Who is the real ‘Great One’?

Two young men from Canada just over 20 years ago came into the NHL within a four year span and absoloutely destroyed their competition.  The torch was passed from stars like Gordie Howe and Bobby Orr to Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky, giving these two soon-to-be superstars the responsibilty of taking hockey to a new level with astonishing skills and enormous expectations.A rival is said to be one who attempts to surpass another or compete for the same goal. Lemieux and Gretzky did just that as they electrified arenas with dazzling dekes and heart-stopping passes all over their long, illustrious careers. Mostly everyone will say that Gretzky is the greatest hockey player ever to lace up the skates and step foot on the ice, and the stats may make this true; however, assessing the greater talent between these two amazing athletes is very debatable

Great teams always surround their superstars with strong players in order to protect and help decrease the burden of scoring on the team’s best player. Wayne Gretzky, in his first years with the Edmonton Oilers, had great players like Mark Messier and Paul Coffey and great goaltending from Grant Fuhr. Wayne Gretzky knew he had other players that would protect him and be able to take advantage and score when needed. If a team just strictly concentrated on Gretzky, his teammates were sure to take advantage and score with little defense on them

On the other hand, Lemieux was in a completely different situation with the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was not until the early 90’s that Lemieux was given enough talent around him that prevented teams from just concentrating soley on him. If Lemieux has stars like Mark Recchi and Ron Francis earlier in his career, his point totals would have been much higher due to teams being unable to double-team him.

Another main factor in these two players’ careers is their health. It can help a player have a much longer career or stop players from ever reaching their full potential. Mario Lemieux was never able to fully stay healthy as he battled through various injuries. When he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease, most people thought this cancer would end his young but promising career for good. He proved them all wrong.

It’s tough to wonder how Lemieux would have done without experiencing the many barriers he had to overcome due to his poor health. The question that athletes never want to hear about themselves is “What if?” What if Lemieux never was diagnosed with cancer or never had chronic back pains his entire career. On the other hand, Gretzky, over his career, managed to stay healthy while racking up major records and destroying his competition.

Lemieux played in 16 seasons, usually missing a handful of games here and there because of various injuries. Gretzky played in 20 seasons almost always being healthy and not fighting too many injuries forcing him to miss many games. In total, Gretzky played 598 more games than Lemieux. Both of these amazing players easily averaged multiple points a game as they made scoring on pro goalies extremely easy. Wayne Gretzky finished his career with 2,857 points. Mario Lemieux scored a total of 1,701 points. If one would look at the stats, it’s easy to say that Gretzky was the better player, but in order to fully decide this famous debate, one needs to consider more than just the total points, such as the player’s health and game played.

Yes, Gretzky’s statistics show he may have had the better career but that doesn’t necessarily mean he was the better player. Both of these players had great vision of the ice that was unimaginable to the average player and stick handling that at times was incredible to watch.

Many opponents will say that Lemieux was the better player because of his immense size and speed, making him at times unstoppable. Wayne Gretzky was an amazing player and in some eyes the best ever, but I’ll say one more time “What if?”

If Lemieux had been placed on a strong team as a rookie, with great players already surrounding him, maybe his team would have won more Stanley Cups.

If Lemieux had played the same number of games and not experienced the lingering health issues that put his career to a halt not once but twice, I think it’s reasonable to think that Lemieux’s final point totals owuld have been the same if not greater than Gretzky’s.

The debate may never be decided on whom was better but no matter what, they both were legendary players with spectacular careers. These two players combined for 12 MVP’s, 6 Stanley Cups and 16 scoring championships. Gretzky also picked Lemieux to be captian of the 2002 Canadian Olympic hockey team, giving each player once gold medal.

These two friendly rivals allowed us to watch them dominate the world of hockey, making them dominate the world of hockey, making them no particular order the No.1 and No.2 best hockey players ever to live. “The Great One” and “The Magnificent One” truly showed us what it is to be great at the game of hockey.