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Originally Posted by Max Cow Disease
There are certainly two sides to the whole thing. Gretzky definitely benefitted from playing in an era where guys were skating over the red line and blasting slapshots past goalies from center ice, but it's hard to say. Would Gretzky even make it to the NHL today? It seems like the path to the pros is far more regimented -and not to mention expensive- than it's ever been. Wayne seemed to have a more "organic" path that started with playing on the backyard rink, and gradually working his way up, rather than having his parents pay thousands to shove him through some hockey school/academy.
It's not fair to compare by simply envisioning modern day Crosby playing in the 80's though. As has been said, his path to the NHL would have been entirely different back then, and his access to training, equipment, nutrition etc. wouldn't be the same. For all we know, Crosby would have been a smoking alcoholic with a beer gut back in the 80's.
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To be fair the question isn't about which path they took. Gretzky did things on the ice way ahead of his time. The other night I watched Johnny entering the offensive zone ahead of everyone but on a dime slowed down and everyone passed him then passed it to the open player coming in. This was very Gretzky like, in that he could do things or see the play unfold before he got there. Banking pucks off goalies, cross ice passes where the goalie couldn't move. Gretzky saw and did things on another level.