Gretzky says Coyotes not for sell... concerned two NHL seasons could be lost, not just one without deal

Good and bad news from "The Great One"...

Yahoo! News - GRAND FORKS, N.D. (CP) - Wayne Gretzky is concerned that if the NHL and the players' association don't agree to a new collective bargaining agreement soon, the next season will be lost as well as this one. "If this is not decided in the next few days, I'm scared we could be looking at a year, a year and a half, two years, not just three months like a lot of people thought in September," Gretzky said Sunday during a news conference at the world junior hockey championship. "From April to October, the players don't get paid, so I can't see us coming to an agreement in August or September. "If we don't find a way to make everyone who is part of this sort of happy and get a deal done, we could be looking at a long, long time before hockey is played in the NHL and that's very alarming too. I hope in the next couple weeks we can come to an agreement." Gretzky also denied recent published reports that the Phoenix Coyotes franchise is for sale. Gretzky is a minority owner and a managing partner of the club. Jerry Moyes is the majority owner and Steve Ellman also has a minority stake. "The team is not for sale," Gretzky said. "If it was for sale I would tell you guys, but it's not. There's really no truth to the story at all."