[vilzeh]

Originally Posted by Oling_Roachinen

That and the 1996 season are my biggest reasons for not buying heavily into what I believe has become too big of a myth surrounding their point production.

If the 1980's were so easy to score, how come Gretzky outscored the nearest competition by 800 points that decade? He had nearly a point per game more than Bossy. Sure maybe the competition in the 80's wasn't as great as it is now but Bossy was himself a tremendous player. I think it's undervaluing players of Bossy's ilk to say Gretzky was getting his points simply because of the 80's when the other greats (sans Lemieux) never came close during that same period.

Then you got the 1996 season, Lemieux comes back after missing nearly 2 seasons due to his back problem and radiation fatigue. 161 points in 70 games. 189 point pro-rated. These guys were just really good.

It's obvious that goaltenders are better, systems are better, heck we have rules in place designed to stop Gretzky. He would have a tougher time today than yesteryears but I think at his prime he could still be reaching towards 200 points - which I know many think is absurd. But Lemieux had potential to do it during the clutch and grab era against Roy, Hasek and Brodeur. Today's game may not be the high flying 80's but it's also not the clutch and grab 90's. Scoring is down but Gretzky's playstyle would still work today.

And for some reference. During the 2010's St. Louis has 10 points more than Giroux. During the 2000's Thornton had 100 more points than Iginla. During the 1990's Jagr had 50 more points than Sakic. During the 1970's Esposito had 150 more points than Lafleur. During the 1960's Mikita had 50 more points than Hull. During the 1980's Gretzky had 800 more points than Stastny.

Never.