Following the firing of director of amateur scouting Wayne Smith following the 2013 NHL Draft in Newark, N.J., the Boston Bruins were in search of a new face to ‘liven’ up a dull draft history that’s brought few legitimate NHLers to the Hub aside from Toronto gimmes Tyler Seguin (2nd overall, ‘10) and Dougie Hamilton (9th overall, ‘11). And Boston general manager Peter Chiarelli has apparently found that face today, with the hiring of-- The Great One.

OK, no, not that Great One.

(The OK One? I don’t know, make up your own damn nickname.)

Promoting Keith Gretzky on up to director of amateur scouting, a role vacated since Smith’s firing shortly following this past entry draft, the promotion comes after Gretzky’s second year with the Bruins, originally serving as an amateur scout based out of Ontario.

Gretzky, 46, was originally drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in the third round of the 1985 draft. Despite never suiting up in the NHL, the younger brother of NHL legend Wayne Gretzky has 11 seasons or professional hockey to his name, and was a coach for six years (five as a head coach) in the WHL, WCHL, and UHL before joining the scouting game in 2001 with the Phoenix Coyotes.

Ultimately named director of amateur scouting for the ‘Yotes in 2006, Gretzky oversaw a stretch of Coyotes first round picks that included Kyle Turris (3rd overall, ‘07), Mikkel Boedker (8th overall, ‘08), Viktor Tikhonov (28th overall, ‘08), Oliver Ekman-Larsson (6th overall, ‘09), and Brandon Gormley (13th overall, ‘10).

Yet, while names like Ekman-Larsson and Turris make Gretzky seem like a viable candidate and upgrade in the Boston drafting department, here’s what ‘Yotes GM Don Maloney had to say about Gretzky’s tenure as head of the Coyotes’ draft-minds following his exit in 2011:

“I’ve been here through five entry drafts with Keith as the head scout and felt that even though our staff performance was decent it needed to be better,” Coyotes General Manager Don Maloney told me. “After evaluating things over a period of time I just thought a change needed to be made. Keith worked very hard for us and was a very loyal and dedicated employee of the Coyotes. We wanted to keep Keith. We offered him a pro scouting position to keep him in the organization but he decided he preferred amateur scouting… So, we parted ways very amicably.”

Overall, the Coyotes have seen just eight of the 34 draft picks made during Gretzky’s tenure play in an NHL contest, or 24 percent. Over that same stretch and under Smith, the Black-and-Gold saw nine of their 31 picks suit up for at least one NHL contest, a 29 percent “success” rate. Digger deeper on the ‘Yotes side, five of those eight have played at least 50 games in the NHL (Turris, Boedker, Ekman-Larsson, Tikhonov, Michael Stone) while only Seguin and 2009 first rounder Jordan Caron have accomplished such a feat for the B’s.

The obvious Achilles’ heel of the Bruins, a plausible plus with this move could come with Gretzky’s familiarity with Ontario’s amateur scene, a market where the Bruins have undoubtedly established their (future) identity, nabbing 12 OHL players since 2009.

On another scouting note, the Bruins have welcomed fan favorite and 11-year Bruin P.J. Axelsson back to the organization with a role in the European scouting department.

Axelsson, drafted by the Bruins with the 177th pick in ‘95, spent his entire NHL career with the B’s, ranking 10th on the club’s all time games played list (797), and joins the club’s staff after a four-year journey with Frolunda HC of the Swedish Hockey League. Retiring this past April, the 38-year-old Axelsson will be based out of Sweden and responsible for the Bruins’ scouting of European amateurs.

On the homefront, the Bruins also announced the hiring of Keith Sullivan as an amateur scout. Like Gretzky, Sullivan spent four years with the Coyotes (2007-2011), 2011-12 with the Winnipeg Jets, and comes to the B’s organization after a one-year stint as the general manager of the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the United States Hockey League.

He’ll be based out of Omaha, NE.

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