NHL: Mark Messier and Wayne Gretzky Both Interested In Coaching The New York Rangers Next Season

Two of the National Hockey League's (NHL) legends want to return to New York City, as both Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier have expressed a desire to help guide the Rangers to the next level.

The Rangers head coaching job became available after the organization fired John Tortorella, four days after getting eliminated by the Boston Bruins in NHL Eastern Conference semifinals.

"It wasn't one thing," said Rangers General Manager Glen Sather. "Every coach has a shelf life. I've told every guy I've hired, that at some point in time this is going to change. Our goal is to win the Stanley Cup, and we didn't achieve the goal this year. I had to make the decision, and so I did."

Messier, a six-time Stanley Cup winner and two-time Hart Memorial trophy winner (given to the league's most valuable player) who ended the Rangers' 54-year championship drought in 1994, has no NHL coaching experience but has coached Team Canada to a third place finish in the Deutschland Cup and a runner-up spot in the Spengler Cup.

Gretzky, on the hand, has NHL coaching experience as part-owner, head of operations, and coach of the Phoenix Coyotes. Gretzky failed to make the playoffs each of his four seasons there (2005-2009) and only once finishing with a winning percentage above .500. The four-time Stanley Cup winner (alongside Messier while playing for Edmonton Oilers) and a nine-time Hart Memorial trophy winner, ended his career in New York, having played at Madison Square Garden from 1996 to 1999 before retiring.

"I hear both of them are interested," said Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos. "You look at where both guys - Gretzky and Messier - are in their lives right now, and for them at this point to say they're intrigued by it and wouldn't dismiss the idea tells you volumes about how they view the position as head coach of the New York Rangers."

Sather hopes to have a coach hired prior to the June 30th draft. The Rangers have been granted permission to interview Vancouver Canucks coach Alain Vigneault and Toronto Marlies (American Hockey League) coach Dallas Eakins for the open position. New York is also taking a look at former Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff and current Coyotes coach Dave Tippett.