Coach Gretzky Already Seeing Big Picture

Wayne Gretzky gave a hint of his coaching style Tuesday when he opened training camp with a greeting to Phoenix Coyote players, then went into the stands at Glendale, Ariz., to watch two scrimmages while his assistants oversaw the line changes.

Gretzky, the team’s managing partner for hockey operations, acknowledged stepping into a realm where he may not reach the same status he attained as a player.

“I’m venturing into a new career, and I have to go out there and earn my stripes as much as anybody,” he said.

Gretzky says that applying the same principles that turned him from a teenage phenom into the NHL’s greatest scorer -- study, preparation, attention to detail -- will help him make the transition.

“I really practiced hard, I really knew who I was going to play against,” he said. “Each and every night, I spent countless hours in video rooms going over things with coaches like John Muckler, so I made myself into the player that I became, and that’s the way I’m going to coach.”

Brett Hull, who trails only Gretzky and Gordie Howe in career goal-scoring, is among the Coyotes’ newcomers. He left Detroit to sign with the Coyotes in August 2004, joining then-newly acquired forwards Mike Ricci, Boyd Devereaux and Jason Chimera, and defenseman Sean O’Donnell.

They and 2005 acquisitions Petr Nedved and goaltender Curtis Joseph have been working out on their own, paying for ice time to prepare for Camp Gretzky.

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The NHL Players’ Assn., accused of violating its own rules by hiring Ted Saskin as executive director without subjecting the decision to a secret ballot, began sending ballots to the 30 player representatives after Saskin suggested the process be reopened.

A ratification of his hiring is expected this week or early next week. However, some players had urged the union to interview outside candidates rather than automatically promote Saskin from his previous job as Bob Goodenow’s top lieutenant. An accounting firm will tally the votes.

“We want to make sure everyone is comfortable with what happened,” Trevor Linden of the Vancouver Canucks, president of the NHLPA, told reporters in Vancouver. “We want to make sure we don’t have anybody that is unhappy or questioning the process.”

King defenseman Mattias Norstrom said Monday that he believed Saskin was the right man for the job but questioned the union’s haste in offering Saskin a lucrative six-year contract.

“It’s a question of how it got to be Ted Saskin so quickly, more than a question of whether Ted Saskin is competent or not,” Norstrom said.

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Right wing Scott Young, who spent four seasons in St. Louis before going to Dallas, is returning to the Blues. Young, 37, an unrestricted free agent, had his best season with the Blues in 2000-01, with 40 goals and 73 points.... The Atlanta Thrashers signed free-agent right wing Peter Bondra, the NHL’s second-leading goal scorer over the last 10 seasons, to a one-year, $505,000 contract.... Defenseman Ivan Majesky failed his physical with the Washington Capitals because of a knee injury and did not attend training camp.