Gretzky No Longer Unstoppable
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by user Alex Holowczak
He retired in 1999, and has gone into coaching. He coaches the Canadian National Team, and the Phoenix Coyotes.
Unfortunately for him, his coaching abilities to not match up to his playing abilities. After missing last years playoffs, the Coyotes are now bottom in their division, and stone dead last in the NHL, behind even the Flyers.
And it's not like the Coyotes have a bad team. Ladislav Nagy is a great Left Wing, and Jeremy Roenick has had a great career. Players also include Owen Nolan, Mike Comrie, and Shane Doan. Mike Ricci is also great. Defensively, they have Ed Jovanovski and Nick Boynton, two great defenders, as well as Derek Morris. They have two solid lines of defense, and three capable lines on offense. So there's really no excuse. In Curtis Joseph they have a more than adequate Goalie, albeit they have no real quality at backup.
Canada is the most fanatical country when it comes to Ice Hockey. Canada has more NHL players than any other country. Just imagine the potential Canadian team. Imagine the Canadian Second Team...
- Goalie: Giguere, Brodeur, Luongo, Turco, Ward, Roloson
- Defense: Pronger, McCabe, Niedermayer, Campbell, Souray, Boyle, Phaneuf, P Boucher, Blake, Jovanovski, McLaren, Bouwmeester
- Left Wing: Shanahan, Whitney, Kariya, Smith, Gagne, Tanguay, Kunitz
- Right Wing: St. Louis, Iginla, Tucker, Williams, Sullivan, Murray, Bernier
- Centre: Brind'Amour, Crosby, Spezza, Briere, Lecavalier, Savard, Marleau, Thornton, Sakic, Staal
- Left Out: Richards, Bergeron, Camalleri etc.
As you can see, a Canadian Reserve Team would probably medal at an Olympic Games, let alone the First Team. To see what I mean, pick the best 3 goalies, 6 defensemen, 4 on each wing, 4 centres, and a couple of utility men. The rest would be in the reserves.
Yet under Gretzky, Canada were eliminated at the Quarter Finals of the 2006 Olympic Games. They could only achieve Bronze in the 2006 World Championship - a time when other countries with no depth were likely to struggle due to the clash with the NHL Playoffs. Unfortunately for Gretzky, Canada winning the International Events is the expected result, so for anything less he will be criticised.
Gretzky as a player was brilliant, but his record as a coach leaves a lot to be desired so far.
