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By HOWARD BERGER

TORONTO (May 13) — In the unusual world of professional sports, where hypotheses often become reality, could the Toronto Maple Leafs be considering the most renowned and celebrated name in National Hockey League annals for their prime executive vacancy? There are no hard facts to boost the notion that Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment is planning a frontal assault on the Phoenix Coyotes for Wayne Gretzky, but more than a few whispers in recent days suggest that No. 99 has not completely eluded MLSE’s radar. If the Leafs contacted the Coyotes, Gretzky would merely have to grant himself permission to chat, for he is coach and part owner of the Phoenix club. Semantics, therefore, would not be an issue. All that needs to be answered is this: Would Gretzky divest himself of equity in the Coyotes to finally join the club he has followed since his earliest years?

“I think he’d be tempted to the core,” suggested a long-time associate of Gretzky’s, who chose to remain anomymous. “He certainly isn’t looking to get out of Phoenix, and I think he’s really starting to enjoy the coaching gig. But, the Leafs have always held a special place in his heart, even in the days when he was knocking the crap out of them with the Oilers and Kings. If MLSE ever said to him, ‘Wayne, it’s your baby… come in here, hire who you want, and run our hockey club’, he’d have some serious thinking to do.”

On the surface, this would seem to be a bit of a stretch. Gretzky has poured his heart, his money, and his reputation into the Phoenix franchise, and he certainly doesn’t need the tumult of the Toronto hockey scene. But, Gretzky hasn’t needed anything from the game since his playing career ended almost a decade ago. He could have sailed into the sunset on that New York afternoon in April, 1999, and forever lived off his astounding legacy. Clearly, that wasn’t good enough. The challenge of competition and the intoxication of limelight are imbedded in the Great One’s psyche, and that’s why he has since chosen to involve himself in all levels of the sport — from owning, to managing, to coaching. When buying into the Coyotes quenched only part of his yearning, he seized the opportunity to get as close to the ice as possible. The improbable notion of Gretzky as a head coach in the NHL raised many eyebrows, only to morph into a collective shrug this past season, when No. 99 again proved he can master almost anything he undertakes.

Why, then, wouldn’t the Maple Leafs be interested in him? Undoubtedly, he meets every description of the mega-star that MLSE has promised to land, and then some. So what if he hasn’t won the Stanley Cup as a general manager? It’s like arguing that Bill Gates might have overlooked a computer chip somewhere along the way. Gretzky would bring instant and stunning credibility to the Leafs’ executive perch, as he did Hockey Canada’s program leading up to the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. More than a few people wondered why he was suddenly qualified to assemble staff and playing personnel for an international hockey competition. Our country’s first gold medal in 50 years emphatically answered that query. It was followed by another impressive triumph in the 2004 World Cup tournament, played on Canadian soil. The disappointment of 2006 in Turin only proved that Gretzky is fallible — a tag that belongs to all of the great minds in hockey, including Scotty Bowman (remember his Buffalo years?).

Gretzky offers a cautionary tale only in his unbending loyalty to the people closest to him. They have long been refered to — unflatteringly — as “FOGs” (Friends Of Gretzky). And, they haven’t always justified his faith in them. Most prominent is the misadventure of Michael Barnett — for many years Gretzky’s agent and business advisor, with whom the Great One entrusted management of the Coyotes in 2002. It became an unmitigated disaster, as Phoenix missed the playoffs four consecutive seasons under Barnett, and it led to the usual rancorous parting when Gretzky blew out his entire hockey staff in early-2007. Word is that Gretzky and Barnett — inseparable for so many years — have hardly spoken a word since the executive bloodletting.

Another victim of that purge was the Leafs’ current manager – Cliff Fletcher — and it’s doubtful that the Great One and the Silver Fox are near the top of each other’s Christmas card lists today. It would therefore be awkward for both men if Gretzky were to join the Toronto organization. But, these are things that happen in the business world every day, and the sharpest minds learn from their mistakes.

It seems there has long been something inevitable about a Gretzky/Maple Leafs union. As a young hockey phenom in Brantford, Ont. — an hour’s drive from Toronto — Gretzky idolized the Blue & White. I can still close my eyes and see him sitting next to his first hockey agent — Gus Badali — at Leaf games in the mid-to-late-’70s. Badali had season tickets in the south-mezzanine blues at Maple Leaf Gardens, a dozen or so seats to the left of my own ducats in Sec. 30. During the era of Darryl Sittler, Lanny McDonald, Borje Salming and Tiger Williams, Badali would often be accompanied by a gangly, long-haired kid with a big nose and lots of acne. People around me would point to the kid and talk about the things they were hearing and reading — that he would one day become the greatest hockey player who ever lived. It seemed improbable at the time, but we all know how it turned out.

In the summer of 1996 — long after he had re-written the NHL record book — Gretzky wanted to finish his playing career as a member of the Leafs. Fletcher, in his first coming as Toronto GM, had all but worked out the details of a free agent contract with Barnett when Leafs’ owner Steve Stavro put the kibosh on the deal. In the ensuing years, two stories have made the rounds. The first, and most prominent, is that Stavro denied approval on the grounds that Gretzky could not possibly fill any vacant seats at the Gardens. Stavro was in a financial crunch at the time and had recently slashed the Leafs’ payroll. But, Stavro, himself, had a different take — one he relayed to me on a long flight from Vienna to Toronto after the 2005 World Hockey Championships. The owner, who would pass away just more than a year later, claimed that Gretzky and Barnett wanted equity in the Leafs — a demand that he and his board of directors were unprepared to meet.

Whatever the case, the situation didn’t pan out, and Gretzky signed with the New York Rangers — the club with which he finished his career three years later.

“There’s a part of Wayne that has always desired to be affiliated with the Leafs,” his friend told me this week. “I don’t know that he’d give up his Phoenix arrangement to make it happen, but an overture from MLSE would certainly grab his attention. I’m obviously biased, but I don’t think there’s a person on earth the Maple Leafs could land that would bring more credibility to their organization. I’ve heard some second-hand stories that it’s been discussed, but nothing beyond that.”

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The 2008 Stanley Cup tournament has been largely devoid of suspense and balance. Four and five-game series have been the norm, and it appears that both conference finals could be brief. Heading into tonight’s action, Pittsburgh and Detroit have combined for a 21-3 record in the playoffs this spring (the Penguins are 10-1; the Red Wings 11-2). And, they could provide the saving grace. A Stanley Cup final between the teams would feature an unmatched level of skill. To have Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Marian Hossa, Sergei Gonchar, Petr Sykora, Nick Lidstrom, Johan Franzen, Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and others vying for the NHL championship would be an incredible treat. Something the ‘08 competition badly needs.

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