Barry Smith to Join Wayne Gretzky in Phoenix

The Phoenix Coyotes will hold a 4 pm press conference to introduce Wayne Gretzky as their new head coach, with former Red Wing associate coach Barry Smith, former Coyotes player Rick Tocchet, and interim head coach Rick Bowness as a trio of assistant coaches. Says Wayne:

"I'll be honest with you, when I was 22, 23, 24, I never thought I'd be a coach in the NHL. 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....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. It's exciting. I haven't felt this way since I was 17."

For the NHL's all-time leading scorer, the question on everyone's mind is whether he can communicate the great vision he had on the ice to the players he coaches. He was successful as executive director of Team Canada, putting together Canada's first gold medal in 50 years in the 2002 Winter Olympics. He has already committed to that post for the 2006 Olympics in Turin. Gretzky will remain the team's managing partner and keep his 18% ownership in the Coyotes. Some credit can be given to him for the growth of hockey in Phoenix and getting them the new $220 million Glendale Arena, which opened in December 2003. Other Wings News Ray Whitney signed a two-year, $3 million contract with the Carolina Hurricanes. The two-time All-Star was a consensus flop in Detroit. Coming off a career-high 80 points in 2003-2004, he managed only 14 goals and 29 assists with the Wings last season. He was slated to make $2.66 million this season with the Wings before getting bought out.