Is Wayne Gretzky Getting Underrated on This Board?

[The Panther]

The goalies during that era were so bad, it's hard to take all of these records seriously anymore, the game has changed so much.

How about 8 straight Hart trophies?

 

[Video Nasty]

Anyone who says Gretzky is anything less than the greatest forward to date has insanely low hockey IQ and zero historical knowledge or close to it by only watching highlight reel clips.

 

[BenchBrawl]

Anyone who says Gretzky is anything less than the greatest forward to date has insanely low hockey IQ and zero historical knowledge or close to it by only watching highlight reel clips.

I think Gordie was the greatest.He excelled for longer and was a more complete player in a tough era.Gordie needed no one and could take care of himself.

He wasn't the offensive savant that Gretzky was, but ultimately he was the greatest all-around hockey player of all-time IMO.

 

[Video Nasty]

I think Gordie was the greatest.He excelled for longer and was a more complete player in a tough era.Gordie needed no one and could take care of himself.

He wasn't the offensive savant that Gretzky was, but ultimately he was the greatest all-around hockey player of all-time IMO.

Fair enough. He’s probably the actual most underrated of the Big Four at this point. I did say Gretzky is the greatest forward so I won’t go back on that, but I think no one can bring anyone else to the debate table other than Howe and Lemieux for forwards, yet I see it happen on these boards constantly.

 

[HenrikW]

Gretxky is, by any reputable source, undisputed as the best hockey player ever. Anyone claiming otherwise is either trying to eat a rouse out of you, or grasping at straws. Their are others that theoretically had the potentional to be mentioned in this discussion, but none actually delivered anything that is close to what Gretzky did over his long career.

Furthermore, Gretzky is one of the absolute best ambassadors for any sports. I would go as far as to say that Gretzky could be the single most important person to his sport ever.

 

[RageQuit77]

Pele, Maradona, Messi, Ronaldo... and Mohammed Ali all say hi! Taking nothing out of Wayne, but Hockey is still rather marginal sport world wide.

 

[Tuna Tatarrrrrr]

Gretzky is only underrated here by young ignorant fans who think players nowadays (cough Crosby cough) are by far better than any other players of the previous generations...

 

[Tuna Tatarrrrrr]

Kucherov is modern Gretzky

 

[DR P00P]

View attachment 201331

Extremely similar player with same strenghts. Very High Hockey IQ with elite playmaking/vision, elite slapshot and Tiny frame.
Im not saying he is as good as him but he is the closest in style amongst the active players. If not him then who in your opinion?

 

[Tuna Tatarrrrrr]

Extremely similar player with same strenghts. Very High Hockey IQ with elite playmaking/vision, elite slapshot and Tiny frame.
Im not saying he is as good as him but he is the closest in style amongst the active players. If not him then who in your opinion?

I don't really have an example in my mind at the moment but with what you said, he looks more like Martin St. Louis than Gretzky to me.

 

[Rangerfans]

The goalies during that era were so bad, it's hard to take all of these records seriously anymore, the game has changed so much.

I have no words to accurately describe the idiocy of this post.

 

[Jerzey Devil]

Pele, Maradona, Messi, Ronaldo... and Mohammed Ali all say hi! Taking nothing out of Wayne, but Hockey is still rather marginal sport world wide.

Were you talking to someone specific or just confused about what’s going on here?

 

[KingBran]

Short answer: Yup!


Long answer: Yup!

 

[DANTHEMAN1967]

Gretxky is, by any reputable source, undisputed as the best hockey player ever. Anyone claiming otherwise is either trying to eat a rouse out of you, or grasping at straws. Their are others that theoretically had the potentional to be mentioned in this discussion, but none actually delivered anything that is close to what Gretzky did over his long career.

Furthermore, Gretzky is one of the absolute best ambassadors for any sports. I would go as far as to say that Gretzky could be the single most important person to his sport ever.

Are you his publicist?

And if you want to bet on who was the best his wife will give you 2-1 odds.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

The goalies during that era were so bad, it's hard to take all of these records seriously anymore, the game has changed so much.

Which era?

In 1997, Gretzky put up 97 points as a 37 year old with a bad back. He was tied for 1st in assists that year with Mario Lemieux and tied for 4th in points.

And all the player faced these same "bad" goalies yet Gretzky was still ridiculously dominant.

