Los Angeles, CA (My Sportsbook) - The Los Angeles Kings will honor legendary Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky prior to the start of their 2002-03 season opener at the Staples Center tonight against the team the Great One currently serves as managing partner, the Phoenix Coyotes.

Gretzky, who played with the Kings from 1988-96, will be recognized in a pregame ceremony that will include his famous No. 99 sweater being raised to the Staples Center rafters, making him the fourth King to have his jersey retired by the club. He'll join Dave Taylor, Rogie Vachon and Marcel Dionne.

The 41-year-old Gretzky scored 246 of his NHL-best 894 goals while with the Kings. He also recorded 672 assists in his seven-plus years in LA and is considered the driving force behind the league's expansion into California and the Sun Belt.

"I look forward to sharing this honor with my family, friends, and especially the fans, whose support of both myself and the Kings over the years has been tremendous and very humbling," Gretzky said. "It is also exciting that the Coyotes will be there to be part of the festivities."

The Kings again showed their mettle in the regular season a year ago only to The Kings again showed their mettle in the regular season a year ago only to see their postseason hopes dashed by the Colorado Avalanche for the second consecutive year. After ending the campaign 40-27-11-4, LA was beaten in seven games by the Avs.

Los Angeles did not do much in the offseason and lost veterans such as Philippe Boucher, Kelly Buchberger, Nelson Emerson and Cliff Ronning. In addition, assistant coach Dave Tippett, who was given much of the credit for the team's top-ranked power-play unit, was hired away to be the new head man of the Dallas Stars.

However, the Kings do possess one of the better lines in all of hockey in the threesome of Jason Allison, Ziggy Palffy and Adam Deadmarsh.

Between the pipes, Felix Potvin continued his re-birth with the Kings last season, posting a 2.31 GAA and .907 SP in 71 games -- his heaviest workload since 1996-97 while with Toronto. Potvin measured himself against the Western Conference's best last spring, out dueling Patrick Roy to bring the Kings back from a 3-1 series hole before finally bowing out.

If Potvin cannot live up to his stellar stats of a year ago, Jamie Storr is more than able to handle the goaltending duties.

The Kings currently hold the NHL's longest unbeaten streak on opening night at eight games (5-0-3) and are 15-11-9 all-time to start the season.

Out in Phoenix, the Coyotes posted their second-best record in franchise history a year ago (40-27-9-6), and landed the sixth seed in the Western Conference playoff field thanks in part to a 16-5-1-2 tear after the Olympic break. However, Phoenix fell to the San Jose Sharks in five games in the opening round.

Veteran Tony Amonte was signed away from the Chicago Blackhawks to give the Coyotes a proven scorer. Amonte's 221 goals the past six years are sixth-best in the NHL and he is also the league's ultimate ironman, having dressed for 410 consecutive games.

Amonte joins Daymond Langkow (27g, 35a) and Daniel Briere (32g, 28a), who both enjoyed career years last season. Some, however, have questioned whether they can do it again.

All-Star goaltender Sean Burke, whose .919 save-percentage the past three seasons is the NHL's second-best clip, especially shined after the Olympics, going 13-5-0 with a 2.09 GAA and.926 SP in that time. If Burke, who is 36, somehow cannot repeat his brilliance, the team has picked up an insurance policy in Brian Boucher, who was acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers for Michal Handzus and former backup Robert Esche.

Phoenix, which is unbeaten in its last six against the Kings (2-0-4), is winless in its last four in LA (0-1-3). The Kings' last victory over the Coyotes came back on March 19, 2001, a 6-2 victory at the Staples Center.

Six of the last eight meetings between these teams have gone to overtime with five of those games resulting in a tie.

The Coyotes, who are 5-1-5 in the last 11 and 7-2-5 in the last 14 against the Kings, bring a 10-9-4 season-opening mark into Wednesday's tilt, dating back to the days in Winnipeg.