Gretzky skill appreciation

[Minar]

It seems the narrative is that Gretzky racked up his points because of his superior on ice vision and smarts and that lemieux did so with superior skill and raw talent. But perhaps gretzkys skill, raw talent and creativity have been overlooked. I personally enjoy watching him deke fake loop turn throw off and just plainly screw with the opposition in as many creative ways imaginable more than anyone else in nhl history including lemieux. I think there is a fluidity and poetry to his skating and puck handling that is unmatched plus his creativity. Here is an example.



At 9:40 he fakes like he is going to make a behind the back pass to a teammate in which he did earlier in the game to Kurri leading to a goal. But this time he bounces it off his skate faking everyone out, gets it back on his stick circles around everyone and sets up tikannen right by the net. He completely throws off everyone and this is in a playoff game. (The announcer says he does things in a playoff game that most guys maybe try in practice). To me this is just as impressive as lemieux barreling through 2 or 3 defenders.

(I also think lemieux sometimes gets pigeon holed as well and is appreciated for his skill and not as much his on ice vision and smarts such as the play at the Olympics when he let the pass go through him but that's another thread...)

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[shazariahl]

Gretzky had one of the most accurate shots ever, and probably the best lateral movement I've ever seen.

 

[JackSlater]

Gretzky had great agility and hand eye coordination. These skills of course suited his mental skills really well, as even if you know where the other players on the ice are going to be, you need to be able to quickly maneuver yourself into position to take advantage and deliver the puck accurately. I mean by this that a Gretzky with worse agility and coordination but more straight ahead speed and strength would not have been as good as Gretzky was unless Gretzky himself developed a different way to play to take advantage of those skills, which admittedly is a possibility.

 

[Fourier]

He was also the best passer to ever play the game. There is no argument about that. TO quote the kids AINEC.

 

[tony d]

Gretzky was such a good player. Whether it be playmaking or goal scoring if you wanted to put up the points and had Gretzky on the ice you'd be happy.

 

[BraveCanadian]

Gretzky's skills have become underrated on the boards for sure. Players tend to turn into a caricature: Gretzky was a slow weakling, Lindros never kept his head up, Jagr was always dying alive etc.

Before being Sutered, Gretzky had great quickness and agility.. he had a fantastic first couple of steps (probably aided by his famed hockey sense), could turn on a dime and lean away from checks like crazy. Gretzky even had a pretty decent top end speed. He could cradle the puck like no one else and accept passes no one else could.. incredibly accurate slapshot, great backhander, and the best passer in NHL history both in vision and execution.

 

[BadgerBruce]

Gretzky's skills have become underrated on the boards for sure. Players tend to turn into a caricature: Gretzky was a slow weakling, Lindros never kept his head up, Jagr was always dying alive etc.

Before being Sutered, Gretzky had great quickness and agility.. he had a fantastic first couple of steps (probably aided by his famed hockey sense), could turn on a dime and lean away from checks like crazy. Gretzky even had a pretty decent top end speed. He could cradle the puck like no one else and accept passes no one else could.. incredibly accurate slapshot, great backhander, and the best passer in NHL history both in vision and execution.

Your belief that players end up being viewed as caricatures is one I first read about in “Sportsworld: An American Dreamland,” published in the mid-70s by the brilliant former New York Times columnist, Robert Lipsyte. “The public,” he wrote, “is primarily interested in the affirmation of their faiths and prejudices, which are invariably based on previous erroneous reports.”

 

[The Panther]

Your belief that players end up being viewed as caricatures is one I first read about in “Sportsworld: An American Dreamland,” published in the mid-70s by the brilliant former New York Times columnist, Robert Lipsyte. “The public,” he wrote, “is primarily interested in the affirmation of their faiths and prejudices, which are invariably based on previous erroneous reports.”

'Fat' Babe Ruth comes to mind, especially as most images and all film (nearly) are from his later years.

 

[VanIslander]

Decision making.

Ask any NFL fan why Joe Montana is the greatest quarterback (the football equivalent to a center) and they will cite his 30+ fourth quarter comebacks and three Superbowl MVPs (plus playoff petformances against Joe Theismann & Warren Moon, and regular season Chiefs Montana dominating 49er Steve Young).

If everything you hold dear,... your life, family, possessions, friends, community, country and planet... were at stake, would you as coach choose to put out there anyone other than Gretzky in hockey and Montana in football?

