Marleau's GP is the most impressive thing in the NHL.

[ToDavid]

It’s impressive but it’s not even close to 700 goals.

 

[ToDavid]

Only 4 players in history have more GP than Marleau
7 players have 700+ goals

Even on pure stat basis it's more impressive.

Not all stats are equal. He could break the record and it wouldn’t be as impressive as 700 goals.

 

[b in vancouver]

All this does is put into perspective how much more impressive Howe was.

70 game seasons.
Played 6 seasons in the WHA
Came back to the NHL at over 50 and put up better numbers than Marleau now.
No modern medicine
NHL was way tougher

Then there's also the brain hemorrhage and shattered face from the Kennedy incident - and that he missed two seasons in the late 60s.
People are discounting him more and more as if he was just longetivity like Marleau, but the guy was a top 3 player in the world for two decades, and then still very very good after that for another 15 years.

 

[Quid Pro Clowe]

What Marleau is doing is extremely impressive, it it's not better than scoring 700 goals.

Though his 561 regular season and 72 playoff goals are impressive over his career.

 

[illpucks]

Only one player has more than 3,900 penalty minutes while two have more than 800 goals. Which is more impressive?

But Howe playing past 50 is considered one of the most impressive things all time in NHL.

 

[JoVel]

But Howe playing past 50 is considered one of the most impressive things all time in NHL.

Yeah well let's see if Marleau is still in the league in 10 years.

 

[illpucks]

Then why did you mention Ovi in your thread?

Because the stickied thread called 'Marleau - Gordie Howe GP watch' will get far less views and replies on HF then the 'Ovi 700 goals watch' thread.

 

[cowboy82nd]

Because the stickied thread called 'Marleau - Gordie Howe GP watch' will get far less views and replies on HF then the 'Ovi 700 goals watch' thread.

So ... the thread is about Ovi then?

 

[deepthoughtsleafs]

Any bum can play for 70+ games every season. It's easier to achieve than scoring 700 goals lol. Like you actually need to be great to score 700. But you can get away with being good to average have a 15 year career playing 70+ games every year.

 

[illpucks]

So ... the thread is about Ovi then?

Nope. Because if it was swapped Marleau 700 watch would get more views and replies than Ovi Gordie Howe GP watch.

GP while being less sexy and flashy is harder to do imo. 18 years old - 40 years old and missed no more than 8 games in full NHL season.

 

[illpucks]

Any bum can play for 70+ games every season.

Actually no. Players will get waived and not make back the league OR players will get injured and miss significant time at some point. Sid and Malkin have many seasons not cracking 70 GP. Many players want to play forever but get cut from roster, waived etc.

 

[SotasicA]

No modern medicine

You could argue they had "better" medicine back in the day when stuff was less regulated.

 

[deepthoughtsleafs]

Actually no. Players will get waived and not make back the league OR players will get injured and miss significant time at some point. Sid and Malkin have many seasons not cracking 70 GP. Many players want to play forever but get cut from roster, waived etc.

Actually yes. Think about it. It's one of those things where if you wanted to do it, you could vs. even if you wanted to, you probably couldn't.
Meaning
1. Generational player like Ovi focuses on staying healthy, never taking big shots and just generally plays hard but not all out or as hard as he could and is just a consistent 30-40 goal scorer.
vs.
2. Generational player like Ovi trys to score 700 in his career.

Scenario 2 requires that you try your best in every facet where scenario 1 just requires less.

It should be pretty obvious lol.

Now you can change it to say that, playing 70+ games every year for 15+ seasons while going all out statistically less likely than than 700 goals then I can see that. But I think the original question is, if you wanted to achieve either one. Which one is easier. In that vein 700 goals is wayyyyy harder and AINEC.

 

[yukoner88]

Because the stickied thread called 'Marleau - Gordie Howe GP watch' will get far less views and replies on HF then the 'Ovi 700 goals watch' thread.

But if you wanted the thread to be focused on promoting Marleau, it would have been far more effective to not mention Ovechkin at all. Cause now, instead of focusing on Marleau you distracted everyone by making a comparison with Ovi which is rather cringe worthy

 

[BruinsBtn]

You could argue they had "better" medicine back in the day when stuff was less regulated.

No, no you couldn't. Routine surgeries today were career ending. Physiotherapy was non-existent.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

Not only am I more impressed with Ovechkin's goal scoring, I'm more impressed with his durability too. It's not quite as absurd by the numbers, but he plays a far more intense and demanding game than Marleau and still plays the game at an extremely high level

 

[RageQuit77]

This would be very well deserved and interesting topic about Marleau, but because two players' career are compared using incompatible criteria, this one is destined to be yet another thread that declines to mostly uninteresting shit-slinging, dick measuring contest, and already million times dead-beaten mule of standard low HF BS.

700GP NHL career is something anyone can be proud of. To endure enough long at high enough level to stay in the league over 1000GP more is something that nobody should underestimate in its value.

Someone above mentioned GP as a good proxy measure of quality of a career. Yes. It is that, particularly for 35+ players. Marleau has been doing fine.

 

[Beukeboom]

Poor Marleau is being undervalued due to the out of the blue Ovechkin comparison. Ovie's 700 is more impressive. BUT, let's not pretend (like some here seem to do) that NHL hands out 1700-1800 games to "compilers" just to be nice. To have remained competitive for 22 years is pretty incredible! Marleau was scoring around 30 goals just two seasons ago, so it's not like he's one a roster for any other reason than him being good enough.

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

Only 4 players in history have more GP than Marleau
7 players have 700+ goals

Even on pure stat basis it's more impressive.

If it was that impressive he would be hall of famer

 

[Martin Skoula]

Curious how many GP Marleau would have if he played with even a shred of intensity.

 

[Bandit]

It’s a very impressive record in its own right. It doesn’t have to be comparable to any other record and certainly doesn’t need to be a pissing match as to which one is “better”.

 

[Yackiberg8]

If you are more impressed by a guy just showing up than by a guy making money for your company that's on you.

I'd take the productive guy any day over the guy who is "just there".

I'm rooting for him to tack on another season and get the record but holy smokes is it ever a fluff record.

This is dumb. You don’t “just show up” and play 1700 games in the NHL.

 

[Avsboy]

This is a hot take

 

[heretik27]

It'd be a great achievement to pass Howe at the end of his career. It's still a great achievement if he doesn't.

 

[Trap Jesus]

People will bitch about the Ovechkin thing, but this is super impressive. This isn't a sport like baseball or something, injuries are a huge thing in hockey. It's insanely impressive to be this durable