shazariahl
Registered User
- Apr 7, 2009
- 2,030
- 59
I know what you wanted to do. But you also now brought up one single season for Gretzky that was during a lower scoring year than Lemieux:s 1988/89, besides 1986/87 that in my mind does not compare to Lemieux:s season in question. That's all you had to come with in terms of Gretzky not playing in a higher scoring era. But guess what, he mainly DID. And why do you compare Lemieux:s one season with a whole row of Gretzky seasons, why did you not also bring Lemieux:s 1992/93 and 1995/96 into play? I saw a very interesting post in the center project-thread btw; Did'nt Lemieux through his way of play simply draw more penalties from the opposition than Gretzky did?
I do agree with you there. While I think Gretzky was still the better player, Lemieux seems to have drawn more penalties, and seemed to score more on the PP for whatever reason (even as a % of his scoring). And those are pluses for Lemieux. Mario was also better on a breakaway/shootout (probably the best player in history IMO). But in the end, Gretzky was just better overall. Maybe its because there's more 5 on 5 than anything else, and Gretzky just excelled at 5 on 5? I don't know. Despite more PP opportunities and more proficiency on the PP, Lemieux still never quite reached the same heights Wayne did overall.