Outside's Go Magazine - Travel and Style for Men

To say Wayne Gretzky is a living legend is unfair. The word legend usually indicates something that happened long ago, perhaps so long ago that no one remembers it firsthand. But Gretzky has been retired for less than a decade, so his 61 scoring records are still burned in the memories of current players who went up against him. He was so dominant that, when he retired in 1999, several teams approached him about becoming a part owner. Gretzky eventually decided to purchase a minority stake in the Phoenix Coyotes, a franchise that had relocated from Winnipeg, Manitoba. A rabid fan base of displaced Northerners rejoiced when the Great One arrived like a winning lottery ticket. Then the losing started to get a little more frequent.

With an early exit in the team’s sole playoff appearance, Gretzky took matters into his own hands: In 2005, he became the coach. Unfortunately, his presence wasn’t enough to get the Coyotes to the playoffs. They finished last in their division two of the last three seasons.

With enough money for several lifetimes, Gretzky wouldn’t be faulted for skating into the sunset. You don’t see most legends in other sports answering questions after games about why their star player can’t score. They’re too busy growing the myth—a charity appearance here, a jersey-retirement ceremony there. Not Gretzky. To him, the legacy is in the work. So rather than retreat to the luxury box, he became even more resolved. “I have one goal in hockey,” Gretzky says. “I want to win the Stanley Cup here in Phoenix.”

BACK WHEN HE WAS STILL SKATING FOR A LIVING, Gretzky never saw himself standing—literally—above the other players as their head coach. He says so in his 1990 autobiography, Gretzky, a passage of which I read to him as we sit in the stands: “I know one thing, I don’t want to be a coach, and I don’t want to be a general manager.”

“As a player, you never want to be outside of the team,” he explains to me. “You want to be one of the guys—to feel the wins and losses. You can’t feel that sitting in a box atop the arena. That was one of the reasons I decided to coach. Plus I feel like I have a lot to contribute.”