 

[CJZizzari]

heres how we can understand gretzkys dominance

 

[authentic]

I think Gordie was the greatest.He excelled for longer and was a more complete player in a tough era.Gordie needed no one and could take care of himself.

He wasn't the offensive savant that Gretzky was, but ultimately he was the greatest all-around hockey player of all-time IMO.

Bobby Orr

 

[Mbraunm]

Gretzky was one of, if not the only player who was able to completely harness the power and capacity of the mind. In the book, “Facing Wayne Gretzky” defencemen and coaches stated that at his peak it was virtually impossible to stop Gretzky. He was able to quickly assess the opposition’s strategy and quickly dismantle it. Defencemen likened it to playing a game of chess and the master toyed with them.

 

[Kranix]

All Wayne cared about was playing huckey in the national huckey league. And he did that. He played huckey.

 

[Unspecified]

Probably, because a lot of HF posters weren't around when Gretzky was dominant.

 

[rfournier103]

The goalies during that era were so bad, it's hard to take all of these records seriously anymore, the game has changed so much.

I have no words to accurately describe the idiocy of this post.

I do.

The goalies from that era only look bad because the greats like Gretzky and Lemieux made them look bad!

There are thousands more highlights of great scorers making very good goalies look like donkeys than the other way around. Believe it or not, occasionally those goalies from the ‘70s and ‘80s made great saves, but those clips don’t get as much traction on YouTube as the highlight goals.

People who didn’t actually see that era really don’t know the whole story. The highlight clips don’t do Gretzky or the era enough justice.

Just my opinion.

 

[The Panther]

Nice clip here when Gretzky was "Man of the Decade" as voted (overwhelmingly so) by US sports-writers. A young Paul Romanuk introduces the piece, unfortunately:

 

[NotCommitted]

Like in any sport, the past greats get left behind in history. They get their time, until they no longer are relevant to modern day other than as pages in history, because everything has changed so much. Same thing is going to happen to Gretzky. It's been... what, 20 years, since his retirement. While there are still a lot of people around, who remember his dominance and for whom he was the undisputed greatest ever, there are also already a lot of hockey fans who never saw him play. It can be argued that no one could dominate these days like Gretzky did in the 80s, not even Gretzky, which is probably true, but it's also true the separation to their peers players like Gretzky and Lemieux had was absolutely crazy no matter how you spin it. What makes Gretzky even more special is he did what he did without being extraordinary physically, though I recall there was an article where it was said he recovered during games faster than any/most players of his time, meaning during 3rd periods he was in beast mode since he was so fresh compared to others. Maybe that was his extraordinary physical talent, though on the other hand I'm pretty sure it was at least partly just the upside of being a relatively small and lean guy with not that much fat nor muscle

Anyway... there are only handful of guys left in the NHL who ever played with or against Gretzky. Cullen and Chara at least come to mind, I'm sure there are some others still. After none of his peers are left in the game, each day the comparison to modern day players becomes less and less meaningful or relevant. Before not too long, bringing up Gretzky as the greatest will be like someone in the present day digging up some 1920s legend. One thing that makes hockey legends age faster than some other sports is the equipment side of things. A football (soccer) player or track and field athlete looks essentially the same as 50 years ago, while a hockey player from 50 years ago with his equipment looks like a total relic from a time long past.

In my childhood, Gretzky was the undisputed hockey god and greatest player, and very well known in Finland because Kurri happened to be his sidekick (and a great scorer and two-way player by himself!). So combining his career achievements and stats with my childhood nostalgia, it's no surprise it's very easy for me to find him the greatest ever. But who am I to ask people, who weren't even born back when Gretzky still played hockey, to pick him as undisputed greatest ever and buy into the whole legend. For them, they grew up watching completely different players, those were their hockey heroes and when you put a stat sheet from the past against your childhood heroes, your brain might acknowledge Gretzky as the greatest ever, but your heart will disagree.

 

[Beukeboom]

Which era?

In 1997, Gretzky put up 97 points as a 37 year old with a bad back. He was tied for 1st in assists that year with Mario Lemieux and tied for 4th in points.

And all the player faced these same "bad" goalies yet Gretzky was still ridiculously dominant.

Hear hear. And people think it's amazing that an old Crosby is currently #4 in scoring this season, while being a whopping thirty-one years old.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

How about 8 straight Hart trophies?

this.

regardless of how you feel about the inflated 80s or expansion, you cant deny 8 consecutive Hart and Ross wins.