Draisaitl-Gretzky-McDavid vs Jagr-Lemieux-Crosby

[illpucks]

Gretzky was the most dominant player to ever play the game, but that is not the same thing as the most skilled player. Wayne was scoring on players that could barely skate and goaltenders without any fundamentals. Players today are bigger, faster, stronger, and much more skilled than ever before. The game is on a completely different level today than it was in the 80s.

Here is his skill in mid 90s this is very high skill

 

[thadd]

I think you put Drai at center so that the Oil trio wins face-offs.
That being said, it's way too close to call.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Gretzky was the most dominant player to ever play the game, but that is not the same thing as the most skilled player. Wayne was scoring on players that could barely skate and goaltenders without any fundamentals. Players today are bigger, faster, stronger, and much more skilled than ever before. The game is on a completely different level today than it was in the 80s.

Gretzky, at age 36, was a 2nd all-star selection and finished with 97 points in the Dead Puck Era. This was tied for 4th in the league scoring behind Lemieux, prime Selanne and prime Kariya.

Gretzky, at age 37, was a 2nd all-star selection and finished with 90 points in the Dead Puck Era. This was tied for 3rd in league scoring behind prime Jagr and prime Forsberg.

Gretzky lead or tied for the league lead in assists both of those seasons.

I'll repeat. At age 36 and age 37.

In the Dead Puck Era.

Yet you don't think he'd have the hockey sense to compete with the top guys today.

So I guess guys like Forsberg, Jagr, Lemieux, Selanne, and Kariya would also struggle to compete with the top guys today as well?

 

[Video Nasty]

Gretzky, at age 36, was a 2nd all-star selection and finished with 97 points in the Dead Puck Era. This was tied for 4th in the league scoring behind Lemieux, prime Selanne and prime Kariya.

Gretzky, at age 37, was a 2nd all-star selection and finished with 90 points in the Dead Puck Era. This was tied for 3rd in league scoring behind prime Jagr and prime Forsberg.

Gretzky lead or tied for the league lead in assists both of those seasons.

I'll repeat. At age 36 and age 37.

In the Dead Puck Era.

Yet you don't think he'd have the hockey sense to compete with the top guys today.

So I guess guys like Forsberg, Jagr, Lemieux, Selanne, and Kariya would also struggle to compete with the top guys today as well?

There’s always crickets when someone offers this counterpoint. I’ve never seen anyone on these boards even muster a weak attempt of rebuttal.

Let’s also not forget that Gretzky did these things a mere 8-9 years before Crosby and Ovechkin made their debuts, a shorter time frame than McDavid making his after theirs.

It’s worth noting that Gretzky even had 55 points in his first 54 games of his final season at age 38 when he was visibly done before tailing off while missing a month down the stretch. Even an 80 point season would have seen a 13th place finish.

Eras, advancements, more widespread focus on nutrition, and so on, all matter to a degree, but this idea of present day play being too advanced has always been a little overblown when applied to the very best players of any sport.

Don’t really understand why anyone wouldn’t think Gretzky of all players wouldn’t still be noticeably the best in today’s game.

A great hockey mind like that would have a field day picking apart a league full of predictable robotic players.

 

[authentic]

Here is his skill in mid 90s this is very high skill

I always find it strange how they don't go behind the net to challenge him, because the strategy of just letting him stand there untouched and waving your stick around clearly wasn't working.

 

[AngelDuck]

Draisaitl is the weak link here. I mean that in no way as a disrespect to him but the other 5 players are top 10 of all time IMO and he hasn’t put himself in that convo yet.
I actually prefer Gretzky and McDavid to Lemieux/Crosby slightly. But Jagr>>Draisatil tips things