Is Wayne Gretzky Getting Underrated on This Board?

[LeafFever]

Are people just too young to understand how great he was? He scored over 700 more points than any other player in the 1980's. So the argument about it being so easy to score in the 80's does not quite work for me.

More assists than any player ever has total points. How can that not impress you?

No player ever has statistically dominated a sport like Gretzky has,

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[TheBeastCoast]

I mean he is pretty much universally regarded as the greatest ever...I fail to see how that can be under rated personally.

 

[LeafFever]

I mean he is pretty much universally regarded as the greatest ever...I fail to see how that can be under rated personally.

I did say on here though. He generally isn't seen as that on here.

 

[libertarian]

Are people just too young to understand how great he was? He scored over 700 more points than any other player in the 1980's. So the argument about it being so easy to score in the 80's does not quite work for me.

More assists than any player ever has total points. How can that not impress you?

No player ever has statistically dominated a sport like Gretzky has,

He is absolute underrated on this board. This whole narrative that todays players are so much better then the best players in the past is ridicules' Gretzky would be the best player no matter what era he plays in.

 

[LeafFever]

He is absolute underrated on this board. This whole narrative that todays players are so much better then the best players in the past is ridicules' Gretzky would be the best player no matter what era he plays in.

Exactly. In fact, in his late 30's with a terrible back he finished 4th in league scoring at the height of the trap era. He was scoring at a similar rate as HHOF players who were a decade+ younger like Sakic/Forsberg/Jagr.
How do you explain that away with the 80's excuse?

 

[JimboA]

I mean he is pretty much universally regarded as the greatest ever...I fail to see how that can be under rated personally.

I'm not going to discuss this specific topic, but let's say we have a situation that looks like this:

Best player >>> 2nd best player

But people see it as this:

Best player > 2nd best player

In that situation everyone agrees that the best player is the best player, but the player is still underrated.

 

[CartographerNo611]

He his because of this modern era is better than any other era non sense. If you listened to a lot of hf posters, pre canceled season everyone was putting 200 point seasons like clock work. Heck Tanner Glass would of been a 30 goal scorer in the 80s because he eats more almonds and runs on the treadmill for 5 hours.

 

[Legionnaire11]

Every player before the full season lockout is underrated here.

People also think that first season back which was an unending power play contest was good hockey.

 

[jaywills1020]

And he also put up those points wearing cinder blocks for skates and using a redwood branch for a stick. I often see "Put him in today's NHL". Yes put him in today's NHL with all the new training/diets etc and give him all the new equipment and he would tear it up just like he did back then.

 

[Albatros]

And he also put up those points wearing cinder blocks for skates and using a redwood branch for a stick. I often see "Put him in today's NHL". Yes put him in today's NHL with all the new training/diets etc and give him all the new equipment and he would tear it up just like he did back then.

No he wouldn't, for the simple reason that today most players take those things very seriously. In the 1980s that wasn't the case. Not only have the methods advanced, but professional approach has as well. Model professionals had a much bigger edge back then.

 

[bigbuffalo313]

No he wouldn't, for the simple reason that today most players take those things very seriously. In the 1980s that wasn't the case. Not only have the methods advanced, but professional approach has as well. Model professionals had a much bigger edge back then.

So you're saying that if he was born 20 years later, he wouldn't have the same advantages as players today?

 

[DitchMarner]

I don't see it.

In the polls section, he/his teams often win, usually convincingly.

In the HHOF section, many of the regulars acknowledge him as the greatest player in NHL history or at least have him in the top two or three all-time. They don't put any of the modern greats ahead of him or think any of them can surpass him.

The only ones who underrate him are those who think pre-90s or 2004 lockout NHL hockey was a joke compared to today's game, although I've noticed there's quite a lot of respect here for the talent of dead puck era stars (while it's acknowledged the style of play itself then was meh). It's fairly widely known that the scoring rate in the late 90s to mid 00s wasn't any higher than it is now.

I think it's mostly 80s and pre 80s players that are **** on by some of the younger posters here, but Gretzky isn't really one who is.

 

[LeafFever]

You have to ask yourself, if it was so easy to score in the 80's, why did he get over 700 points more than anyone else in that decade? That's a crazy number.

 

[elmaco]

McDavid makes Gretzky look like ****, how can he be the greatest ever? Would be a statement to answer OP's question with if one would be at the median age of a HF user.

 

[VanIslander]

You have to ask yourself, if it was so easy to score in the 80's, why did he get over 700 points more than anyone else in that decade? That's a crazy number.

Crazy is his eight (8) straight Hart trophies that decade and 9 in 10 years (a finalist the other season).

And late the following decade: leading the NHL in assists as a 37 year old on a team without a single 25-goal scorer (his 16th time as the NHL leader in assists).

