Could Peak Gretzky and Lemieux lead the very worst team to the Stanley Cup?

[TheGuiminator]

It’s no secret that the Red Wings are by far the worst team in the league. Let’s say, in a fantasy world, the Wings could replace their two first Centers (Larkin and Filppula) with peak Gretzky and peak Lemieux.

Could Wayne & Mario elevate their teammates and carry this following team to a Stanley Cup within 3-5 years?

Bertuzzi -Gretzky ‘84 - Mantha
Fabbri- Lemieux ‘89 - Gagner
Timashov-Nielsen-Helm
Perlini-Ehn-Glendening

Daley-Hronek
Nemeth-Biega
Ericsson-Lindstrom

Bernier
Howard​

Click to read more...

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Both of them? Yes.

 

[SillyRabbit]

No.

They would be able to find a certain level of success, but in the game of hockey, individual players simply cannot affect the game that much.

Over the course of four seven game series’, deeper teams would be able to take advantage of the weak Detroit lineup.

 

[Dickie Dunn]

"Could"......yes.

 

[StoneHands]

Yes. Look at what Edmonton is doing this season. Their depth is obviously better than Detroit but it's basically McDavid and Drai with a bunch of role players and McDrai is nowhere near as dominant as 66 and 99, especially at their peaks.

 

[Fugazy]

As long as their defense was semi-competent.

 

[wetcoast]

Voted yes as I'm assuming the rest of the roster would turn over in 3 to 5 years and having both guys well that's alot of firepower.

 

[Thenameless]

I was gonna come in and say no right away, and point out that they already lost when alone with better teams, but then I saw that you had both of them on the Red Wings.

If the question is "could" they do it then my answer is yes, and here's why. First, there's the idea of removing the two worst centers on the team, and now replacing them with two of the best that ever lived. You instantly go from being weak at the most important position, to all of a sudden '87 Canada Cup level of play. Next, ice time. Gretzky was famous for his endurance and could be double shifted to hit 25-30 minutes a game. Remember, we have Gretzky at his very peak here, so these types of minutes will be fun for him. Then we have Lemieux who'd take up about 25 minutes himself, leaving about 5-10 minutes to expose your 3rd and 4th line centers.

Furthermore, Gretzky and Lemieux are not individualists like a Bure-type player. They are force multipliers, making those around them much, much better. You would see their wingers scoring 40-60 goals a season, and becoming all stars.

Then there's the power play. Gretzky in his office, with Lemieux pulling the trigger. Forget about it.

Finally, there's this. There is so much parity in today's league. This isn't like putting Gretzky and Lemieux on the California Golden Seals in the 70's, then having them try to conquer the Dynasty Habs. Last year, the St. Louis Blues were in last place at Christmas or early January, and they managed to win the Stanley Cup, really showing how close teams are from top to bottom. So, we didn't even have to add Gretzky and Lemieux to the Blues.

Conclusion. Very, very possible. A team still always needs a bit of luck to win a Cup, but I see this team with at least a decent chance to win it all.

 

[bobholly39]

Yes, 100%. Gretzky or Lemieux alone and tempted to still vote yes. Together? No question

Im assuming in this hypothetical Yzerman is still gm and continues to make moves a normal gm would make.

 

[tapi]

It's like having a 175% better McDavid and 500% better Draisatl so easy yes

 

[EXTRAS]

So you would put two players who could score over 200 points, on the same team, in their prime. Let's assume they only are on the ice together during the pp. Let's say they get 4 minutes of powerplay time together...then they are on the ice separately for 18 minutes each. That combines for 40 minutes a night you have either lemeiux or gretzky on the ice and both are capable of scoring 200+ points. On an average night that team should be scoring 5ish goals?

I mean there is a chance they don't win a Stanley Cup and there is a chance they win multiple cups, but I'd say if a bad team had both of those guys together in their primes then there is certainly a very good chance over 5 years they could get a Stanley Cup through sheer scoring.

