[VIDEO] Legends Series: Wayne Gretzky (1985) - A Look At What Made Him Great (17 G, 47 P, 18 GP)

[CambieKev]

We all miss hockey, so to try to fill the void, here is a look at one of Wayne Gretzky's great performances: Game 5 of the 1985 Stanley Cup Finals vs the Philadelphia Flyers.

We get a look at his style of play, and also quite a bit of the magnificent Paul Coffey at his best.

Gretzky won the Conn Smythe Trophy with 17 goals and 47 points in 18 playoff games.

Enjoy!

Click to read more...

 

[Cloned]

Surprisingly the current Oiler who plays the most like Gretz is Draisaitl.

 

[SwedishFire]

What I see that surprises me, is that Gretzky reallt used his slapshot very frequently. And as he was one of the greats, maybe it means players use it to seldom?

 

[Cloned]

What I see that surprises me, is that Gretzky reallt used his slapshot very frequently. And as he was one of the greats, maybe it means players use it to seldom?

He had one of the greatest slap shots in the history of the game. Pinpoint accuracy.

 

[Messrules11]

He had one of the greatest slap shots in the history of the game. Pinpoint accuracy.

And he did it with a heavy Titan

 

[The Panther]

Great video -- the music is very '1985'!

This game is always special for me because it's the first NHL game I remember watching from beginning to end. I was nine years old.

 

[ohheyhemsky]

Surprisingly the current Oiler who plays the most like Gretz is Draisaitl.

I still see Nuge.

 

[Paperbagofglory]

I still see Nuge.

Draisaitl is what would happen if Gretzky and Messier had a baby.

Hey who knows.

Did Wayne ever have a 9 month injury absence?

 

[Dorian2]

I remember that series. I was downtown after the Oilers won the Cup and had a Philly cap on. Got a full can of beer thrown at us by someone in a car. This was just after another guy wearing aPhilly jersey was chased down the block by about 15 people and had his jersey ripped from his body....lol. Good times.

 

[SwedishFire]

I still see Nuge.

What I ike aobut the video is that in just playing the game in the moment, Paul Coffeys personal skill was on the same level as Gretzky. He was flying and where everywhere. But Gretzky had some moments, where his passes reached everywhere. But you could actually read him off some times, and he does lost the puck more than I suspected.

What I could imagine, is that his skating (agillity, he was really fighting hard to skate fast...) and psycological influens was far important.

Whoever nr 26 where, he was a suprisingly big influens on the ice. Some skill, score some goals, where he was ahtoritizing the areas he where in.

 

[subnet]

Thanks for posting this! It's been a LONG time since I looked at old footage and just remembering now what the game used to be like. I was around and old enough to remember the glory days and to go to many games back then. Seeing again how fluid Coffey was on his skates is just amazing - man could he fly.

Forgot just how bad the stick technology was back then. Today, with the composites, the velocity of both passes and shots are so much quicker. The way we can now load up the stick and have the quick snap (and low kick-point), vs the old lumber is night and day. Of course goalie equipment and more-importantly technique was also night and day compared to now.

#99 was always in a class by himself, the way he could turn and dipsy-doodle out there.

Man those were some times - us 'older farts' were so lucky to witness such a powerhouse team!

 

[Cloned]

I still see Nuge.

Those quick little puck plays through the defender's feet, how he always tries to make the first touch around to put the puck around the defender like a soccer player, all I can see is Drai lol.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

I see a little bit of Drai, Nuge and Connor in Gretz. One thing that really stands out is how many times he'd turn it over. Coaches now may not have allowed him to become the player that he was.

 

[9GWG9]

Frickin frak!

 

[Mc5RingsAndABeer]

We all miss hockey, so to try to fill the void, here is a look at one of Wayne Gretzky's great performances: Game 5 of the 1985 Stanley Cup Finals vs the Philadelphia Flyers.

We get a look at his style of play, and also quite a bit of the magnificent Paul Coffey at his best.

Gretzky won the Conn Smythe Trophy with 17 goals and 47 points in 18 playoff games.

Enjoy!

Too many turnovers
xGF% is subpar
Plays with Kurri, Messier, Coffey

Should be ineligible for the Hart

 

[fuswald]

And he did it with a heavy Titan

I would think the sticks nowadays that flex so much are less accurate. More velocity especially for the regular player.

 

[The Panther]

Talking about Gretzky's turnovers in this clip, remember two things:
1) He went +127 in 98 games that season (RS + playoffs)
2) This highlights package is from game five, the clincher, an 8-3 Oiler wallop, by which point Philly had almost thrown in the towel and had to start their back-up (Froese). This game was over in the 1st period. I think if you watched games 1 to 4, you'd see Gretzky taking fewer chances.

 

[The Panther]

Forgot just how bad the stick technology was back then. Today, with the composites, the velocity of both passes and shots are so much quicker. The way we can now load up the stick and have the quick snap (and low kick-point), vs the old lumber is night and day.

Agree. People focus on the goaltenders' equipment changes so often, but what has startled me in the last ten years or so is the stick technology. It's night and day compared to anything before about 1990... and it's even a huge difference compared to the Lock-Out era.

The fact is, it's much easier for any NHL player today (incl. a lot of stay-at-home defencemen otherwise not known for offensive ability) to whip and zing missiles at the net, in a split-second. That was utterly impossible with wooden sticks.

I think this is why, for example, we rarely see today's younger stars (McDavid included, but also MacKinnon, Matthews, etc.) take slap-shots or shoot from distance. Their whole lives have been spent training with high-tech composite and 'artificial' sticks that allow them maximum control of the puck and pin-point accuracy. They don't see the point in winding up and cranking one from a distance. Even the point-men don't do it as much now (of course, it's damn hard to gets pucks through to the net now).

 

[Messrules11]

I would think the sticks nowadays that flex so much are less accurate. More velocity especially for the regular player.

I’ve used both and I’ll take the newer composite stick any day and if I used one of these $500 sticks the pros use I’m sure it’s better than any stick I’ll ever use.