How close was Mario Lemieux to Gretzky if he never had health issues?

[gunna get it]

NHL 94/95 are the greatest Sports video games ever created!

 

[RyGuy45]

That '87 Canada Cup got me following the NHL as a kid, seriously that Canada team was straight absurd.

Imagine going up against this

1987 Canadian Team

Wayne Gretzky
Mark Messier
Mario Lemieux
Ray Bourque
Paul Coffey
Dale Hawerchuk
Doug Gilmour
Claude Lemieux
Mike Gartner
Larry Murphy
Rick Tocchet
Craig Hartsburg
Kevin Dineen
Michel Goulet
Brent Sutter
Brian Propp
Doug Crossman
Normand Rochefort
James Patrick

Grant Fuhr
Kelly Hrudey
Ron Hextall

 

[doublejs07]

Think about those Oilers teams that Gretz was on....

Gretzky
Messier
Coffey
Kurri
Anderson

and Fuhr in net

 

[swyftdahoe]

Growing up in Edmonton during the Gretzky years

!

A healthy Mario would've been real close. But close is no cigar. Gretzky > all. Non-debatable to me. His numbers eclipse.

 

[proshares]

Originally Posted by GUNNA GET IT

Originally Posted by AddictedToFreshKicks

Mario Lemieux and a young Jaromir Jagr were one of the best duo's in sports history... LMAO @ Jagr's mullet...

Add Ron Francis too

My dude.

That's the first thought that crossed my mind when I saw this picture.

At his average, Mario would have only been 59 points shy of Wayne if they had played the exact same amount of games. That's saying a lot to be only 59behind Wayne. I was sad as hell when I heard about his disease and he had to retire. I'll always remember when he came back that year and put that teamon his back to carry them to the playoffs and went to the Conference Finals. That team wasn't too bad itself with Jagr, Straka, Lang, Kovalev, Gonchar andHedberg. I felt a little bad when the Devils beat them.

He scored 600 goals in ONE fewer game than Wayne.

 

[menacin methods]

if you guys can choose 1 player to take the penalty shot who would it be???

I take Bure

Yes i still remember how Richter stopped him in the 94 Stanley Cup finals

Best 7 game series i ever seen

 

[theprocessofbelief]

Originally Posted by Menacin Methods

if you guys can choose 1 player to take the penalty shot who would it be???

I take Bure

Yes i still remember how Richter stopped him in the 94 Stanley Cup finals

Best 7 game series i ever seen

I was 9 years old. I was in tears.

I still hate the Rangers for that.

 

[addictedtofreshkicks]

Originally Posted by Menacin Methods

I take Bure

Yes i still remember how Richter stopped him in the 94 Stanley Cup finals

AND in the All-Star game that year...

 

[gunna get it]

I still (

) my dude yellin mateauuuuuuuu mateauuuu Mateauuuuuuuu for the GW in game 7 vs the Devils.

I was sooo into hockey back then. Ridiculous!


Trevor Linden was always My Dude on that Vancouver squad.

 

[inno21]

Originally Posted by AddictedToFreshKicks

Originally Posted by Menacin Methods

I take Bure

Yes i still remember how Richter stopped him in the 94 Stanley Cup finals

AND in the All-Star game that year...

Bure was the piff back in VanCity in the mid 90s. Dude had like 99 spd and 99 acceleration in NHL 95. Rangers broke my heart in 94 with that win.Madd props to the moose callin it out in the semis tho

 

[kash55]

Mario was awesome, but some times I look at Gretzky's numbers...man those are Chamberlain style numbers.

 

[prinse3]

trevor linden is pretty much vancouvers biggest sports hero lol ( im from the city)... gotta say all the cougars in the city be on his strap

 

[brownin187]

lets get real here..pavel bure is the g.o.a.t.


lol for real though, if gretzky cut his career short the points difference would reflect a bigger gap. his last few years in the league weren't that greatand he was slowed by arthritis.

what's scary with lemieux is that he was solid til the day he hung up his skates.

mario lemieux hockey on the sega genesis was crazy too..but nhl 95 may be the nicest hockey game ever.

