Wayne Gretzky

ST. LOUIS -- As the NHL playoffs begin, it's easy to think time has stood still for Wayne Gretzky. He glides effortlessly over the ice, makes steals, picks up loose pucks and starts plays from behind his net -- the place he calls his office.But this is not Edmonton, where Gretzky began his ascent. And it is not Los Angeles, where he was a King in every sense.This is St. Louis, and Gretzky, 35, -- yearning for one more Stanley Cup ring -- is part of a tumultuous team that will need more than his prowess alone to win the playoffs, which the Blues start at Toronto tonight.

Wayne Gretzky says he is unsure about his hockey future. "You know what, I don't know what the future holds for me," he told ESPN.com on Wednesday. "I honestly don't know." The NHL lost Gretzky in September when he stepped down as coach of the Coyotes. He has kept a low profile since and is enjoying life back in Los Angeles with his family. For now, hockey is on the back burner. "I love the game," Gretzky said. "Yeah, there are days I really miss it. But the reality is everything happens for a reason and I don't see myself doing anything for at least a year and a half."

Gary Gait scans the field and sees the accustomed double team waiting.No space in the middle of the field. No opening around the goal. Nevertheless this is Gait, the quickest, strongest and more importantly, the most creative lacrosse player ever.So with one quick move behind the goal, he catapults himself in front of the goal and whips an airborne shot over his shoulder."Gary can do things that no one else can do," Thunder coach John Tucker said. "He is the Michael Jordan of our sport."In the United States, he's compared to Jordan.

Is Wayne Gretzky telling the truth about his involvement in the NHL gambling controversy? I'm glad Wayne Gretzky didn't appear on the old TV show, "To Tell the Truth." The celebrity guest had to tell the truth, while two impostors could lie when questioned about their work ethic. Gretzky would have cheated, and lied, just as he's doing now. David Boyd White Hall NEXT QUESTION Did Michelle Kwan give up too soon on skating in Turin? Selected responses to today's question will be printed tomorrow on The Kickoff page.

It was fun. Bill should do this more often.If we cannot agree about gun control for this country, can we at least be unanimous that Mexico needs some?Sounds like the old days. Italy has an election which either the Fascisti or the Communists must win.Wayne Gretzky for PM!

Is Wayne Gretzky telling the truth about his involvement in the NHL gambling controversy? I'm glad Wayne Gretzky didn't appear on the old TV show, "To Tell the Truth." The celebrity guest had to tell the truth, while two impostors could lie when questioned about their work ethic. Gretzky would have cheated, and lied, just as he's doing now. David Boyd White Hall NEXT QUESTION Did Michelle Kwan give up too soon on skating in Turin? Selected responses to today's question will be printed tomorrow on The Kickoff page.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- Wayne Gretzky is only a signature away from a three-year, $25.5 million contract.Los Angeles Kings owner Bruce McNall signed the contract and gave it to Gretzky last night before the Kings' exhibition game with the Mighty Ducks at Anaheim Arena.Gretzky, the NHL's all-time scoring leader as well as this year with 53 points, said he has not had a chance to give the contract a last look but considers the agreement finalized.

Maple Leafs (44-29-11)vs. Kings (39-35-10)Season series: Maple Leafs, 2-1-1Maple Leafs outlook: Toronto is seeking its first Stanley Cup since 1967 and is in its first semifinal since 1978. C Doug Gilmour (six goals, 16 assists in playoffs) has done everything the Maple Leafs possibly could ask -- score, check and lead -- and could spend a lot of time matched up against Wayne Gretzky's line after defusing the Red Wings' Steve Yzerman in the opening round. Rookie G Felix Potvin has played like a veteran and been supported by an unheralded but reliable defense and good checking by the forwards -- a trademark of coach Pat Burns.

