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.
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.
Didn't Gretzky say that Bossy was the best pure goal scorer he had ever seen?
Probably the first time Gretzky says something that's true.
If we were to believe Gretzky every time he complimented someone with "the best he's ever seen" you'd think Gretzky was a fourth liner if you never watched him play.
I still stand by Bobby Orr being the unquestioned greatest player in the game. More then any other player he changed the game as prior to him with the rare exception, defensemen defended and that's it.
There was no one with his anticipation. His two gear skating, and he excelled at more then offense.
Plus in a time of incredibly tough hockey players nobody messed with him
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Guys Gretzky has more assists than anyone else has points. I think it's a little silly to say he isn't the best player ever to play the game. It's not even close in my mind.
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Guys Gretzky has more assists than anyone else has points. I think it's a little silly to say he isn't the best player ever to play the game. It's not even close in my mind.
Depends on how one chooses to answer the question.
Does one answer giving weight to durability and consistent production, or does one answer it based on the highest level of play a player reached, even if it wasn't sustained.
Or something in the middle.
In my opinion, for my generation
- Gretkzy is the best player overall
- But a healthy, in-his-prime Mario I would put over him
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Depends on how one chooses to answer the question.
Does one answer giving weight to durability and consistent production, or does one answer it based on the highest level of play a player reached, even if it wasn't sustained.
Or something in the middle.
In my opinion, for my generation
- Gretkzy is the best player overall
- But a healthy, in-his-prime Mario I would put over him
The fact that Mario was never an Oiler should be the deciding factor.
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Gretzky had the benefit of playing with arguably the most talented team ever assembled, not to mention a head start playing against some huge sieve goalies and a wide open back and forth style of hockey. He's still the greatest, but it is damn close. Super Mario was simply magnificent.
Depends on how one chooses to answer the question.
Does one answer giving weight to durability and consistent production, or does one answer it based on the highest level of play a player reached, even if it wasn't sustained.
Or something in the middle.
In my opinion, for my generation
- Gretkzy is the best player overall
- But a healthy, in-his-prime Mario I would put over him
It's the same debate with goalies. If you are looking for the peak alone of any goalie, Hasek is the clear winner. Roy, Brodeur, Dryden, Tretiak and maybe Price would be in the argument for the best overall goalie.
Lemieux would be the winner of best peak in my opinion, but Gretzky is the winner in terms of overall career.
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Thank you for bringing this back to how no good the oilers are; I was distracted/bedazzled by all of the talk about hockey player greatness that I forgot which thread this was.
That twitter though... like a couple of teenagers with some new technology.
will the oilers be trolling big rig beer, big rig trucking, big rig (the movie)...etc now?
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Depends on how one chooses to answer the question.
Does one answer giving weight to durability and consistent production, or does one answer it based on the highest level of play a player reached, even if it wasn't sustained.
I find it odd that so many people feel that Bossey is a better goal scorer than Wayne. Their prime years basically overlapped and Wayne score more goals than Bossey and by a fair margin.
I also find it odd that Mario Lemieux fans pro rates his 92-93 season where he averaged 2.67 points per game and just assume he would break Wayne's 215 point season. Yet ignore the fact that in 83-84 when Wayne scored 205 points (3rd highest in his career), he actually averaged a career high 2.77 points per game.
I find it odd that so many people feel that Bossey is a better goal scorer than Wayne. Their prime years basically overlapped and Wayne score more goals than Bossey and by a fair margin.
This is true, but Bossy was more of a pure goal scorer and wasn't really a setup guy. Basically you knew he was going to shoot the puck and still couldn't stop him. With Wayne, he might shoot, or he might pass to basically anyone on the ice (who are also all-stars) and they'd put it by you. Here are their goal totals when their careers overlapped.
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Depends on how one chooses to answer the question.
Does one answer giving weight to durability and consistent production, or does one answer it based on the highest level of play a player reached, even if it wasn't sustained.
Or something in the middle.
In my opinion, for my generation
- Gretkzy is the best player overall
- But a healthy, in-his-prime Mario I would put over him
