Views on Gretzky, the day after

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Some interesting morning-after comments are floating around today in the wake of Wayne Gretzky’s overdue decision Thursday to step down as coach of the Phoenix Coyotes. First, there’s this from the Globe and Mail, which presents a little-known side of Gretzky based on court documents filed in the Coyotes’ bankruptcy mess.

And then there’s this bit of near hero worship, which says Gretzky isn’t used to ungraceful exits -- conveniently ignoring the acrimony that led up to his trade from the Kings to St. Louis in 1996. He forced that move after the club refused his requests to upgrade its talent, and there were bitter feelings between him and Kings owner Philip Anschutz for a long time. The Kings got almost nothing for him. Sam ‘The Disaster’ McMaster, then the Kings’ general manager (handpicked by Gretzky) should have threatened the Blues with a tampering charge to get them to cough up more talent and could have used Mike Keenan’s many and very public remarks about Gretzky as support for a tampering allegation.

Canada’s Sun Media chain quotes Gretzky’s father, Walter, as saying Wayne is through with the NHL. That’s difficult to imagine.

-- Helene Elliott