It was such a foregone conclusion that Cliff Fletcher was going to play a major role in the Wayne Gretzky era of Phoenix Coyotes ownership. The assumption was that Fletcher and Gretzky were close friends and had the whole thing arranged.

But the new Phoenix general manager says he didn't have much of a relationship before officially getting hired as what Gretzky called his "right arm" in the hockey operations of the team.

"I never had a real close relationship with Wayne prior to the opportunity to talk about coming here," said Fletcher. "We had that rivalry when I ran Calgary and he was in Edmonton. And when he was in L.A. and I was in Toronto, we did talk at one stage about the possibility of him coming to Toronto as a player before he went to the Rangers."

	Fletcher is focused on making some quick decisions for the Coyotes.

Back in Gretzky's early years playing for the Oilers, the two men viewed each other from a distance. Fletcher was the long-time general manager of the Flames, and Gretzky was making history for the provincial-rival Oilers. Gretzky won a lot of the battles, but the way Fletcher carried himself and ran his team apparently were never lost on Gretzky.

Of course, the Flames didn't have the same success as Edmonton's four Stanley Cups, but Fletcher's Calgary teams went to the finals twice and won the Stanley Cup in 1989. Fletcher also had success when he was GM of the Maple Leafs from 1991-97.

How did it strike Fletcher when Gretzky approached him about the opportunity in Phoenix?

"I was flattered by it and excited by another chance to build a winner," he said.

So now, more than a decade later after they represented opponents, it's totally different. They're partners in the hockey operation of the Coyotes; Fletcher and Gretzky talk to each other each day, sometimes several times a day.

Overall, Fletcher brings 25 years of GM experience to the table. However, he has about 25 days to do some of his most important work as an NHL executive. Because of the trade deadline and some pressing personnel and budget issues, Fletcher might have to trade at least one of his two biggest stars as well as the longest holdout in league history.

"It's unfortunate that the trade deadline is so close because we have major decisions to make as to what route we want to go," said Fletcher. "We were able to do one concrete thing, getting Sean Burke signed, so we've preserved an asset there. We're talking to a lot of teams, evaluating our situation."

If someone is going to be compared to an important bodily appendage as Gretzky referred to Fletcher, you have to be pretty familiar with each other. And even though Gretzky is no micro-manager, Fletcher's isn't working in a vacuum.

"When I get back, we'll sit down and analyze it all and see if we're going to do anything next week."

One week. That's all the time he has to decide the futures of Jeremy Roenick, Keith Tkachuk and goalie Nikolai Khabibulin.

Signing Burke

When Gretzky's ownership group took over, Fletcher and Gretzky entered into talks with both Burke and Khabibulin at the same time. "When we took over operation of the team, basically we called both agents at the same time," admitted Fletcher. Obviously, signing Burke was more feasible financially, and Khabibulin wasn't budging on his $4 million stance. Don't forget Khabibulin turned down a three-year, $9 million deal last year. That was a deal Burke took with pleasure. "I said at the beginning of the year I wanted to make their decision difficult," said Burke, who signed a one year contract to return to the Coyotes just before the season began. "I felt I did that. If they could have signed Nik to a reasonbable amount of money, they might have done that too. But all I know is that they stepped up and signed me to a nice deal and I'm going to work hard for this team."

Fletcher is attempting to re-sign Roenick, who is due to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. Fletcher met with Roenick's agent, Neil Abbott, in Boston on Tuesday, but no numbers were exchanged. Sources told ESPN.com that Roenick might be asking upward of $7.5 million. If so, the Coyotes might not be able to sign him because they would like Roenick somewhere in the $6 million range.

But if Roenick does re-sign, Tkachuk and his guaranteed $8.3 million salary could be traded. Because Tkachuk is a restricted free agent at season's end, the team needs to make a qualifying offer of $8.3 million just to retain his rights. While in Boston, Fletcher also met with Tkachuk's agent, although he said that meeting was more to update Tkachuk's representatives as to what the team was doing at the moment -- namely dealing with Roenick's camp first.

If Roenick, doesn't sign, he'll likely be gone so the Coyotes get something in return for losing him.

"I guess the most important thing is JR only because he can potentially become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. We have to see where the lay of the land is there," said Fletcher. "After that, there is nothing else that is pressing because we have the rights to all these players, and there is no internal pressure to make trades before the deadline. If there's something there that we like, obviously we'll move on it. If there isn't, we're fine."

There might be little internal pressure, meaning from Gretzky, but Fletcher knows the budget is tight, and something has to happen before March 13.

The other issue is what to do with holdout goalie Nikolai Khabibulin. The Coyotes do hold his rights, but his value is highest now and not over the summer. They could sign and trade him. However, it's doubtful the cash-strapped franchise would assume the burden of another $4 million invested in a goalie and then have the pressure to move one of them.

But one thing is for sure: Fletcher will go for the best deal possible, regardless of which team he deals with.

"We would go where the best deal was, East or West," he said. "It's part of the challenge of building a winner."

Brian A. Shactman covers the NHL for ESPN.com. He can be reached at brian.shactman@espn.com.