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Gretzky vs Lemieux


Who would you rather have? Gretzky or Lemieux?  

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Lemieux was dominant on an really crappy 80's Penguins team.

Gretzky was dominant on a stacked 80's Oilers team.

Lemieux scored 199 points. BEFORE they drafted Jagr.

Have a look at what Lemieux had to work with his first season.

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/seasons/teams/0000501985.html

Had Lemieux not had cancer or back issues, he'd be the best player hands down.

Gretzky was a special player. He had vision and hockey IQ that was off the scale. He had a knack of finding perfect shooting spots.

But Lemieux was the complete package. He could score, assist, crash the net, fight, he did it all. To me my top 3 is

Lemieux, Orr and Howe, and Gretzky is #4.

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Lemieux.

In 88/89 he was on pace to tie all Gretzky's single season goal and point totals (he missed 4 games), and his best linemate was a 20 year old Rob Brown, a player who never scored above a point per game with the exception of that 88/89 season.

And in 92/93 he was on pace to break both of those records over the then 84 game season (he missed 24 games so it was a smaller sample size). He was on pace for 96 goals and 224 points. His linemates were better at this point, but Kevin Stevens and Rick Tocchet aren't exactly the legends Gretzky got to play with.

If Lemieux had the supporting cast and health Gretzky had he would have blown some of those records away.

I can admit some bias because my time watching Gretzky was pretty limited and he wasn't exactly the same player in the late 90's. Whereas I still saw quite a bit more time where Lemieux was one of the best in the league.

Now if you had a player with Gretzky's vision and IQ and Lemieux's size and skills. Wowee.

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Gretzky's career imo is by far superior in comparison to any other player. He was the best player on the greatest dynasty of the modern era. He has the silverware, the numbers and the records to firmly be in the top spot as the best player to ever play the game.

If Lemieux had stayed healthy he would likely have come closer to Gretzky but the biggest problem with Lemieux's career was that the tail end of it would be spent in the dead puck era where scoring plummeted, the hooking and holding was in full force. So even if he would have stayed healthy and had a long career, it would have been tough for him to match Gretzky's point totals.

As far as Lemieux having more points than Gretzky on that Oilers team, I think its possible but I can't say for sure. I wasn't around to watch the 80s Oilers team and I consider myself fortunate enough that I even saw Gretzky and Lemieux play. I never saw them in their true prime though, videos and highlights can only give you so much when you are talking about the prime of the two greatest to ever play the game. The dead puck era also robbed us of the true joy of watching these guys play in the 80s. I grew up with the "trap" but a part of me always wishes that had they changed the rules sooner, we could have possibly seen Lemieux play more games.

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90% of the people who are going to answer this question weren't even alive when either or both Gretzky (1978) and Lemieux (1984) were rookies. Gretzky retired in 1999 and Lemieux in 2006. That further narrows down the pool of people who are qualified to answer the question first-handed.

Most people's answers will be based on looking at their stats and remembering the last half of Lemieux's career.

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(My quote is not working)

Being on the West Coast it was Gretzky I got to witness the most. NHL coverage wasn't what it is now

Gretzky loved playing hockey, He played so much hockey with deep playoffs and representing Canada at every chance (not like many players who have turned down Canada after playoffs)

He was not the fastest, or the strongest

He was not a fighter, that wasn't his game (Much like our own Henrik)

What good would he have been in the box if he was ?

In 1979 He didn't have any great team mates and tied for league scoring in 1st as a rookie

Many of the great Oilers were not drafted in the top 3 rounds. I think he was a special player who elevated other players around him.

None of his team mates were in the League top ten scoring till his 5th year

He would win a scoring title with just his assists alone

The Oilers were young and it was infectious- Just what the young Oilers of today lack is a young Gretzky their own age to show them how to do it.

Lemieux was a very great player himself

Orr no denying him either

Those 3 were so dynamic and a treat for anyone to have witnessed play

I don't believe there is a wrong answer picking any of the 3

Good arguments can be made for all

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