The Great One won’t be much in-studio

TNT’s hockey coverage isn’t off to a great start.

Wayne Gretzky stepped down from his position with the Edmonton Oilers, which is probably for the best for anyone associated with the Oilers now. Rumor has it he’s going to be TNT’s lead studio analyst when they start covering the league next season. And the New York Post’s Andrew Marchand had the scoop:

Wayne Gretzky will be a lead analyst on Turner’s premier studio show after agreeing to a contract that will pay him in the neighborhood of $3 million per season, according to sources.

Here’s more from Marchand on how it went down, including Sir Charles playing recruiter:

ESPN and Gretzky failed to reach a deal to bring Gretzky to Bristol, leaving TNT as the clear favorite, The Post reported nearly three weeks ago. Turner, with Gretzky’s buddy Charles Barkley serving as a recruiter, closed the deal.

The problem is the next interesting thing Gretz has to say will be the first. While he is one of the game’s greatest players, and has always been gracious with his time and seems a pleasant fellow… there’s no color there. He’s just plain. We’ve already had our fill of bland coverage with NBC, which spent years not telling us anything other than standard hockey twattle, interspersed with the occasional Mike Milbury belch.

Come on TNT, you can do better.