 

[streitz]

Decision making.

Ask any NFL fan why Joe Montana is the greatest quarterback (the football equivalent to a center) and they will cite his 30+ fourth quarter comebacks and three Superbowl MVPs (plus playoff petformances against Joe Theismann & Warren Moon, and regular season Chiefs Montana dominating 49er Steve Young).

If everything you hold dear,... your life, family, possessions, friends, community, country and planet... were at stake, would you as coach choose to put out there anyone other than Gretzky in hockey and Montana in football?

Bobby Orr and Tom Brady.

 

[VanIslander]

Bobby Orr and Tom Brady.

Lol.

Montana is so much more like the Orr of football!!!

I never thought someone would INVERT the relationship!

(How important was Montana vs. Brady to their championships? Dare to compare their Superbowl stats! )

Back to the point at hand: Orr was a better decision maker than Gretzky?

 

[JackSlater]

Before being Sutered, Gretzky had great quickness and agility.. he had a fantastic first couple of steps (probably aided by his famed hockey sense), could turn on a dime and lean away from checks like crazy. Gretzky even had a pretty decent top end speed. He could cradle the puck like no one else and accept passes no one else could.. incredibly accurate slapshot, great backhander, and the best passer in NHL history both in vision and execution.

This reminds me of a Cruyff quote, regarding him being perceived as fast. He basically said that as long as he anticipates and reacts to changes faster than other players do, he looks fast.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Lol.

Montana is so much more like the Orr of football!!!

I never thought someone would INVERT the relationship!

(How important was Montana vs. Brady to their championships? Dare to compare their Superbowl stats! )

Back to the point at hand: Orr was a better decision maker than Gretzky?

The question was:

"If everything you hold dear,... your life, family, possessions, friends, community, country and planet... were at stake, would you as coach choose to put out there anyone other than Gretzky in hockey and Montana in football?"

I would also choose Orr.

 

[shazariahl]

The question was:

"If everything you hold dear,... your life, family, possessions, friends, community, country and planet... were at stake, would you as coach choose to put out there anyone other than Gretzky in hockey and Montana in football?"

I would also choose Orr.

I would choose Gretzky, but I would never criticize someone who took Orr instead.

 

[BadgerBruce]

Decision making.

Ask any NFL fan why Joe Montana is the greatest quarterback (the football equivalent to a center) and they will cite his 30+ fourth quarter comebacks and three Superbowl MVPs (plus playoff petformances against Joe Theismann & Warren Moon, and regular season Chiefs Montana dominating 49er Steve Young).

If everything you hold dear,... your life, family, possessions, friends, community, country and planet... were at stake, would you as coach choose to put out there anyone other than Gretzky in hockey and Montana in football?

I’m probably going with Beliveau, frankly. In football, Bart Starr.

 

[streitz]

.

I would take Orr

 

[TheEye]

I would take Orr

In that case, when you hop in your time machine you may want to avoid the Spring of 1971 and definitely the Spring of 1973.

 

[streitz]

In that case, when you hop in your time machine you may want to avoid the Spring of 1971 and definitely the Spring of 1973.

Because Gretzky won the cup every season, I guess I missed that part.

 

[TheEye]

Because Gretzky won the cup every season, I guess I missed that part.

You certainly don't miss many chances to attempt a drive-by on Gretzky. That name is like a dog whistle for some around here.

 

[Vanzig]

Here is the thing, Take ANY and I mean Any “PRO TEAM in Any SPORT”
GRETZKY Dominated his Sport more than any other Pro Athlete in the History Of Civilization!!!

He Holds More Records
- 60 Official Records
- 165+ Un-Official Records
- TOTAL of 225+ Records in his Sport!!!

Show me statistically who dominated/ruled and smashed every record and did it the Fastest. I mean In his ROOKIE Season he get’s MVP.

