If he was the Gretzky of this generation, he'd likely have about 200-300 more points in his career thus far.
He's a solid player in the same manner that Joe Sakic, Steve Yzerman, Phil Esposito were. There are not really any game breaking talented players right now.
He doesn't have the ability to take over a game like Lemieux did. When he was on, you were screwed no matter what you tried to do to contain him.
When Lemieux came back in 02, he was among the league leaders in PPG despite being nearly 40 and having a bad back. That's with guys like Iginla at their prime.
Crosby now is better than his peers, but not by a huge enough margin to be in the "All time greatest" conversation. It's like saying Ed Belfour is the best goalie ever to play. He was very very good, but he's no Hasek.
__________________ Fireside Chat - The #1 Flames Fan Podcast - FiresideChat.ca
Great player but all the hype (deserved or not) and threads like this make me roll my eyes these days when I hear anything about Crosby.
Best player in the game today sure but Mario and Gretzky's level? Some of you are smoking some damn good stuff. He has a LOT to prove before he could even be considered top 10 of all time, like keeping up this pace for many, many years.
If he was the Gretzky of this generation, he'd likely have about 200-300 more points in his career thus far.
He's a solid player in the same manner that Joe Sakic, Steve Yzerman, Phil Esposito were. There are not really any game breaking talented players right now.
He doesn't have the ability to take over a game like Lemieux did. When he was on, you were screwed no matter what you tried to do to contain him.
When Lemieux came back in 02, he was among the league leaders in PPG despite being nearly 40 and having a bad back. That's with guys like Iginla at their prime.
Crosby now is better than his peers, but not by a huge enough margin to be in the "All time greatest" conversation. It's like saying Ed Belfour is the best goalie ever to play. He was very very good, but he's no Hasek.
Some numbers: Crosby's current PPG is 1.42. It places him a bit behind Mario at 1.88.
Too many intangibles to compare between Gretzky and Crosby, people seem to completely ignore the state of the league as a whole when they compare these two players.
Your average NHL players compared to back then is on a different level in terms of conditioning alone, that being said Gretzky also dominated through clutch and grab. Heavily inflated 80's stats seem the be the reason for the Gretzky bias though. That and people are biased toward their fond "old" memories.
When you see a player like Crosby dominate in today's game, it's crazy to think just how ridiculous good Gretzky was. Well we ever see a player of that stature ever again?
Personally I believe Mario Lemieux was the greatest player in the history of the NHL. He scored more goals and points per game over his career and dominated games more than any single player I've seen. Crosby is very, very good but IMO not in the same ballpark as Gretzky and Lemieux and there's no shame in that as they are the two best forwards in the history of the game.
Just wait till Hall hits his stride....He did score 2 goals in 8 seconds you know. And as soon as yakapov get's going, they'll be...a little less stopable!
__________________
Fan of the Flames, where being OK has become OK.
I love these threads. Comparing dominant players of different generations is not easy to do. I'm surprised someone hasn't thrown in Bobby Orr yet into the mix of generational superstars.
In my opinion, Crosby is indeed in the same elite category as Gretzky and Lemieux. No arguing about it. We can all have our opinions on who is better, but I think most would agree that they are all in the same category. You put Crosby in a time machine and plunk him on an NHL team in 1987 at his current level, people wouldn't only talk about Wayne and Mario, Sidney's name would be in there too.
Even Mario said the kid will be better than him...I know Mario was being humble and all, but it is an accurate statement from him. No question about it. Didn't Gretzky say that if anyone was going to break those difficult records that he has, Crosby will prolly be the one to do it.
The Following User Says Thank You to sticktrick For This Useful Post:
Sheesh, I thought it was pretty clear what was being stated: He's the best player there is in today's game, therefore he's the Gretzky of this era. Pretty simple stuff. I don't think one single person has said Sid is as GOOD as Gretzky, just that he's the best there is right now.
And Albert, comparing him to pre Bowman Yzerman is just bizarre. Sid has won a cup and has already gotten the memo about defence.
__________________
The Following User Says Thank You to Mightyfire89 For This Useful Post:
Yep, I remember that one, and what I took from that discussion is it's not really fair to make definitive statements about players in different eras.
You can say Crosby would dominate in Gretzky's era, you can say Gretzky had a huge advantage of the high scoring, high flying 80's. You can say that Crosby has an advantage now a days with better conditioning and Gretzky would be that much better if you inserted him today. But you can also say Crosby's facing goaltenders that are literally 20x harder to score on.
I mean how many times did you see Gretzky skate down the left wing with defensemen just passively skating backwards while he ripped a slapshot from 5 feet off the boards and 20 feet out that the stand up goalie just flat out missed? DO you think Gretzky could score that way today? Not likely.
Again, I'm not trying to disparage Gretzky or Crosby, just saying there's so many variables between the eras, it's just too hard to make definitive statements about who would do what in what era.
At the end of the day, we have a very special player in Sidney Crosby, and I personally think you'd be crazy to not think so.
If Crosby played in the 80s with his current level of conditioning he likely would have been at the Gretzky level. But that's what make these comparisons hard
The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to JiriHrdina For This Useful Post:
Check out this compilation. Gretzky is amazing and it's an absolute treat to watch, but you have to admit there's one huge consistency in this video. A lot of the goaltending is just horrid, like div 6 beer league level goaltending. Some of those moves they make while standing up while Gretzky is skating cross crease are just head scratchingly bad.
Amazing player, probably the best to ever play, but you make one move below the hash marks and you pretty much had a free goal back then.
If Crosby played in the 80s with his current level of conditioning he likely would have been at the Gretzky level.
Yeah but athletes didn't condition themselves the same then so that statement doesn't have merit IMO. If players kept themselves in the condition in the 80's the way they do today you can argue Gretzky and Lemieux would have been even better.
