Let's Go Blues

Gretzky was way overrated, being called "the best hockey player ever". I watched Gordie How (most of his career), and Rocket Richard (half his career), and Bobby Hull, Mario Lemieux, and Gretzky their whole careers. I'd have taken Howe, Richard. Hull and Lemieux ALL before Gretzky for my team. They were all more complete players than Gretzky. I'm not saying he wasn't a great player. He was. But he wasn't near the best ever. Bobby Orr, at his height, was best. He was more dominant on offence, and also, at the same time, played his defence position. as well.

Gretzky had great ice vision, great hands, great anticipation, a good shot, great set-up man. But, he wasn't near the best forward ever. Orr, Howe, Richard could all take over a game by themselves. Gretzky needed his linemates. He played mainly during an era which had a lot of open ice. He wouldn't have had nearly the same room to operate during other eras. He was able to avoid being hit much and could use his speed and stick-checking to play decent defence. He would have been a lot less effective in other areas (in all zones).

Brad Boyes WAS the most overrated player on The Blues, until most Blues fans started getting down on him after about 30 games this season. Now, maybe Kariya is, during his "resurgence" in the last few games, playing with Oshie. He's still barely a shadow of his old self.

keithp40 wrote:

-C- wrote:

cprice12 wrote:Crosby (along with a few others today) are better than Gretzky ever was.

I stopped reading there.

think about it. gretzky's talent came about in somewhat of a perfect storm of situations....just like mcgwire, sosa and bonds.....it was the steriods, the dilouted pitching around the league tighter wound ball, the small ballparks, they all contributed to more home runs in baseball............
...............compare that to gretzky, it wasn't that he was a great player......he was only great by the standard set by the rest of the league......goaltending sucked in the mid/late 80s...........there were several teams who just plain sucked ass, there was no parody, a few great elite teams and the rest of the league was pretty much a muckraked piece of moldy tangerines. yeah i said that.

Completely disagree. Gretzky transcended and changed the game much like Orr did.

If you want to compare the 80s to today, remember that in addition to his talent Gretzky would also have better ice, better equipment, better training, better ice surfaces and most importantly he would be using one of the new synthetic sticks. That last part alone could have added a hundred goals to his career total.

Robb_K wrote:Gretzky was way overrated, being called "the best hockey player ever". I watched Gordie How (most of his career), and Rocket Richard (half his career), and Bobby Hull, Mario Lemieux, and Gretzky their whole careers. I'd have taken Howe, Richard. Hull and Lemieux ALL before Gretzky for my team. They were all more complete players than Gretzky. I'm not saying he wasn't a great player. He was. But he wasn't near the best ever. Bobby Orr, at his height, was best. He was more dominant on offence, and also, at the same time, played his defence position. as well.

Gretzky had great ice vision, great hands, great anticipation, a good shot, great set-up man. But, he wasn't near the best forward ever. Orr, Howe, Richard could all take over a game by themselves. Gretzky needed his linemates. He played mainly during an era which had a lot of open ice. He wouldn't have had nearly the same room to operate during other eras. He was able to avoid being hit much and could use his speed and stick-checking to play decent defence. He would have been a lot less effective in other areas (in all zones).

Brad Boyes WAS the most overrated player on The Blues, until most Blues fans started getting down on him after about 30 games this season. Now, maybe Kariya is, during his "resurgence" in the last few games, playing with Oshie. He's still barely a shadow of his old self.

My memory isn't what it used to be, but I remember plenty of times Gretzky took over games by himself. The most recent example when he scored a hat trick in the playoffs for the Rangers in the series against Florida. He also singlehandedly took the Kings to the finals in 1993.

You go back further than I do, but are you sure your opinion of Gretzky isn't tainted somewhat by the fact he didn't re-sign with the Blues? I tend to discount Lemieux's accomplishments because I hated seeing him beat the Rangers so much.

Everyone has an opinion, but outside of this forum there isn't much if any support for the idea that there is a player in the NHL today that is as good as Gretzky, much less several.

-C- wrote: Completely disagree. Gretzky transcended and changed the game much like Orr did.

transcenders (whether you're talking about sports, art, or politics) only come around when the times totally suck....

president reagan was transcending (after carter, who sucked it up)
president obama (as the experts say) is a transcending figure during really tough times
mcgwire and sosa came after the lockout and transcended the game

i'm not saying gretzky wasn't good, he obviously was, but he was made to look even better because the talent around him was on the down.

keithp40 wrote:i'm not saying gretzky wasn't good, he obviously was, but he was made to look even better because the talent around him was on the down.

Ridiculous.