Opponent: New York RangersWhere: Madison Square Garden, New YorkTime: 7: 30TV/radio: HTS/WTEM (570 AM), WWLG (1360)Outlook: The Capitals (1-5) are looking to avoid their worst start since opening 1-6 in 1993-94. Washington has played better in losses to Buffalo and Pittsburgh, but has not put together a solid game. Peter Bondra, the man the Caps are depending on for consistent scoring, has three goals but has been shut out in four of the team's six games. C Joe Juneau (bruised nerve in leg)

With a power-play goal 14:47 into the second period, Wayne Gretzky (left) of the Los Angeles Kings surpasses the finalNational Hockey League record he'd been chasing by scoring the 802nd goal of his National Hockey League career, one more than Gordie Howe's 801.The historic goal came in Gretzky's 1,117th game, 650 fewer than Howe played in a 26-year career interrupted by a stint in the defunct World Hockey Association."

Turin, Italy-- --The winter's first big Olympic scandal is about to arrive. It's scheduled to leave the United States late Sunday night and touch down in Italy the next day. Everyone's already abuzz about its arrival. This isn't just a pretty good scandal. This is The Great One. A gambling investigation has threatened to take a sport that was on its knees and put it on ice. The waves that battered the NHL this week will fully douse the Winter Games when Wayne Gretzky, the executive director of Team Canada, arrives in town.

Donald Trump is suing a New York Times reporter over a book that claims he isn't a billionaire. Trump is seeking $5 billion. I guess that increases his chances of being right. Didn't Theo Epstein resign as Red Sox general manager, leaving Fenway Park in a gorilla costume so the media wouldn't recognize him? I heard he suddenly returned to the organization, only to resign again before the team could give him a new job title. And that he sneaked out of Fenway wearing a costume of the Empire State Building.

At the Ice World hockey rink in Abingdon, the Beijing Cubs were making a comeback against the Baltimore Stars, much to the delight of the half-dozen Chinese parents jumping and hollering in the bleachers. "Step on the gas! Step on the gas!" they chanted in Chinese as their pre-adolescent sons advanced the puck against the favored home team from Baltimore. The Beijing Cubs, ages 7 to 10 - who lost the game, 6-4 - are in Harford County this week for the sole purpose of improving their hockey skills.

SAN FRANCISCO - Barry Bonds won his record seventh Most Valuable Player award yesterday, putting him back in another batter's box, where the national media peppered him with questions about the steroid controversy that surrounded his 2004 season. This is what it's come to for Bonds. No other baseball player has won more than three MVP awards, and at age 40, Bonds just claimed his fourth consecutive National League MVP award for the San Francisco Giants. Yet, Bonds' afternoon conference call with reporters included as many questions about the BALCO steroid controversy as it did questions about his place in history.

BOSTON - Now that Curt Schilling's postseason apparently is over after last night's start, maybe we can reflect on what is certain to become a legendary October performance. But some of us have been fixated on one distinct possibility: What if it wasn't blood on his sock during his Game 6 performance in the American League Championship Series? Does that diminish the image of Schilling as Curse Killer, as the hired gun with a World Series ring and Most Valuable Player trophy from Arizona who came east to do exactly what he said he'd do: beat the Yankees, which Red Sox Nation insists is the same thing as killing the curse?

WASHINGTON - The grass on the practice field just off Oklahoma Avenue is richly green, English green. In fact, with a heavy sky dominating the gray, misty morning a couple of days before Major League Soccer begins its regular season, the unfolding scene looks more suited to a London suburb, where soccer is life, than the field just across the street from RFK Stadium. There is a soccer team on the field, and the sidelines have disappeared beneath the feet of a media contingent usually seen around here only for the Washington Redskins.

Wayne Gretzky says he is unsure about his hockey future. "You know what, I don't know what the future holds for me," he told ESPN.com on Wednesday. "I honestly don't know." The NHL lost Gretzky in September when he stepped down as coach of the Coyotes. He has kept a low profile since and is enjoying life back in Los Angeles with his family. For now, hockey is on the back burner. "I love the game," Gretzky said. "Yeah, there are days I really miss it. But the reality is everything happens for a reason and I don't see myself doing anything for at least a year and a half."

RALEIGH, N.C. - They were supposed to be worn out by now and too old to make a difference. But as the playoff marathon reaches its home stretch, Detroit's elder statesmen haven't gotten older, they've gotten better. Igor Larionov and Brett Hull spoiled the party in Raleigh last night for the second straight game and even slumping Brendan Shanahan found the back of the net as the Red Wings moved one step closer to their third Stanley Cup in the last six years with a 3-0 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 4 of the Finals.