Dark Metamorphosis said:
obviously his numbers would drop, but my point was that you can't just multiply his numbers by 60% to get his numbers today.
Well he's not... he's basing it on league scoring for the era. And he's not saying Lemieux would have only scored such and such number of points, he's saying that all things being equal (i.e. scoring in their era), their numbers are statistically close. There is no doubt Lemieux contributed greatly to the high scoring numbers in the Q when he was there... but there's also no doubt that Crosby gives the Q now a boost in terms of scoring.
Since he was big and mobile, his numbers likely wouldn't drop that much, as evidenced by his jawdropping numbers in the NHL, even in a low scoring era. (161 pts in 70 games in '96, 76 pts in 43 games in '01)
Yes they would. Don't forget, in '96 and '01 he'd had quite a few years in the league, and experience at the NHL level is valuable... so using his NHL totals as a what-if isn't really valid. We aren't comparing NHL numbers after 10-15 years in the league.
The fact of the matter is players now are significantly bigger than they used to be, especially in junior. Mario would not have nearly the size advantage now as he did then, and that can't do anything other than hurt him (based on the way he plays). Goaltending and coaching is also much better now than it was then. I don't think the young Mario would have put up 282 points in this Q.
Unfortunately, with some of you people you don't understand era's. If Crosby is winning scoring titles with 120 points, while other players are scoring 90, I know that the thinking will be "Well Gretzky scored 215 points...". Fact of the matter is, Crosby would still be dominating the league and the scoring race like Gretzky did, but because of how different the era's are, if you are only looking at total points naturally you are going to see a huge difference between Crosby and a guy like Gretzky or Lemieux.
Crosby already has failed... moron hockey fans have already decided that. In order for Crosby to be mentioned like Gretzky or Lemieux, he's going to have to put up point totals like they did.
That's just not possible. There is nothing in the way the game is evolving that makes me think that scoring is ever going to be like it was for guys like Gretzky or Mario. Back in the 60's,70's,80's and early 90's the game was still evolving. Goalies weren't quite as good, quite as mobile, quite as big as they are now. Coaches weren't nearly as smart, resourceful, or dedicated as they are now. The players now are bigger, smarter, faster, than ever before.
Sorry, but Gretzky in his prime wouldn't score 215 points in this NHL. He wouldn't have nearly 3000 NHL points playing in this era. To me, he's still the greatest player who ever lived, but I am not a dummy. He'd be facing the best checkers who were all bigger and faster than him, and who also were positionally superior to the players he ate up in the 80's and 90's. He'd still probably be the best offensive player in the league, but it wouldn't be to the extent he did it back in the 80's.
If we are expecting Crosby to score points like Lemieux or Gretzky... it won't happen. There isn't a chance in hell (it's too bad Gretz said Crosby could break all his records... because even Wayne knows that isn't possible). There is however, a chance that Crosby will dominate the NHL much like those two did. Where they were above and beyond anyone else in the league. If we are talking about that, then I think it's stupid to say Crosby will never do that. He's too good to write that possibility off. The kid hasn't failed at all yet... I just don't see how you could discount him.