Quote:
Originally Posted by GioforPM
Without passing an opinion on the ultimate question of who was better/would have scored more, Lemieux did miss serious time in his first 5 years, in one season.
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It was 17 games he missed in 87 and is completely changing the what-if game now as it wasn't part of his major 'injuries.' Gretzky missed a game in his first season as well, who knows, maybe he breaks Gilmour's record that game...
Again, there's 0 reason to support any type of narrative of Lemieux breaking Gretzky's total point record without the back and cancer issues. It's really just math. At every point in their respective careers, long before any significant injuries, Gretzky was outscoring Lemieux. His first back injury was during the 89 season. Lemeiux was diagnosed with Hodgkin's in 93. Before either of those incidents occurred, Gretzky was already well ahead of points of Lemieux in their respective careers. There's no real argument to suggest that Lemieux would gain up the ground he had already lost if they had played comparable games (again, perfectly fair saying the era they started in was a big reason).
Besides, Gretzky's back injury when he was 31 also, arguably, had a significant effect on his career point totals.