Gretzky-Kurri - A match made in heaven?

[Noldo]

Seeing the lists of top 5 players of Edmonton Oilers got me thinking about one of the most dynamic duos in the history of NHL, namely one of the cornerstones of Oilers dynasty: Wayne Gretzky with Jari Kurri on his wing.

I am personally too young to have seen them ever live (and being in Finland has not helped the cause). However, I have always got the expression that Kurri was exceptionally good fit for Gretzky (although the Great One's modesty can be part of the impression).

Could the more knowledgeable posters enlighten me:

Was Kurri more effective on Greztky's wing that could be expected from any player?

Do you think that Kurri's attributes made him better than average suit for Gretzky?

How would you classify Kurri's role and importance in Oilers dynasty? Was he piece that could have been replaced wihtout any difficulties or was he actually able to bring unique contribution to the overall package?

Is Gretzky and Kurri the most fitting duo ever seen or has there been players with styles that has been even more compatible?

Click to read more...

 

[Ogopogo*]

They were a great combination - Gretzky being the best playmaker of all time and Kurri being one of the best snipers of his era.

Kurri was a key piece to the Oilers dynasty. Why the two were so good together is that they knew exactly where each other was going to be once they had the puck. Gretzky didn't even need to look to know where to put the puck for Kurri to one-time a shot.

I suspect that Gretzky could have found that synergy with any great sniper, Kurri just happened to be in the right place at the right time to be the guy.

Of course, Kurri was a great sniper and he would have put up huge numbers with or without Gretzky (Kurri put up more points the year after Gretzky was sold to LA than he did in his last year with Gretzky in Edmonton).

They were a fantastic combination because they were both excellent at what they did. Neither propped up the other, they were both damn good and showed it every night.

Something that always made me smile was watching Gretzky and Kurri coming in on a 2 on 1. Gretzky always carried the puck and EVERYBODY knew that he would put it over to Kurri at exactly the right time and Kurri would one-time it and score. Everybody knew that is what would happen but nobody was good enough to stop them. It was amazing.


The only other duo that ever impressed me as much was the Lafontaine/Mogilny combination during the 1992-93 season. They were breathtaking that season.

 

[Hippasus]

Kurri also took the bulk of the defensive load as far as he and Gretzky went. This gave Gretzky the freedom to roam more.

 

[Fredrik_71]

Kurri also took the bulk of the defensive load as far as he and Gretzky went. This gave Gretzky the freedom to roam more.

This! Kurri is mostly known as a sniper but the guy was an elite two-way forward. Without him (or a similar type of player and good luck with that) Gretz had to be a lot more careful going up ice.

//Cheers

 

[HockeyThoughts]

I was just thinking of this myself the other day, both players got awfully lucky being paired up through their primes like that. I was also thinking that Gretzky, Kurri, Coffey, and Messier and are pretty equivilent (too a much lesser extent skillwise, mind you) to modern day, Ovechkin, Backstrom, Green, and Semin. The only difference is the main superstar is a winger rather than a center, while the 2way elite forward is a center instead. Coffey and Green play a similar game, while Semin is generally left to man his own line 1B on the team, just as Messier often was.

Not saying that the Washington foursome is even 1/100th as skilled as those 4 HHOF'ers but, I just thought it was kinda cool how much they share a resemblance, considering how unlikely it is to get 4 star caliber players together like that.

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

The only other duo that ever impressed me as much was the Lafontaine/Mogilny combination during the 1992-93 season. They were breathtaking that season.

Oates/Hull were pretty awesome to watch together as well.

 

[Big Phil]

Yes they were a match made in heaven, you bet. I remember watching "Best Damn Sports" top 50 a while back. They can ignore hockey at times but they were doing a top 50 sports duos. IIRC the list looked like this:
#1 Jordan-Pippen
#2 Montana-Rice
#3 Ruth-Gehrig
#4 Magic-Kareem
#5 Shaq-Kobe
#6 Gretzky-Kurri

Not too bad when you think of it. That's about where I would put them too, I mean look at that insane competition

 

[nanzenkills]

Yes they were a match made in heaven, you bet. I remember watching "Best Damn Sports" top 50 a while back. They can ignore hockey at times but they were doing a top 50 sports duos. IIRC the list looked like this:
#1 Jordan-Pippen
#2 Montana-Rice
#3 Ruth-Gehrig
#4 Magic-Kareem
#5 Shaq-Kobe
#6 Gretzky-Kurri

Not too bad when you think of it. That's about where I would put them too, I mean look at that insane competition

I would put them above Shaq-Kobe, considering that they won more championships together than Shaq-Kobe, and also considering that they didn't hate each other like Shaq and Kobe did.

 

[Trottier]

The only other duo that ever impressed me as much was the Lafontaine/Mogilny combination during the 1992-93 season. They were breathtaking that season.

Trottier/Bossy

 

[Big Phil]

I would put them above Shaq-Kobe, considering that they won more championships together than Shaq-Kobe, and also considering that they didn't hate each other like Shaq and Kobe did.

I would have too, in fact I'd have put Ruth-Gehrig ahead of anyone there. Ruth is the best baseball player of all time pretty much while Gehrig is in the top 10. Only Montana-Rice compare to that duo. Jordan-Pippen was great but at least Gehrig and Rice were great players in their own right, what did Pippen do outside of MJ?

 

[sidewayzLEAFS]

also, their have been great d-men and forward duo's and not just two forwards

orr-espe (although, i believe orr did much more..)
bourque-neely

and also two d-men paring that have been solid

blake-foote
macInnis-pronger
stevens-niedermayer