Yesterday, I wrote about Janet Jones Gretzky, the wife of hockey’s biggest name, playing high-stakes golf on TV. I wondered if the NHL was OK with the spouse of one of its owners–who’s also a coach– gambling hundreds of thousands of dollars when, for the sake of their credibility, sports leagues normally go to every length to distance themselves from gambling interests.

So, I called the NHL. They listened and asked me to email them. I did. Then I emailed them again. And again. And again. I still haven’t heard back from anyone at the NHL, and I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.

The league is in a steady decline, in large part because it can’t connect with casual fans–casual fans turned off by the NHL’s management style–call it Early Byzantine Empire–whether it’s the league’s toleration of goonery or inability to apply consistently a code of conduct off the ice.

Here’s the background: On Sunday, ESPN broadcast of a high stakes gambling-golf show “The Doyle Brunson & Dewey Tomko Invitational ” Among professional card players, the show also featured Janet Jones Gretzky, wife of Phoenix Coyotes Managing Partner/Coach Wayne Gretzky. (The Great One is also acceptable.) The show’s hook: the players were putting up their own money. Nine teams of two players put up a cool $250,000 each to play in the tournament.

It was obvious from the start that this tournament had nothing to do with golf and everything to do with gambling as was made clear by player “profiles” in which every player reiterated that gambling is central to their lives.

It was stunning to see Jones Gretzky among the players: first because in 2006 she had been implicated in an illegal gambling ring allegedly run by Rick Tocchet, then a Coyotes coach; second, because sports leagues try to distance themselves from gambling of any sort and the appearance that gambling interests manipulate the outcome of games

Now, there was nothing nefarious about the TV show; it was an amusing bit of fluff. But, as I said, all the players made clear that gambling was either a focus or the focus of their lives. And here was Jones Gretzky, the wife of not only hockey’s biggest name, but a coach who would be a prized target of anyone interested in a fix.

Sports leagues run on the appearance that everything is on the up and up. The moment your league is perceived to be fixed, you’re professional wrestling (although the NHL would probably kill for the TV numbers of the WWE).

You would think that the league would have jumped at the opportunity to handle the situation, to answer my questions, perhaps call the Coyotes and do a conference call, though who knows if the NHL offices are equipped with phones with multiple lines. They did nothing. Not only did they do nothing, it seemed obvious in my phone conversation with league officials that they were not even aware Jones Gretzky had appeared on the show.

Oh, hold on, phone call …

That was the Phoenix Coyotes telling me that the guy who handles Wayne Gretzky’s media contacts will be getting back to me.

More to come …

Tags: Doyle Brunson, high stakes golf, Janet Jones Gretzky, NHL, Phoenix Coyotes, Sports, Wayne Gretzky