Coyotes History Throwback, Vol. IX: 2005-2006 Season
The ninth Phoenix Coyotes season started the “GRETZKY” era: On August 8, 2005, despite denials that the Great One would assume the coaching duties, Gretzky agreed to be the new coach of the Coyotes.
He replaced interim coach Rick Bowness, despite the fact that he had never coached at
any
level of hockey.
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Bowness stayed on as an assistant coach- but fans were blown away by THE Wayne Gretzky! ! coaching their hockey team, and Bowness was all but forgotten.
In the time leading up to the Gretzky announcement, several promising free agents expressed interest in signing with Phoenix, excited at the chance to play for Gretzky.
One of these free agents was Brett Hull, otherwise known as The Golden Brett. Hull, who was Gretzky’s right wing briefly, lasted only five games and collected one assist before announcing his retirement.
I can still recall myself all the hype going down at the time between Gretzky’s hire and Hull’s signing. The Coyotes had maintained the Winnipeg Jets retired jerseys in their Ring Of Honor at the then Jobing.com Arena. When Brett signed with the Coyotes, his Dad, Bobby Hull requested that they un-retire his jersey number so his son Brett could wear it. The team consented, and then Brett decided to hang up his skates and retire.
What was even more fascinating was how people just assumed that the greatest player in hockey would be a successful coach.
What did come naturally was the “star” effect. When I worked at the arena as an usher, I had some friends who had seats eight rows behind the Coyotes bench. You’d be surprised how many fans came down to the bench area to get a picture of Gretzky. They really didn’t care about the game- but this was WAYNE GRETZKY ! I think many players were attracted to play in Phoenix because of the lifestyle and climate, but add in the fact that Wayne Gretzky was going to be your coach, and it was HOCKEY HEAVEN IN WAYNE’S WORLD ! !
As it turned out- not that many “big name” players signed with Phoenix this season. To recap the transactions made during Coach Gretzky’s premier season:
- Steven Reinprecht was acquired in a trade with Calgary for Brian (what have you done for me lately) Boucher
- Zbynek Michalek was acquired in a trade with Minnesota on 8-26-05.
- Mike Ricci signed on 7-9-04. Ugliest face in the NHL, but boy could he play.
- Geoff Sanderson (.63 PPG career) came over from Columbus on 8-8-05
- About a week after Gretsky took over the coaching reins, Curtis (CuJu) Joseph signed as a free agent. I Still remember the “CUJU” chants when he made a great save.
To report on the statistics this season:
The team did improve from the disastrous 04-05 season with a 38-39-5 record, but it was only good for last place finish in the Pacific Division, 12th in the tough Western Conference (yep.. even back then it was difficult to make the playoffs in this highly competitive Conference). Edmonton had to accumulate 95 points to just get in the eighth and final playoff spot.
- Shane Doan really started to take over as the leader of this team since his appointment as captain the previous season. Doan was again the leading scorer with 30 goals and 36 assists- and almost half of those came from special teams. 17 power play goals, along with 24 power play assists, foreshadowed at the forward’s strong penalty play. He took a whopping 254 shots and amassed 123 penalty minutes to cap off a successful season for him.
- Mike Comrie was second in scoring with 30 goals and 30 assists. Comrie arrived from the Flyers on 2-9-04 for Sean Burke, Branko Radivojevic, and Ben Eager.
- Ladislav Nagy had good numbers for 51 games, coming in with 15 goals, and 41 assists.
There were also quite a few rules changes this season, the most important of which was NO MORE TIES ! ! The Shootout would decide ties, after a five minute overtime period of four-on-four. I must admit I was a big fan of the shootout, mainly because the Coyotes had played 82 games ending in a tie since their arrival in the Valley for the 96-97 season. That’s an entire season’s worth of ties in 9 seasons!
UP NEXT: SEASON TWO WITH COACH GRETZKY AT THE HELM