Which career has been the biggest "what if" in NHL History?

[Maestro84]

There have been plenty of career which have left you wondering, "what if" this player never suffered from or did this and this.

IMO, I'd have to say Mario. When healthy, he was neck-to-neck with peak Gretzky and was even ahead of Wayne in career PPG until he came out of retirement at age 36 during the clutch and grab era. And even then, Lemieux still dominated and ended his career at 1.88 PPG which is still only 0.04 lower than Gretzky's.

I can totally see an argument for some of the others on this list as well.

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[grapes55]

I'll probably say Orr just because he revolutionized the way defence was played and was still insanely young when he retired. Crazy to think of what he might've done if he played longer.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

I'm actually going to say Lindros. With the others, injuries certainly took away some of their best years, but with Lindros is almost like we never even saw what he could do at his peak. The most games he played in a full season (during his peak years) was 73 games. He was constantly missing 20+ games per season during what should have been his best years. The others, we got to see at their best for a handful of healthy seasons.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Lemieux with Gretzky's health is interesting.

 

[Bounces R Way]

Lindros for me. Doubt that's the best answer, but that's what resonated.

 

[The Moose is Loose]

Orr put some insanely impressive seasons together right before his knees gave out. That’s a huge what if I’m my opinion.

 

[bert]

This one is Orr for sure. Especially because his injuries are the most fixable he just played before we had the medical ability to repair his knees. He is also likely the best player of the group.

 

[Paul4587]

So many good options but have to lean towards Orr. Imagine if he had Lidstrom it Borques health.

 

[devo09]

Orr for sure; he would have been 31-32 when Gretzky came into the league so still around his prime. We missed 2 legends lining up against each other.

 

[Leonhard Euler]

All interesting choices. Subjectively I went with Jagr, although objectively I don't think it's the biggest what if.

 

[ijuka]

To me it's Lindros. A ton of what ifs for him. Still think he could have been on Mario and Gretzky's level if things had gone a little differently.

 

[Star Ocean]

Peter Forsberg. He had 25 surgeries.

 

[DaJackal]

Good poll.

Voted Orr because of the reasons @bert mentioned, but at least Lindros & Mario have a case.

Only one that I would remove from this list is Jagr, because the only thing he could have gained by not going to KHL is NHL games played record & some stat padding. In case of others we are talking about >30% increase in production without the mentioned problems.

 

[Voight]

If Orr's knees didnt give out he'd of won at least 12 straight Norris'

For me the thing with Lindros is even when he played close to a full season he didnt exactly dominate the competition. He was 6th in scoring.

His concussions also could have been avoidable but whatever he still made it to the HHOF.

 

[JasonRoseEh]

Voted Lemieux, he had a real chance at being the undisputed GOAT.

 

[Gary Nylund]

All good choices so far, I lean towards Orr myself. Honorable mention might end up going to McDavid depending how much of his career gets wasted in EDM.

 

[wintersej]

Voted Lemieux, he had a real chance at being the undisputed GOAT.

And Orr didn't?

 

[bobholly39]

Voted Lemieux but i assume its overall health (including back issues) and not just cancer

Orr is a close second

Its diffferent. With Orr we saw him at his best for full seasons and it was great....and then he had to leave. The "what if" is likely more of the same - but for how many more years its the question. Not necessarily as intriguing a question as with Lemieux

Lemieux really only hit his peak ability around 89. And for the next 7 years he was plagued with health issues. Even in seasons where he played a lot he was nowhere near 100% with chronic back pain. To me the "what if" is more interresting as i wonder which single season offensive records he would have been able to beat if he was at 100% capacity during those years

 

[DFC]

Probably Orr. Where the other guys continued playing at a reasonable level, Orr never played more than 20 games after age 27, coming off a 135 point season.

His career numbers are already staggering, but he could have put up records as untouchable as Gretzky's for a defenseman.

 

[wintersej]

Orr had 8 Norris trophies at TWENTY SIX YEARS OLD and then played 36 games over 3 years before calling it quits. With knees that probably would have been repaired in an offseason today.

Orr could have still been in the league the entirety of Gretzky's career in Edmonton. How different would the league have been with both those guys running around!

 

[Tasty Biscuits]

To me it's Lindros. A ton of what ifs for him. Still think he could have been on Mario and Gretzky's level if things had gone a little differently.

+1 just for saying "could have."

 

[Lshap]

Voted for Orr. Would've been something to watch his prime through the 70s.

Lemieux is a close second.

Another 'what-if' is Gretzky not being traded. Oilers had some success after he left, but I wonder if keeping Gretzky would've meant keeping the rest of the core together and dominating the 90s.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Either Bobby Orr or Mario lemieux

 

[HarryLime]

It's so obviously either Orr or Mario. For Mario though it is a bunch of other stuff + cancer.

I would have to go with Mario just because I think he would have come close to Wayne in terms of goals and points. The DPE would have ensured he couldn't pass him.


EDIT, i can't not think of Orr after hitting send. I'm just going to call it 50/50

 

[beakerboy]

Orr then Mario. Those were two top 5 in history guys who retired/lost seasons in their primes when they were undisputably the best player in the league. I suppose you could argue Gretzky was better than Mario at the time, but that is a different poll.