 

[proshares]

Originally Posted by GUNNA GET IT

I still (

) my dude yellin mateauuuuuuuu mateauuuu Mateauuuuuuuu for the GW in game 7 vs the Devils.

I was 7 when that +%#! happened (I started watching hockey young

) and I was in tears when Matteau scored that goal.

Kirk McLean was solid in the playoffs on that Canucks team.

When I heard Mark brought the Cup into the Knicks locker room the next day at the Knicks game

%@*%!+% John Starks.

 

[dmxfury]

NHL 94 and 95 on Genesis may be the greatest sports video games ever

 

[doublejs07]

Mark Messier used to slay Tyra Banks

 

[n3ff 3000]

I wonder how Malkin and Ovechkin will match up to these 2 when its all said and done..

 

[ballinboykz]

Originally Posted by Osh Kosh Bosh

Originally Posted by FIRST B0RN

Originally Posted by DoubleJs07

I think if Lemieux had sayed healthy, there would have still been a 300-400 point difference between him and Gretz. That's not to discredit Lemieux, because I feel as though he was the most physically gifted player to ever lace em' up in the NHL. I give Lemieux all the credit in the world for not only putting Pittsburgh hockey on the map, but also for battling cancer and coming back and STILL being a dominant player. However, Gretzky's #'s are flat out absurd. Not only could he put the puck in the net, but his passing was

His hockey IQ is what sets him apart from everyone else in the league. Not "just about everyone," but EVERYONE who has played the game. He is unmatched. If Gretz had stayed healthy, he might have surpassed 3,000 points. That's #$#+++# insane! All of his records (most importantly his points) are as close to un-breakable as yo ucan get.

Like I said before, even if Mario had stayed healthy, there would be a big gap. Lemieux (IMO) is the unquestioned second-best player the NHL has ever had.

Co-sign

This is the correct answer.

Like another dude said in this thread, if you take away all the goals that Gretz scored, he would still be the all time points leader. That enoughshouts out that Gretz has been the best to ever lace them up.

Mario is undebatably the second best, but I take Gretzky 110 times out of 100.

Regardless,

to both. If only Mario was healthy. I still remember himcoming back, declaring his own salary with the Pens, and winning the gold for Canada in the 2002 Olympics. I looooooooved watching that line play; a thing ofbeauty.

 

[RyGuy45]

I wonder how Malkin and Ovechkin will match up to these 2 when its all said and done..

What sucks for them is those two dudes play in a totally different NHL.

Malkin, Crosby and Ovechkin between them (they are still young obviously) have played a combined 11 NHL seasons thus far. They have one 60 goal season and one 120 point season between all three of them.

Gretz by the age of 24..........already had 71, 73, 87 and 92 goal seasons

and 164, 196, 205, 208, and 212 point seasons

 

[addictedtofreshkicks]

Originally Posted by N3FF 3000

I wonder how Malkin and Ovechkin will match up to these 2 when its all said and done..

Unfortunately they play in an era now that has 10x better goaltending and teams have much better defensive systems...By time they are gone, theywill be very high in the record books but not anywhere near Wayne and Mario.

 

[dako akong otin]

i used to watch hockey in the 90s... even cheered for Gretz and the Kings. But I gotta say Lemieux would have been .. should have been the best if not forinjuries. Gretzky also got alot of recognition when he was traded to the Kings. Lemieux in Pittsburgh doesn't have the market or exposure LA or NY has.

 

[zwchris]

To me the most amazing part about Gretzky is his size, 6' and 160 lbs soaking wet as a rookie. Then 'ballooned' to 185 at the end.

 

[menacin methods]

My friends didn't understand why i liked watching hockey so much. I invited them over to watch the colorado vs detroit playoff series (96-97)
there reaction was

peter forsberg was that dude

 

[ballinboykz]

Originally Posted by Menacin Methods

My friends didn't understand why i liked watching hockey so much. I invited them over to watch the colorado vs detroit playoff series (96-97)
there reaction was

peter forsberg was that dude

Those Detroit Colorado series' were complete war's. Dudes could have died if there were no refs.

DETROIT RED WINGSBABY

 

[rudolph1996]

Originally Posted by GUNNA GET IT

gimme Mario.