Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Douglas Gretzky CCis a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey Leaguefor four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "The Great One", he has been called "the greatest hockey player ever" by many sportswriters, players, and the NHL itself. He is the leading scorer in NHL history, with more goals and more assists than any other player. He scored more assists than any other player scored total points,...
NationalityCanadian
ProfessionHockey Player
Date of Birth26 January 1961
CityBrantford, Canada
CountryCanada
As a player, you have one responsibility, to focus yourself and be ready for the game. As a coach, your responsibility is to get 20 guys ready and have them all on the same page. If you can't get every guy ready every night, you're going to struggle.
I'm thrilled to be sort of back in the hot seat.
I'm thrilled to be back in the hot seat, ... This is what I love, what I know, and I felt I was the best person to coach this team. We finally feel like we've got a pretty good hockey club, and I wanted to be part of it, simple as that.
In a lot of ways he reminds me of ( Mark ) Messier . He's solid. He's hard. He just wants to win.
I like how hard this team played (on the trip) and how unselfish it was. . . . We're playing as a group and that's most important. The outcomes have been better because we're playing better as a group.
I'm just too tired mentally and physically to talk any more about it. There's nothing more for me to talk about. And if you have questions for people involved, contact them.
It's not a question of shutting him (Thornton) down. It's a question of playing against him hard and our guys have played against him hard, and we played against him hard.
It's not going to be easy every day, but I'm going to work hard, and our players are going to work hard, ... I look forward to this as a new chapter in my life, and I can't wait to get started.
The biggest difference between L.A. and Edmonton was that instead of people looking at me I was looking at them.
The ball is a little bit in his court. We want to keep him. He?s a consummate pro and a wonderful man.
Not much really to add to what I said two days ago. Nothing for me to talk about. I'm not involved. It's been a hard week for my family.
I'm glad the NHL has finally stepped in and put him back in the game and reinstated him,
I'm not going anywhere. I'm still going to coach the Phoenix Coyotes. I've done nothing wrong.
I'm really glad they're taking steps to clean it out of the sport.