During his storied NHL career, Wayne Gretzky was well known as one of the best ever at avoiding physical contact. He consistently played with a bodyguard alongside him on the ice, which remains a primary argument used by those who believe fighting deserves a place in the NHL game.

However, the events of the past week have left Gretzky with little choice but to steer himself headlong into a controversy of epic proportions, and it seems highly unlikely that “The Great One” will emerge from the maelstrom with his lily white reputation intact.

Now the coach and part-owner of the Phoenix Coyotes, Gretzky has in his employ an assistant coach (Rick Tocchet) who is facing charges for running and perhaps also financing a multi-million dollar sports gambling ring.

Making matters worse for Gretzky, his wife, actress Janet Jones, and his former agent, Coyotes’ GM Mike Barnett, are both implicated in the case, with Jones reportedly betting as much as $500,000 over the course of the 40-day investigation that ended with last Sunday’s Super Bowl. New Jersey authorities announced charges last week against Tocchet, a New Jersey state trooper, and another New Jersey man for running the nationwide operation. State police said wagers exceeded $1.7 million in the five weeks leading to the Super Bowl. Tocchet is on an indefinite leave from the Coyotes. There is also reason to believe that numerous other players were wagering on sports, though not hockey, via Tocchet’s gambling ring.

Though the hockey world would love to believe that Gretzky knew nothing about the wrongdoings prior to last Sunday – when investigators reportedly arrived at his house shortly before the Super Bowl began – the fact that both his wife and his close co-workers were collecting and wagering such prodigious amounts leaves one doubting how he could possibly have remained oblivious to the goings-on. However, if Gretzky’s only misstep was attempting to shelter his wife from the inevitable controversy – and then lying about doing so – then it’s hard to see where he deserves to be sanctioned by the NHL.

Tocchet scored 440 goals in an NHL career for which he was primarily known for his toughness; his 2,970 penalty minutes places him 10th all time. But where he once might have played the role of Gretzky’s protector on the ice, today he is the one being shielded from the press attack by “The Great One.”

Because his profile is so much higher, it is Gretzky who is receiving the lion’s share of the attention, despite the fact that the accusations levied against Tocchet are the only real cause for concern in this case thus far. For it seems that the gambling ring has also been connected to organized crime, and the slippery slope the league finds itself on is one best avoided entirely.

Some have suggested that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman should immediately revise the league bylaws to prohibit its players from betting on sports. But this idealistic solution would prove ineffective. For one thing, it’s clear that NHL players – like the rest of our society – enjoy betting on football games, and it’s unlikely that a change to the NHL bylaws would modify that behavior in any meaningful way.

To understand the dangers of the path the NHL unwittingly finds itself on, one need look no further than the story of baseball’s most famous pariah. Pete Rose lied about betting on baseball, then lied again about whether he’d bet on the team he was managing. And though he might have believed from within his delusional fog that betting on his own team was not problematic, the fact remains that his wagers certainly could have impacted his managerial decisions, and probably did.

Of course, no one is accusing Gretzky of doing anything of the sort, but it’s absolutely crucial that the NHL steer itself clear of this type of controversy now and in the future. As soon as a player is placing a bet through an illegal gambling ring such as the one Tocchet reportedly ran, it becomes increasingly likely that inside information (about injuries) will be shared as part of the general dialogue. For example, if the stakes in the football bets rose beyond the gambler’s fiscal liquidity, there is good reason to believe that sharing insider information would be a valuable way to escape the debt.

And while it would appear to be quite simple for the NHL to unilaterally prohibit its players from placing illegal bets, the proliferation of semi-legal offshore booking operations and the continued existence of legal, government run betting operations like Off Track Betting (OTB) make it increasingly difficult to distinguish between that which would and would not be acceptable – a role the NHL is ill equipped to play at this time regardless.

Instead, it would behoove Bettman and company to establish some very clear ground rules with regard to how players can and cannot place bets. Disconnecting NHLers from organized crime is the first and most crucial step, and figuring out a way to process player bets on sports (other than hockey, of course) through a clearing house based in Las Vegas – where sports betting is legal – would be the most intelligent maneuver. There would, of course, be legal obstacles in order to implement such a program, but the end result would seemingly benefit all parties involved.

Our government, operating under the misguided belief that its confusing and inconsistent prohibition of sports betting is working, would be wise to finally consider the possibility of legalizing sports betting. By removing it from the underworld, bets can be easily reviewed and winnings can be taxed properly. And, perhaps most important, this would eliminate the risk that a gambling scandal could jeopardize the integrity of professional sports. Collectively, they generate tens of billions of dollars each year, and the fallout from a gambling corruption scandal would yield unquestionably disastrous results.

It is under this cloud of controversy that Gretzky flies off to Turin, Italy, for the Winter Olympics. The general manager of Team Canada’s gold medal favorites, Gretzky is sure to face no end of scrutiny from the world’s press. It would be nice if the focus were on the ice in what should be an exciting best-on-best tournament, but it seems instead that this gambling scandal will, at least initially, be the primary discussion point.

Mr. Greenstein is the editor in chief of InsideHockey.com.