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
Was peak Gretzky and Lemieux really that dominant? I know that they're considered the best of the game, but are they really that much better than today's superstars such as McDavid/ Draisaltl. Some posters have suggested that they would score 60/90 G/A. I can't picture anyone being that much better than McDavid, who already is freakishly athletic and intelligent but can score only 50/60.
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.
Was peak Gretzky and Lemieux really that dominant? I know that they're considered the best of the game, but are they really that much better than today's superstars such as McDavid/ Draisaltl. Some posters have suggested that they would score 60/90 G/A. I can't picture anyone being that much better than McDavid, who already is freakishly athletic and intelligent but can score only 50/60.
The answer is objectively no, they couldn't do it with mediocre teams in their era and they wouldn't do it now.