He is underrated if anyone even tries to compare what Crosby has done and could possibly do in the remainder of his career with Gretzky. Er, wait, that's done weekly around here, isn't it?

 

[LeafFever]

Crazy is his eight (8) straight Hart trophies that decade and 9 in 10 years (a finalist the other season).

And late the following decade: leading the NHL in assists as a 37 year old on a team without a single 25-goal scorer (his 16th time as the NHL leader in assists).

He is underrated if anyone even tries to compare what Crosby has done and could possibly do in the remainder of his career with Gretzky. Er, wait, that's done weekly around here, isn't it?

Yup. No one in sports has statistically dominated like that.
His success into his late 30's in the late 90's proves the 80's argument nonsense.

 

[Tomas W]

I guess eventually he will get a bit forgotten. More and more hockey fans that never seen him play will emerge and more and more of those who did, will simply be dead. Ok of all retired players he will be the last to be forgotten, but HOW he played might be a bit forgotten.

 

[Jerzey Devil]

Yes. Mainly by people who have only seen highlights of him. It's been almost 20 years since he played.

 

[DitchMarner]

Crazy is his eight (8) straight Hart trophies that decade and 9 in 10 years (a finalist the other season).

And late the following decade: leading the NHL in assists as a 37 year old on a team without a single 25-goal scorer (his 16th time as the NHL leader in assists).

He is underrated if anyone even tries to compare what Crosby has done and could possibly do in the remainder of his career with Gretzky. Er, wait, that's done weekly around here, isn't it?

I specifically made a post asking if Crosby can surpass Gretzky with a superior finish to his career than Gretzky had to his and the majority of respondents basically said there's no way in hell or he would have to do something as absurd as winning multiple more Conn Smyths and Cups while remaining a high end for a long time (and winning some more Harts/Art Rosses) to even stand a chance.


Of course, if I had made the post on this board instead of the HHOF one, the nature of the typical response may have been a bit different.

 

[Albatros]

So you're saying that if he was born 20 years later, he wouldn't have the same advantages as players today?

I'm saying that a player born in 1961 could get a bigger edge by living and training professionally than one born 1981 or even more so 1991.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

I'm not going to discuss this specific topic, but let's say we have a situation that looks like this:

Best player >>> 2nd best player

But people see it as this:

Best player > 2nd best player

In that situation everyone agrees that the best player is the best player, but the player is still underrated.

That's a great way of summing up what seems to be happening with Gretzky here. In a few years I wouldn't be surprised if people were ranking McDavid over Gretzky.

You have to ask yourself, if it was so easy to score in the 80's, why did he get over 700 points more than anyone else in that decade? That's a crazy number.

That's the thing people overlook. They talk about the crazy scoring of the 80s but don't factor in that part of that is because Gretzky was singlehandedly dragging the average up by being an outlier.

 

[DustyMartellaughs]

He peaked when he was ten, never producing like he did then. He also bounced around, playing for five teams in two different leagues. A classic case of a kid being rushed from peewee straight to bantam.

 

[DitchMarner]

That's a great way of summing up what seems to be happening with Gretzky here. In a few years I wouldn't be surprised if people were ranking McDavid over Gretzky.

Topic: Can Crosby Surpass Gretzky with A Superior Finish to His Career than Wayne Had:


https://nl.hideproxy.me/go.php?u=IQ...doguUMEsjDhVnqtYoxABt2F9MDD9NQnXFkshFzwzL&b=5


Just read the replies. McDavid would have to do quite a lot better than Crosby has so far (which would be very difficulty obviously) to have a shot at surpassing Gretzky himself in the minds of the informed.

 

[HockeyThoughts]

Whenever someone tells me that Wayne Gretzky was simply a product of a high scoring environment I hit em with one of these.

Check it out.. My favorite example:

86-87 Scoring leaders:
1. Wayne Gretzky-EDM 183
2. Jari Kurri-EDM 108
3. Mario Lemieux-PIT 107
Mark Messier-EDM 107
5. Doug Gilmour-STL 105


But.. But..anyone could dominate that era

Then why did Gretzky score 75pts+ more than #2 and the rest of the field scored at today's scoring rate?

 

[LeafFever]

Whenever someone tells me that Wayne Gretzky was simply a product of a high scoring environment I hit em with one of these.

Check it out.. My favorite example:

86-87 Scoring leaders:
1. Wayne Gretzky-EDM 183
2. Jari Kurri-EDM 108
3. Mario Lemieux-PIT 107
Mark Messier-EDM 107
5. Doug Gilmour-STL 105


But.. But..anyone could dominate that era

Then why did Gretzky score 75pts+ more than #2 and the rest of the field scored at today's scoring rate?

Yup. And while the top scorers after great are high compared to today, they likely aren't quite as high as most would think. Gretzky was bringing that scoring avg way up himself.