[VIDEO] Wayne Gretzky: Legends Series Ep.1 (1985): A Look At What Made Him Great (17 G, 47 P, 18 GP)

[Kranix]

today's players would look just as inept as those of 4-decades ago if given the same equipment those guys had to use:

Coyotes star Oliver Ekman Larsson tries on 80's equipment

I feel like if an NHL player today spent all his hours training with that equipment he'd get used to it and perform well, maybe not rifle the puck as hard, but they would adapt. I could be wrong

 

[umma gumma]

I feel like if an NHL player today spent all his hours training with that equipment he'd get used to it and perform well, maybe not rifle the puck as hard, but they would adapt. I could be wrong

Of course they would, just like if those players were born in the 90s instead of the 60s they'd be much better versions of themselves.

In that video of OEL most of his comments are on how bad the equipment is and how impressed with what those before him were able to do with it. I mean, he loses more than 20 mph on his slapshot!

 

[authentic]

What the hell is this? So you're saying if McDavid at 15 years of age and 140 lbs was in the NHL in 1986 he could score 220pts, seeing as he'd be the best hockey player? Suuuuuuuuuuuuuure. Fantasy land indeed.


He clearly was as good and better than the best players of today. He changed the game FFS. If Gretzky was born in 1997 he'd be far and away the best player in the league. The guy played chess with the NHL and no one could figure him out, his hockey IQ was insane. He'd still have that IQ today.

McDavid as a teenager was a far more skilled hockey player than Wayne Gretzky ever was, yes. If the league and goons protected him like they did Gretzky of course he could score 220 points in a league with worse defense and goaltending than the OHL.

 

[authentic]

Which is a pointless argument that really doesn’t need to be made. Players are regarded for how well they did against their peers. If we use your arguement we shouldn’t really care about what McDavid, Crosby, Ovi are doing today because there is probably a 5 year old kid playing street hockey down the road from me that will be better one day because he grew up watching these guys and learned from them.

I know they are, but in the thread where Crosby and McDavid are hypothetically time machined back to 1979 most people still vote for Gretzky outscoring them, that's all I was arguing against.

 

[authentic]

I feel like if an NHL player today spent all his hours training with that equipment he'd get used to it and perform well, maybe not rifle the puck as hard, but they would adapt. I could be wrong

Them going back it's easier to believe them being better than Gretzky than the other way around. Gretzky wouldn't suddenly develop all the skills, strength and skating ability needed to dominate like them in modern hockey in a year. He would have to be born at a much later date to even compete for the best player today.

 

[The Panther]

McDavid as a teenager was a far more skilled hockey player than Wayne Gretzky ever was, yes. If the league and goons protected him like they did Gretzky of course he could score 220 points in a league with worse defense and goaltending than the OHL.

I've given up on you. You're hopeless.

 

[Minar]

Haven't any if you watched Back to the Future? There wouldnt be a McDavid to go back to 1979 without Gretzky. The players of today stand on the shoulders of the players from yesteryear. That's why the league keeps getting better. The players of today learn and build off of what the players of yesteryear did. McDavid would not be McDavid without all the players who were influential before him. Therefore this whole debate of him going back is moot. If he went back to 1979 he wouldnt have the last 40yrs of nhl learning and developing to build on. He would be stuck in that time with only what came before 1979 to build off of. Thats what makes Gretzky exceptional. He was an outlier. He was way beyond his peers almost as if he had time traveled ahead and learned aspects of today's game and brought them back. What other player is so set apart from his peers?

 

[Beukeboom]

I think he would too, but all I'm saying is the top players today are better than he was.

How is that relevant? Is a random US general a better tactician than Julius Ceasar or Napoleon just because his current army would destroy the latter dittos? Or if you travel back in time you'd be able to lecture Isaac Newton in science. I don't think, and this is in no way an insult, it's because you're more talanted than him in that field.

It's what you do in your time that matters. McDavid is immensly skilled, but apparently not enough to beat Kucherov or Draisaitl in the scoring race. Gretzky was around 100 points ahead of his teammates, and never lost an Art to anyone not named Mario in his whole prime (and even that was arguably once his peak had started to wane. Semi-pun not intened.)

 

[authentic]

I've given up on you. You're hopeless.

Haha, okay.

 

[authentic]

How is that relevant? Is a random US general a better tactician than Julius Ceasar or Napoleon just because his current army would destroy the latter dittos? Or if you travel back in time you'd be able to lecture Isaac Newton in science. I don't think, and this is in no way an insult, it's because you're more talanted than him in that field.

It's what you do in your time that matters. McDavid is immensly skilled, but apparently not enough to beat Kucherov or Draisaitl in the scoring race. Gretzky was around 100 points ahead of his teammates, and never lost an Art to anyone not named Mario in his whole prime (and even that was arguably once his peak had started to wane. Semi-pun not intened.)

Well he probably doesn't reGretzky one minute of his career, that's for sure.