Too many Records to name, I’m sure most know of the Biggie’s and He Holds the ALL TIME Mark’s for the Major CAREER Scoring Records in Career REGULAR SEASON + PLAYOFFS!!!
———————————————————-
(REGULAR SEASON)
- Most Career Goals (894)
- Most Career Assists (1963)
- Most Career Points (2857)

(PLAYOFFS)
- Most Career Goals (122)
- Most Career Assists (260)
- Most Career Points (382)
————————————————————-

Did any of these Superstar All Star’s Dominate their Sport like GRETZKY did?? There is NO comparison, Not even debatable, Forget the “WOULDA/COULDA/SHOULDA or the “IF” this or the “IF” that, I mean “IF” the Sky was Orange, “IF” I got last night’s Lottery Numbers and Won their Lottery “if/if/if”, You either manned up, lasted and came through or you didn’t. Hockey is a rough sport, If you got hit a lot and/or got injured a lot then maybe instead of holding the puck too long you should have been smart and “PASSED” the puck a lot sooner. These SUPERSTARS are all great but realistically nobody saw the Ice & dominated as #99.
Babe Ruth, Bobby Orr, Michael Jordan, Mario Lemieux, Geordie Howe, Kareem Abdul Jabber, Magic Johnson, Crosby/Ovechkin/McDavid (We Will See? But NOT Likely)
Wilt Chamberlin, Mariono/Elway/Montana, Lebron, Kobe,
Ted Williams, Hank Aaron all of them were unbelievable but #99 was just so unique and smart, It was like a CHESS player knowing his opponents moves a few step’s ahead.

(A Few More Records)
- 163 ASSISTS in 1 Season
- 50 GOALS in 39 Games
- 51 Game Scoring Streak (Average 3 PTS a Game) “61-92-153”
- 92 GOALS in 1 Season
- 200+ Points in 1 Season (4 times)
- 9 MVP’s in Regular Season & 2 MVP’s in Playoffs
- 10 Scoring Title’s (Regular Season)
- 6 Scoring Titles (Playoffs)
- 6 Scoring Titles (International) “Playing for Team Canada”
- More “ASSISTS” than. The next Player has “POINTS”

I mean we could go on forever, It is because he is a CANADIAN that his stature in the USA isn’t as High as a Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams etc but those Sports are a lot bigger than Hockey!!! I think he is actually underrated for what he HAS done,

THINK OF A BASKETBALL PLAYER having the Career mark’s for
“Points, Rebounds, Assists” (No Player has 2 of them)
Or
BASEBALL Player having the Career mark’s for
“Home Run’s, RBI’s, Batting Average”

I think I kinda proved my opinion but most of all the Point.
We were ALL LUCKY to have scene #99 play, we all are truly lucky because unless they have 4 on 4 all the time and/or the goalie nets the size of a soccer net nobody will dominate the sport of hockey or any other for that matter, Cheers

 

[Austerlitz]

Im taking the Rocket.

 

[jj cale]

It seems the narrative is that Gretzky racked up his points because of his superior on ice vision and smarts and that lemieux did so with superior skill and raw talent. But perhaps gretzkys skill, raw talent and creativity have been overlooked. I personally enjoy watching him deke fake loop turn throw off and just plainly screw with the opposition in as many creative ways imaginable more than anyone else in nhl history including lemieux. I think there is a fluidity and poetry to his skating and puck handling that is unmatched plus his creativity. Here is an example.



At 9:40 he fakes like he is going to make a behind the back pass to a teammate in which he did earlier in the game to Kurri leading to a goal. But this time he bounces it off his skate faking everyone out, gets it back on his stick circles around everyone and sets up tikannen right by the net. He completely throws off everyone and this is in a playoff game. (The announcer says he does things in a playoff game that most guys maybe try in practice). To me this is just as impressive as lemieux barreling through 2 or 3 defenders.

(I also think lemieux sometimes gets pigeon holed as well and is appreciated for his skill and not as much his on ice vision and smarts such as the play at the Olympics when he let the pass go through him but that's another thread...)

My god that is an amazing play, thanks for posting that.

 

[BadgerBruce]

Here is the thing, Take ANY and I mean Any “PRO TEAM in Any SPORT”
GRETZKY Dominated his Sport more than any other Pro Athlete in the History Of Civilization!!!

Google “Don Bradman.”

 

[Vanzig]

Google “Don Bradman.”

Ya he was killer, 20+ RECORDS and he holds major ones too, of course that isn’t one of the 5 pro North American team sports but he def kicked ass, my grampa is a fan of cricket/tennis/golf/rugby etc and he talked about him when i was growing up

 

[streitz]

You certainly don't miss many chances to attempt a drive-by on Gretzky. That name is like a dog whistle for some around here.

Drive by on him? What harm could I possibly do to the 4rd best player of all time.