There is no "if" in what he did. 1.9 points per game and an absolute terror on the ice.
Using games played or total points or anything like that to determine the best is ridiculous. Was Vincent Damphousse better than Mario? He played more games. Was Lemieux worse than his backup, Ron Francis? Francis had more points.
Howe ranks at the top in raw statistics because he played such an absurd number of games. Not that he wasn't great, he certainly was. But was he REALLY better than Lemieux?
All-time goals per game. #1 Mike Bossy. #2 Mario Lemieux. Howe? 26.
All-time points per game. #1 Wayne Gretzky. #2 Mario Lemieux. Howe? 27.
Howe was clearly better? Really?
I believe that during one of Howe's Art Ross seasons, he was the only NHL regular to average over a point-per-game. That's how tough the league was in the late 40s/early 50s. You had true all-time greats at all positions, but you'd have under five goals per game. That's why the NHL, in terms of the level of play, peaked in the Original 6.
Give Gordie Howe a chance to score against back-up goalies, and other goalies who shouldn't be No. 1's, and then give him a chance to work Red Kelly into the offence, and he's right up there in terms of career points-per-game. Howe in the 1980s is a gimmie for 150-plus points per season.
I think Mario Lemieux is the most physically gifted player of all-time. He had incredible quickness, skill and sense, and he put it all in a 6'4", 210-pound frame. We've seen other big forwards with "tell your grandkids about it skill" - Beliveau, Howe, Messier, Jagr, Conacher, Frank Mahovlich - but nobody like Lemieux.
I don't think the injuries were his downfall. I think his biggest problem was his commitment to the game early in his career. If he had Gretzky's work ethic and passion for the game, then I think Lemieux would be No. 2 on the all-time list behind only Bobby Orr. But Lemieux's commitment to the game early in his career wasn't always there.
I remember THN did a collection of lists for the 1989 Yearbook. One of them was "Headlines We'd Like to See." One of them was "I like Hockey more than I like Golf: Mario Lemieux." Yeah, it was done as a joke, but the bottom line is that Lemieux early in his career didn't always seem overly interested in the game.
I think winning that first Cup in 1991 helped changed his attitude, despite his "This is a garage league" comment the following year, and I think the cancer scare made a big difference, too. While you can question the circumstances for his comeback in 2000, you could tell that he had a much better outlook towards the game than he did 10 years earlier.