Quote:
Originally Posted by jayswin
I'm pretty confident that Mario Lemieux would have been pushing "best player in the game" if he had a full career.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by saXon
My vote goes for Lemieux. He was pretty much everything a fan wants in a player, especially these days. Orr a close 2nd.
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Had Lemieux had a full healthy career I have no doubts he would have a number of Gretzky's records. In 92-93 based on PPG he also would have the single season scoring record with 218, eclipsing Gretzky by 3 points. In his prime years (discounting seasons where he played less than 30 games) he was putting up 2.03 PPG. So 10 years at 75 games per year (same games per year Gretzky had over his career) at 2.03 PPG works out to 1515 points. In the twilight of his career (again excluding seasons where he played less than 30 games) he was putting up 1.57 PPG. So 5 years at 75 games per year at 1.57 PPG is 589 points. For the middle 6 years, say he split the difference between 2.02 and 1.57 which is 1.80 PPG (which is probably still way overestimating his regression with age, he would've been only 28). So 6 years at 75 games per year at 1.80 PPG is 810 points. 1515 + 810 + 589 = 2914. Again, assuming he played 21 total seasons just like Gretzky. To me Lemieux is the GOAT.