GLENDALE, ARIZ. ? The Great One isn’t promising great things right away from the Phoenix Coyotes. Merely contending for the Stanley Cup would be fine for a start.

“There’s no perfect coach in the world,” Wayne Gretzky said Monday at his introduction as the new coach of the Coyotes. “Coaches are human, too. Mistakes are made. But, fundamentally, if you’re sound you eliminate as many mistakes as possible.”

Gretzky downplayed his importance to the NHL as it emerges from the lockout. Others magnified it.

“It’s great for hockey, especially in the U.S., because we have other games that we’re watching,” said Barry Smith, one of three associate coaches Gretzky picked for his staff. “You know, once he gets coaching, the pride that he has, so every place we go something’s going to happen. I feel that every city we go to play, there’s a little more pizazz.”

Gretzky’s presence should help revive the sport, co-owner Steve Ellman said.

“It’s huge. Fans around the world will tune in to watch Gretzky coach,” he said.

Ellman said the team didn’t have enough people to answer calls early Monday regarding season-ticket renewals.

Gretzky, a minority owner and the team’s managing partner for hockey operations, was in the final year of a five-year contract. Ellman said that was extended in an open-ended agreement.

The 44-year-old Gretzky had wrestled with the idea of coaching since June 2004, when Coyotes general manager Mike Barnett, his former agent, brought up the subject. The Coyotes fired coach Bob Francis in February 2004, and Rick Bowness finished the pre-lockout season as interim coach.