Think things are a little tense in the Gretzky household these days?

Janet: "I'd like someone to take out the trash."
Wayne: "I'll bet you would."
Janet: "You will? I'll lay ten large on two to one those coffee grounds won't spill on the floor before you get the trash bag closed."
Wayne: "Huh?!?"

The criminal investigation into an alleged gambling ring involving Janet Jones Gretzky and Phoenix Coyotes Assistant Coach Rick Tocchet is about the worst thing that could happen to the NHL, a league that has been trying for decades to become truly big-time, on a par with the NFL, NBA, and Major League Baseball. It appears the NHL has been only half successful, inheriting the problems of the other leagues without most of the benefits.

According to the criminal complaint filed in Burlington County, NJ Superior Court, "twelve NHL players or people closely associated with NHL clubs, including one team owner and one member of a coaching staff," are clents of a gambling ring with "alleged ties to the Bruno-Scarfi crime family."

The member of a coaching staff, Rick Tocchet, a former NHL player who scored more than 400 goals in an 18-year NHL career, is said to have financed the ring, placing bets, funnelling money and disbursing winnings through two New Jersey men including one he met in a bar over ten years ago during his playing career.

The investigation is ongoing, but even if it turns out none of the people involved placed bets on NHL games directly, any connection to organized crime may be enough to throw the NHL squarely into the middle of professional wrestling land, where the outcome of every game can be questioned and any team's victories can be viewed with suspicion.

The fact that the criminal probe is coming so close to Gretzky, implicating both his wife and close personal friend, has to be causing some sweaty palms and shortness of breath in league offices. Widely considered the greatest hockey player in history and the man who holds virtually every offensive record (even his nickname, 'the Great One,' leaves no doubt as to where he stands in the eyes of hockey fans), Gretzky has always been more than just a coach and ex-player; he's been the face of the league and an ambassador above reproach.

Gambling on sports is widespread. It's been just a week since the Super Bowl, the cherry on the top of the sports gambling sundae. Estimates of yearly legal sports gambling in Las Vegas are in the $11 billion range, and experts believe that illegal gambling through "barroom bookies" is in the range of 35 times that amount per year.

The obvious problem facing the NHL now, though, is that if you or I place a bet on a game, we're not in any position to affect the outcome of that game. If you or I get in too deep with a bookie, the measures taken against us will not include the possibility of destroying the integrity of an entire professional sports league by attempting to get us to influence the outcome of games. Can the same be said for Rick Tocchet or Janet Jones Gretzky, who reportedly placed bets in excess of half a million dollars within the last six months, including $5000 on the Super Bowl coin toss?

Any involvement by players, coaches, owners, or anyone else with organized crime figures places the entire sport at risk. Those players, coaches and owners are playing with fire in a big way, because if the NHL is tarnished to the point where the league becomes a joke, the rest of us will find other sports to watch - those people will find their livelihood gone.