He made mistakes in the application for the matches put the wrong players out on the ice, experienced modest success, but everyone forgave him. Therefore, the question arises why was Wayne Gretzky not as brilliant as a coach as to when he used to be a player.
Losing Streak and Wrong Application
Unfortunately, not every successful hockey player can be so fortunate in a coaching career. Everyone knows that he was a good player. However, one prefers to forget Gretzky`s coaching experience rather than speak on it. On August 8th, 2005, Wayne Gretzky became the Phoenix head coach.
Gretzky’s team defeated The Minnesota Wild in their debut game. However, in 2005, he made a mistake by confusing the players. Gretzky included in the list of injured players the forward who was absolutely healthy. Subsequently, an annulled goal was the result of such confusion. As a result, the team has 38 wins whereas lost 39 times, failing to get to the playoffs. Therefore, Gretzky was not as brilliant as when he used to be a player.
Further Career
In 2006, Gretzky signed a new five-year contract with the club. However, not all fans appreciated such a choice. By the way, they were right. For example, in the new season, the team won only 31 times and dropped from 5th to 15th place in the ranking. Gretzky was with the team two more seasons. In the 2008/2009 championship, the Phoenix again fall to a mark below 50% of the points scored and gained only 36 victories in 82 games.
On September 24th, 2009, Gretzky resigned as head coach, explaining this by the club’s financial difficulties. The Arizona Coyotes announced the appointment of Dave Tippett as a new coach a few hours later. In the first season without Gretzky, the Phoenix reached the playoffs. Meanwhile, Wayne sold his club stock. In short, he has made no more attempts to become a coach since then.
Also, read about Great Players Who Made Terrible Managers.
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