authentic
Registered User
- Jan 28, 2015
- 25,955
- 11,020
This is incorrect. In hockey, intangible skill and sense comes into play, and it is why a guy like Gretzky is better than guys that are measurably faster and stronger than he is.
In a "pure" sport like sprinting, a modern guy with his equipment, track, and training beats any guy from around 80 years ago. The slowest man of the final 8 of the men's 100m Final at the London Olympics in 2012 is still faster than Jesse Owens, the 100m Olympic Gold Medalist from the 1936 Olympics. It's easier for a modern athlete to dominate a sport like sprinting or powerlifting if he were to be transported back in time, as much fewer soft skills come into play. You're basically measuring one thing.
Being faster and stronger than Gretzky using modern equipment and training, still won't make you a better hockey player than him.
It's not incorrect though because players today are better at those skills. Take McDavid vs. Gretzky and that intangible skill and hockey sense comes into play for McDavid today and is one of the main reasons why he's as dominant as he is. The only difference is McDavid is anticipating a much faster game in every way, less time and space, less open ice to navigate through, fewer offensive plays available and he has to make decisions and react far quicker.
If players back then had a hard time knowing which way Gretzky was going to turn or pass to they would be in over their heads with McDavid who would dominate with his intangible skill alone. I do not buy for one second that McDavid going back in time would lack in any skill compared to Gretzky, and that includes hockey sense, timing, passing or whatever. Give him the old stick and maybe he wouldn't put clappers bar down as easily, that's about it.