The Gretzky Debate

One of the best/worst aspects of being a hockey fan is discussions with other fans. The pro is that you get the chance to express your opinions about a subject you are passionate about with someone who knows their stuff. The con is sometimes you end up in a conversation with someone who has the complete opposite opinion as you and that can be frustrating, especially when they are out of their element. I thought I might draft a few articles detailing some of the conversations I have had over the years.

The topic of this first article is the most controversial one. Is Wayne Gretzky the greatest player to ever put on the skates? Absolutely not. I cannot argue that he is the most skilled person to ever play but I believe the criteria for judging the best player includes more than just hockey stats, (even though his stats for goals, assists and points are the only ones he dominated).

There are five things needed to be considered a great hockey player:

• Scoring ability. Can you put the puck in the net or get the puck to a teammate who can?

• Skating ability. Can you out skate your opponent or undress them with good stick work?

• Hockey sense. How well do you read a play?

• Defensive ability or toughness. Can you take a hit or hand one out? Can you block a shot?

• Fighting ability. Can you drop the gloves to defend yourself or a teammate and turn the tide for your team?

There is no denying Gretzky possessed the first three criteria. Skating ability and hockey sense cannot really be ranked. You either have it or do not and Gretzky had both. Interesting to note however is the fact that if you look at goals per game for career Gretzky is ranked 7th all time. Mario Lemieux had a goals per game average that was fifteen percent better. Had he played as many games as Gretzky, he would have scored more than a thousand goals, eclipsing Gretzky's total. Lemieux also would have possibly beat Gretzky's points per game as there was a miniscule difference between their averages. Gretzky also ranks 36th for shot percentage. Considering other stats also shows Gretzky's lack of dominance. He is 285th all time for face off percentage. So just judging based on stats and point totals, a compelling argument can be made for Lemieux being the greatest player.

Moving on to defensive abilities. Being able to check another player is one of more important aspects of hockey. There is a lot of debate when it comes to Gretzky and checking. I have never had the Gretzky debate with anyone that tried to claim Gretzky was in any way a good body checking player. The other half of the equation would be taking a check and that is where a great deal of arguing happens. Some believe he was too fast and skilled at avoiding checks. I think that speed did play a factor, but an even bigger fact was that it was an unwritten rule that you do not hit Gretzky. The NHL has for decades used its star players to sell hockey to American audiences. The league utilized Gretzky's talent to give the U.S. sport fanbase a reason to change the channel from football. It would make sense then to protect your poster boy.

Before the Gretzky fans get the pitchforks out, yes, I realize that he was not the only star player this applied to. It did set a precedent though that can be seen to this day. You can bump a star player, even take them into the boards but if you put a shoulder into it and lay them out, you are guaranteed a few fists from their teammates. The problem lies in the fact that this preferential treatment did not stop at just checking. It extended to penalties not being called, (yes, I am looking at you Kerry Fraser). Game six of the Stanley Cup semi-finals Gretzky high sticked Doug Gilmour, cutting him, which back then was a five-minute penalty and a game misconduct. However, no penalty was called, and Gretzky went on to score the OT winner. Now would the Leafs have gone on to beat Montreal in the final? Doubtful being that Patrick Roy was at his best that year, but who knows.

Alright, so the last criteria is fighting. To even think of Gretzky fighting is to invite uncontrollable fits of laughter. He had two fights in his career, only one of which has video evidence. He decided to drop the gloves against Neal Broten and lasted five seconds, landing no punches and getting hit once before falling to the ice. There is a debate in the hockey fan world about whether fighting is needed in the game. Back in the 70's and 80's there was the joke that went "I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out". Fighting was the norm then and it served a purpose. If your team was down a goal your enforcer took on the other team's tough guy. Whoever one often gave a boost to their team. If a player on the other team took liberties with your scorers you took him on to make sure they knew they would not get away with it. There are sports entirely based on fighting so fighting being one aspect of hockey ability should not be a huge deal.

Now that I have thrown out the criteria for greatest hockey player and shown Gretzky fails to fill two of those five requirements the question remains. Who is the real Great One? Well, I seem to have made a case for Mario Lemieux, at least as far as scoring goes, but is Mario tough? He does beat Gretzky in fights and hits. Lemieux has seven fights to his name over his career. It is hard to find video for most of these fights but the ones that I could find show Mario could handle himself, just ask Gary Lupin. However, Mario did not really prove his fighting ability against any of the big enforcers during his career. So, while I do rank him higher on the scale than Gretzky, I would not put him at the top of the list.

Gordie Howe. He is the greatest player in NHL history. He embodied every trait I hold to be necessary to contend for the greatest player title. They even have a term called a "Gordie Howe Hat trick" and yes, I realize Gordie himself only accomplished one of these achievements twice in his career. The reason for this though is that most players were far too fearful of what Howe's hands would do to their face to risk fighting him. Believe me it pains me to name him as greatest because I despise the man. You must give credit where it is due, however.

Now is the paragraph that is heavily biased but still has some weight to it (at least I think so). I say this because I am about to talk about my favorite player of all time. Wendel Clark. He is one of the more balanced players to have ever played. He was a good skater, he scored, he checked, and he certainly could throw a fist like few else could do. A good deal of those fights were very clearly won by him as well. He was the heart and soul of the Toronto Maple Leafs through the 80’s and 90’s.

If you consider current players, then Alexander Ovechkin is certainly a contender. He is on track to beat Gretzky's record for goals, and he is certainly no slouch in the hits department. He also doubles Gretzky's fight count with four fights and has also thrown over 3000 hits.

Other players I would rank higher than Gretzky for greatest player of all time would be:

• Mark Messier - Top ten for all points stats, almost equal stats for shots, better face off stats and was not afraid to drop the gloves.

• Jeremy Roenick - 513 career goals and 36 fights.

• Keith Tkachuk - 538 career goals, 51 fights and over 50% face off success.

• Paul Coffey - 39 fights and a point per game average in his playoff career.

• Cam Neely - Six 30 goal seasons, three 50 goal seasons and 76 fights, some of which were against some quality opponents.

• Jerome Iginla - 625 goals, 51.76% face off record, 1100+ hits and 72 fights.

Having laid all this out, my actual conclusion is that timing and circumstance are what gained Gretzky the title of The Great One. The NHL's need for a hero to sell the game, Edmonton's domination during the 80's and giving him some of the most talented players at that time to support him created an idea that was heavily pushed in the hockey world. Put Connor McDavid or Austin Matthews under the same conditions Gretzky had and they would find as much success as he did.

This is all just my opinion, colored by a bitterness that still lingers from a Toronto fan who wonders what might have been in 1993 but also judged not just by stats, (even though I did use a lot of them here). It is also an opinion based on a lifelong love and study of what makes hockey the best game out there.