 

[SupremeNachos]

That goaltending is horrible. Like portapotty at a music festival in 100+ heat horrible.

 

[DannyGallivan]

Of course not. Even they both had great supporting casts, including great goaltenders at the tops of their games.

I can assume they would both make their linemates much better, so you'd likely have two very good forward lines, but if the team stinks other than them, then you would have an awful bottom six, defense and goalie. You're still not making the playoffs.

 

[vancityluongo]

100% yes. Mantha could score 60 with Lemieux lol. Sam Gagner would hit 90 points with Gretzky. Filip Hronek would put up 80 points on that powerplay.

Still huge liabilities defensively and in net, but over a 3-5 year window they have tons of prospects coming up too.

I'd put it at 50/50 on if they would be a contender *this year* with that roster - but yeah, look at what McDavid and Draisaitl are doing with only a bit better team around them.

 

[jetsforever]

Playoffs for sure but I don't think they'd win the Cup

 

[Midnight Judges]

Who on that team is going to play defense?

 

[filinski77]

People saying yes are absolutely out to lunch.

95/96 Penguin team with elite level players: Lemieux, Jagr, Francis, Zubov. Not to mention other great players such as Naslund, Sandstrom, Nedved. All those players mentioned cannot be replaced by Gretzky, and then suddenly take that team to a cup win.

82/83 and the 85/86 Oilers had Gretzky, Coffey, Kurri, Anderson, Messier, Fuhr and couldn't win cups those years. Replacing 5 Hall of Fame players like that with Lemieux does not give them cups those years.

 

[ACC1224]

No

 

[KoozNetsOff 92]

No, unless one of them is on the ice at all times. But even then it's a stretch. There is no Coffey to get them the puck, no HOFers (or even decent players) to finish their passes and absolute garbage D and goaltending. And since each of these guys would be a max player, you have ~60% of the cap to fill the rest of the team.

Not happening.

 

[blundluntman]

If Malkin and Crosby took the Pens from draft lottery to a cup in 5 years, don't see why the 2 greatest centers couldn't.

 

[InfinityIggy]

That team would easily be scoring 6-7 goals a game since this is prime Mario and Wayne. I’ll go with yes.

 

[um]

How many chances do they get?

 

[Thenameless]

How many chances do they get?

It says 3-5 years in the poll question.

 

[Krewe]

Could? Yes. Probabaly? No.

Within 3-5 years I would give them a decent shot at it, as Detroit is likely banging on the door of the playoffs by then, and adding those two to a potential playoff team would make them favorites.

Now, if the question is if they could make THIS YEARS red wings team win the cup, I would say no. They'd be a good bet for the playoffs but wouldn't have enough depth.

As much as the oilers get clowned for depth (less this year) many of their players were underperforming, and have stepped it up this year

 

[Krewe]

That team would easily be scoring 6-7 goals a game since this is prime Mario and Wayne. I’ll go with yes.

Switching them out with current worst red wings players likely adds in the range of 3 goals per game (since other players like Larkin would lose ice time). So that would probably put them near the top of the league for the offense, but their D is still so bad they would NEED to score that much.

Lower scoring league today, so a fair estimate is they would both be producing in the range of 60 goals and 80-90 assists each. Now, putting them on the ice means current players lose production, so it's not a straight add of 120 goals plus however many goals 170ish assists leads to (probabaly worth another 80 ish). My gut feeling is Detroit goes from scoring ~1.8 g/gp to something like 3.8 g/gp. It is really hard to know how they would score in today's league. I think Mario's game would translate better due to size and speed, but Wayne's hockey IQ is nutty, and we have seen high IQ players without a dominant physical game do just fine lately as long as they are elite skaters (Kucherov, Kane)

But with the 3-5 years OP stated? for sure they would make them into cup favorites. Detroit is HISTORICALLY bad this year, and that will not last esp with Yzerman at the helm