as assistant coach on Monday, raising questions about Wayne Gretzky's future behind the bench.

Coyotes general manager Don Maloney said that King would assist associate coach Ulf Samuelsson, who has been serving as interim head coach as the bankruptcy court battle over the team's sale has dragged on.

In a related move, the Coyotes said Sean Burke would replace Grant Fuhr as goaltending coach, with Fuhr moving to director of goaltender development.

Burke replaces Hall of Famer Grant Fuhr, who has been Phoenix's goalie coach since 2004 and will become director of goaltender development.

Gretzky -- also a minority owner of the team -- is awaiting a ruling by Judge Redfield T. Baum in the bankruptcy case of Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes.

King, a former Canadian Olympic and junior coach, has been an NHL head coach with Calgary and Columbus and an assistant coach with the Montreal Canadiens. He has spent the past five seasons coaching pro teams in Russia and Germany.

Burke, whose 19-year NHL career ended in 2007, played for the Coyotes from 1999-2004. He has been Phoenix's director of prospect development since March 2008.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/hockey/nhl/09/21/coyotes.gretzky.assistant/index.html?eref=nhlg#ixzz0RqqmLNFX

They have a "Director of goaltender development"? wow. I'm impressed. I've never heard of other teams having a director just for goalies ...

TheAvatar wrote:They have a "Director of goaltender development"? wow. I'm impressed. I've never heard of other teams having a director just for goalies ...

Brophy had a hilarious comment on Hockeycentral at Noon today regarding this. He said it was funny that the team with the most financial woes had two goalie coaches... not one... but two. Life is good in Phoenix, apparently.

Maybe the Gretzky cronyism didn't help the Coyotes business model either.

SeawaySensFan wrote:Maybe the Gretzky cronyism didn't help the Coyotes business model either.

SSF> you raise a good point.

Haven't you wondered also how Gretzky got off scotfree when those gambling allegations involving him and his wife emerged? Wayne's ex-assistant Ricky Tocchet took the fall...did he take the heat for 'The Great One'?

And how the heck did Wayne justify his eight million dollar a year salary (is it $8 mil, BTW? all these freakin' numbers...), paid presumedly with the approval of 'Swifty' Moyes?

There's a steamin' mess a' malfeasance, as ole Redfield might say, that simmers beneath the surface of the steamin' heap of doo-doo surrounding the Desert Dogs.

And JimBo, thar, he's just stirrin' it with that big ole stick o' his.

The Great One is teflon. Nothing sticks to him... no bad will be spoke of him... he is The One.

No other coach could survive the record he put up for that long.

I never understood how he became a coach to begin with.

shabbs wrote:The Great One is teflon. Nothing sticks to him... no bad will be spoke of him... he is The One.

No other coach could survive the record he put up for that long.

If you did a 6-degrees of Wayne accounting analysis it wouldn't look to kosher methinks.

SensGirl11 wrote:I never understood how he became a coach to begin with.

I believe the train of thought was that they felt they'd stand a better chance at attracting fans with Gretzky as the coach.

Perhaps a better on-ice product would have helped too...

shabbs wrote:The Great One is teflon. Nothing sticks to him... no bad will be spoke of him... he is The One.

No other coach could survive the record he put up for that long.

Didn't RIMJim say he wanted Gretzky as his coach, and offered to rename Copps Coliseum after Wayne's dad?

The New York Times reported Wayne had much to gain from the Yotes' demise and Balsillie's apparent sweet deal for The Great One.

"Balsillie, a co-chief executive of the BlackBerry maker Research in Motion, reportedly would like Gretzky to stay if he is successful in moving the team to Hamilton. According to The Hamilton Spectator, Balsillie would like to rename Hamilton’s Copps Coliseum after Gretzky’s father, Walter, a beloved figure in Canada."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/10/sports/hockey/10slapshot.html

davetherave wrote:

shabbs wrote:The Great One is teflon. Nothing sticks to him... no bad will be spoke of him... he is The One.

No other coach could survive the record he put up for that long.

Didn't RIMJim say he wanted Gretzky as his coach, and offered to rename Copps Coliseum after Wayne's dad?

The New York Times reported Wayne had much to gain from the Yotes' demise and Balsillie's apparent sweet deal for The Great One.

"Balsillie, a co-chief executive of the BlackBerry maker Research in Motion, reportedly would like Gretzky to stay if he is successful in moving the team to Hamilton. According to The Hamilton Spectator, Balsillie would like to rename Hamilton’s Copps Coliseum after Gretzky’s father, Walter, a beloved figure in Canada."

[url=http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/10/sports/hockey/10slapshot.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/10/sports/hockey/10slapshot.html[/quote[/url]]

At least Balsillie didn't have to try and tempt Wayne for 40 days in the desert like he did to that Jeebus fella some 2000 years ago.

[quote="SeawaySensFan"]

davetherave wrote:

shabbs wrote:The Great One is teflon. Nothing sticks to him... no bad will be spoke of him... he is The One.

No other coach could survive the record he put up for that long.

Didn't RIMJim say he wanted Gretzky as his coach, and offered to rename Copps Coliseum after Wayne's dad?

The New York Times reported Wayne had much to gain from the Yotes' demise and Balsillie's apparent sweet deal for The Great One.

"Balsillie, a co-chief executive of the BlackBerry maker Research in Motion, reportedly would like Gretzky to stay if he is successful in moving the team to Hamilton. According to The Hamilton Spectator, Balsillie would like to rename Hamilton’s Copps Coliseum after Gretzky’s father, Walter, a beloved figure in Canada."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/10/sports/hockey/10slapshot.html[/quote]

At least Balsillie didn't have to try and tempt Wayne for 40 days in the desert like he did to that Jeebus fella some 2000 years ago.

Nawww...RIMJim would have sold Jeebus a Blackberry complete with GPS.

Dave Tippett in as Head Coach, per ESPN...


Former Dallas Stars coach Dave Tippett will be introduced as Gretzky's successor at a 6 p.m. ET news conference, a source told ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun.

Associate coach Ulf Samuelsson had been serving as interim head coach during the preseason. The team this week hired former Calgary Flames and Columbus Blue Jackets head coach Dave King as an assistant.



http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=4499904&campaign=rss&source=NHLHeadlines

I'm glad he's out of that mess. And isn't his salary inflated because he owns part of the Coyotes, so his salary is a combination of the basic coaching salary and his share of the team

I put this in the other thread:

Diddle...he's the best guy out there by literally a 10-1 ratio. The Yotes are gonna get a real system now and real structure to work in. They still suck, but if there's one guy that can make them suck less it's Tippett.