{"id":16481,"date":"2009-09-24T13:33:37","date_gmt":"2009-09-24T18:33:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.playingfieldpromotions.com\/blog\/?p=1964"},"modified":"2021-08-13T04:11:12","modified_gmt":"2021-08-13T04:11:12","slug":"wayne-gretzky-retires-as-coach-of-phoenix-coyotes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/wayne-gretzky-retires-as-coach-of-phoenix-coyotes","title":{"rendered":"Wayne Gretzky Retires As Coach of Phoenix Coyotes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wayne Gretzky announced Thursday he would be stepping down due to the financial turmoil surrounding the team.<\/p>\n

As the bankruptcy court battle between Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie and the NHL over the sale of the financially troubled team continues, Gretzky announced on his web site that he was leaving.<\/p>\n

“This was a difficult decision that I’ve thought long and hard about,” Gretzky said. “We all hoped there would be a resolution earlier this month to the Coyotes ownership situation, but the decision is taking longer than expected.<\/p>\n

“Since both remaining bidders have made it clear that I don’t fit into their future plans, I approached general manager Don Maloney and suggested he begin looking for someone to replace me as coach. Don has worked hard and explored many options. I think he has made an excellent choice, and so now it’s time for me to step aside.”<\/p>\n

There was no immediate word on who would be Gretzky’s replacement. Associate coach Ulf Samuelsson had been serving as interim head coach during the preseason, and the team hired former NHL head coach Dave King as an assistant just this week .<\/p>\n

If you would like to find out how to hire Wayne Gretzky for a speaking engagement, appearance, endorsement, autograph signing or special event, request Wayne Gretzky booking agent<\/a> information from PFP Sports and Celebrity Talent Agency. PFP is a top celebrity booking agent for sports speakers<\/a>, entertainers, athlete appearances and celebrities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wayne Gretzky announced Thursday he would be stepping down due to the financial turmoil surrounding the team. As the bankruptcy court battle between Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie and the NHL over the sale of the financially troubled team continues, Gretzky announced on his web site that he was leaving. “This was a difficult decision that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,117,4],"tags":[837],"class_list":["post-16481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-athlete-news","category-hockey-news","category-sports-speaker-news","tag-wayne-gretzky"],"yoast_head":"\nWayne Gretzky Retires As Coach of Phoenix Coyotes -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Wayne Gretzky announced Thursday he would be stepping down due to the financial turmoil surrounding the team. As the bankruptcy court battle between\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/wayne-gretzky-retires-as-coach-of-phoenix-coyotes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Wayne Gretzky Retires As Coach of Phoenix Coyotes -\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Wayne Gretzky announced Thursday he would be stepping down due to the financial turmoil surrounding the team. As the bankruptcy court battle between\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"SS360 Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\\\/blog\\\/wayne-gretzky-retires-as-coach-of-phoenix-coyotes#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\\\/blog\\\/wayne-gretzky-retires-as-coach-of-phoenix-coyotes\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"SS360 Staff\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bdf0fed3e4052d44823f50e6160476f3\"},\"headline\":\"Wayne Gretzky Retires As Coach of Phoenix Coyotes\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-09-24T18:33:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-13T04:11:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\\\/blog\\\/wayne-gretzky-retires-as-coach-of-phoenix-coyotes\"},\"wordCount\":247,\"keywords\":[\"Wayne Gretzky\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Athlete News\",\"Hockey News\",\"Sports Speaker News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\\\/blog\\\/wayne-gretzky-retires-as-coach-of-phoenix-coyotes\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\\\/blog\\\/wayne-gretzky-retires-as-coach-of-phoenix-coyotes\",\"name\":\"Wayne Gretzky Retires As Coach of Phoenix Coyotes -\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-09-24T18:33:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-13T04:11:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bdf0fed3e4052d44823f50e6160476f3\"},\"description\":\"Wayne Gretzky announced Thursday he would be stepping down due to the financial turmoil surrounding the team. As the bankruptcy court battle between\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\\\/blog\\\/wayne-gretzky-retires-as-coach-of-phoenix-coyotes#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\\\/blog\\\/wayne-gretzky-retires-as-coach-of-phoenix-coyotes\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\\\/blog\\\/wayne-gretzky-retires-as-coach-of-phoenix-coyotes#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\\\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Wayne Gretzky Retires As Coach of Phoenix Coyotes\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"\",\"description\":\"Sports Celebrity News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bdf0fed3e4052d44823f50e6160476f3\",\"name\":\"SS360 Staff\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6237e9df62ccd7f46c86ba1c7c5e11dae6ea66260c20ba28cde514d53cde80fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6237e9df62ccd7f46c86ba1c7c5e11dae6ea66260c20ba28cde514d53cde80fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6237e9df62ccd7f46c86ba1c7c5e11dae6ea66260c20ba28cde514d53cde80fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"SS360 Staff\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/admin\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Wayne Gretzky Retires As Coach of Phoenix Coyotes -","description":"Wayne Gretzky announced Thursday he would be stepping down due to the financial turmoil surrounding the team. As the bankruptcy court battle between","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/wayne-gretzky-retires-as-coach-of-phoenix-coyotes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Wayne Gretzky Retires As Coach of Phoenix Coyotes -","twitter_description":"Wayne Gretzky announced Thursday he would be stepping down due to the financial turmoil surrounding the team. As the bankruptcy court battle between","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"SS360 Staff","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/wayne-gretzky-retires-as-coach-of-phoenix-coyotes#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/wayne-gretzky-retires-as-coach-of-phoenix-coyotes"},"author":{"name":"SS360 Staff","@id":"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/bdf0fed3e4052d44823f50e6160476f3"},"headline":"Wayne Gretzky Retires As Coach of Phoenix Coyotes","datePublished":"2009-09-24T18:33:37+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-13T04:11:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/wayne-gretzky-retires-as-coach-of-phoenix-coyotes"},"wordCount":247,"keywords":["Wayne Gretzky"],"articleSection":["Athlete News","Hockey News","Sports Speaker News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/wayne-gretzky-retires-as-coach-of-phoenix-coyotes","url":"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/wayne-gretzky-retires-as-coach-of-phoenix-coyotes","name":"Wayne Gretzky Retires As Coach of Phoenix Coyotes -","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-09-24T18:33:37+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-13T04:11:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/bdf0fed3e4052d44823f50e6160476f3"},"description":"Wayne Gretzky announced Thursday he would be stepping down due to the financial turmoil surrounding the team. As the bankruptcy court battle between","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/wayne-gretzky-retires-as-coach-of-phoenix-coyotes#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/wayne-gretzky-retires-as-coach-of-phoenix-coyotes"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/wayne-gretzky-retires-as-coach-of-phoenix-coyotes#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Wayne Gretzky Retires As Coach of Phoenix Coyotes"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/","name":"","description":"Sports Celebrity News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/bdf0fed3e4052d44823f50e6160476f3","name":"SS360 Staff","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6237e9df62ccd7f46c86ba1c7c5e11dae6ea66260c20ba28cde514d53cde80fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6237e9df62ccd7f46c86ba1c7c5e11dae6ea66260c20ba28cde514d53cde80fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6237e9df62ccd7f46c86ba1c7c5e11dae6ea66260c20ba28cde514d53cde80fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"SS360 Staff"},"url":"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/author\/admin"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3F8n2-4hP","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16481"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16956,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16481\/revisions\/16956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}