Meh, Gretzky Still Can't Coach

Head coaches are like quarterbacks: They usually absorb too much of the blame and never get enough of the credit. Except for Wayne Gretzky.

One Phoenix Coyotes hot streak fueled by a torrid new goaltender, and The Grape One is in line for the Jack Adams, the Nobel Peace Prize and a spot in the final two in this season's "American Idol" finale (in order of prestige). So when I wrote on Dec. 10 that, when it comes to coaches, "either you have it or you don't, and I'm pretty sure Gretzky doesn't have it," and then Phoenix embarked on a 10-4-1 streak to cement its place in the Western Conference playoff race, at best I look like someone with the analytical deficiencies of a Pakistani government medical examiner and at worst a prejudgmental dumbass.

As anticipated, I've taken some well-deserved shrapnel for my walloping of Wayne from One Fan's Perspective and Matt Blake, each delivering variations of the "where's your criticism now, see, mah!?" sermon. Well, at least they probably consider it "well-deserved." Because while I won't deny Gretz some credit, I'm certainly not about bow down to some Michel Therrien-like beneficiary of good management and better luck; and I'm certainly not about to anoint him as one of the NHL's coaching elite.

I'll admit to one error in judgment in the original blog when I said that Gretzky has "shown nothing from a tactical standpoint" as a coach. During their recent torrid stretch, the Coyotes were rolling four lines and had an aggressive fore-checking scheme that dictated the tempo against many of their opponents. Part of that is out of necessity, because Phoenix doesn't exactly have a Heatley-Spezza-Alfredsson to roll out there (then again, neither does Ottawa for the next four-to-six weeks); part of that is understanding the virtues and limitations of the team's young core of talent. For that, Gretzky deserves credit.

But the ultimate credit for the Coyotes even getting a sniff of the postseason goes to two people: Ilya Bryzgalov and Don Maloney. The GM snagged Bryz off the waiver wire on Nov. 17, and the goalie responded with a shut out of the Kings that afternoon. Since then, Bryzgalov has had two four-game winning streaks and a three-game winning streak; he heads into tonight's game against San Jose with a 14-10 record, a 2.38 GAA and a .921 save percentage during his time in the desert. But beyond the numbers, he's provided the Coyotes something many of them have not experienced in Phoenix: Utter confidence in the last line of defense. It's a difference-maker, from defense to offense; witness the fact that this team's longest winning streak was back-to-back games prior to The Coming of Bryz.

Maloney not only stole Bryzgalov, but he quietly added Radim Vrbata before the season and has seen him becoming a vital forward. Vrbata scored 13 of his 18 goals during the team's Bryzgalov back-stopped streak, matching well with Martin Hanzal and Fredrik Sjostrom.

Does Gretzky deserve credit for either of these revelations? Of course not; no more than Therrien deserves credit for Ty Conklin suddenly morphing into Terry Sawchuk with an embarrassing YouTube video. Gretzky, and the rest of the team, are simply benefiting from two players blowing away expectations in a contract season.

But things are changing for the 'Yotes. Vrbata's line has been shaken up. Gretzky admitted that Bryzgalov has looked quite average in 2008. Phoenix has been, and looked like, a .500 team in the last week.

So four points out of a Western Conference playoff spot, here's where we stand: I took my shots at Gretzky when the team was down, Coyotes bloggers took their shots at me when the team was up. Match point will be decided over the next several weeks, as The Great One attempts to keep this young team in the hunt -- or provides more evidence that he's an average, at best, NHL coach.