Sidney Crosby vs Wayne Gretzgey?

Question

In gretzgeys time the goalies and defenses were much worse then they are now. Crosby is puting up numbers that are close to Gretzgeys numbers, and no doubt would be better than gretzgeys if Crosby played in his era. Suppose Crobsy and Gretzgey go at it, both in their primes. Messier is on their left, Jagr on the right. Kasperitus and Gonchar are the defensivemen, and Broduer is the goalie. Which of the two has a better night? The wings, defense, and goalie apply to both players (just assume)

Answer 1

First of all, it's Gretzky, Brodeur and Kasparitus. Defensemen, not defensivemen.

Second of all, I have no idea. Gretzky had unparalleled vision, but Crosby is a more physical player, and has more defensive responsibilities that he must take care of as well as scoring. You could make an argument that he is a more complete player.

But I think until Crosby has played 10 or 15 years and consistently put up the huge numbers, the comparison is hard to make.

Answer 2

1. "much" worse defense and goaltending? Ummm...no. Somewhat worse I do concede.

2. "Close to Gretzky's numbers?" No, not close. NOBODY, not even Lemieux who played in the same era ever had 200 points and Gretzky did it MULTIPLE times. Crosby will get about 100 points. That's HALF. Do the math.

3. "Would be better"? I just don't know how you come up with that. Gretzky had the BEST passing and anticipation in the HISTORY of the game. He did things that looked like they made no sense, suddenly someone was in on the goalie all alone. His shot wasn't hard, but it had deadly accuracy. He moved from side to side better than anyone. He used every player on his team. When he had time to work behind the net, he was deadly. Not that Crosby doesn't have great skills and won't get better mind you.

4. We don't even HAVE a "Crosby prime" yet, but never mind, I STILL take Gretzky even if Sidney gets better. Let Crosby lead the league in scoring 5 or 6 years in a row, with a margin of more than 50 points over the runner-up, have a year where he gets 100 assists, win a stanley cup, or win MVP 5 years in a row. Then come back to Yahoo Answers and ask. Until then, absolutely NO comparison.

Answer 3

I wish people would stop comparing young up-and-comers to Gretzky; it's not fair, to them or the Great One. To answer this question, the most telling stat of Gretzky's career, I feel, is the 50 goals in 39 games. Going by that, someone in the present day NHL should have potted 50 by now, but no one - not even Sid the Kid - is close. Nobody will ever equal Gretzky's amazing list of accomplishments. Some may come close, but I don't think Crosby ever will. The game is so different now. Plus, the Gretzky Oilers had Messier, Kurri, Anderson, Coffey, Lowe, even Dave Lumley. Crosby has no where close to that supporting cast. My advice to you is read up on the history of the game from th 1980's, because if you can't even spell Gretzky's name right, how can you call yourself a hockey fan?

Also, to suggest that Gonchar and Kasparitus are the top 2 D-men in the league, at any point of time, is laughable. I can think of two right now that are better: Dion Phaneuf and Robyn Regehr. I'd like to see how Crosby and even Ovechkin would do playing in the much tougher Western Conference and especially the Northwest Division.

Answer 4

There were awesome goalies and defensemen when Gretzky played so that part of the question is not valid. I don't think that we will ever see over 200 points in a season again. I have seen Crosby play live and he is an awesome player but I wonder if he would have been able to play in the slash and hook and grab NHL when Gretzky played. Gretzky, Bossy, Lemieux and the like complained of this style of play for years and now the new superstars are benefitting from this. It is hard to speculate on who would be better between the two but can you imagine if Gretzky played in his prime in todays NHL. His totals would have been even higher. For this reason I would give the edge to Gretzky.

Answer 5

I would take Gretzky Any Day Of The Week. Well Now That I think About It, The Question Should Really Be Ovechkin Or Gretzky. But Greatzky is the Greatest to ever play.

Answer 6

First of all learn how to spell the greatest player of all time's name

G R E T Z K Y not G R E T Z G E Y are you retarded?

I will take the Gretzky of 1983 than Crosby anyday!

Answer 7

This is going to be long winded but I had this argument with someone else recently.

The short answer: Gretzky

The long:

If the whole era argument works than there should be some other players that got somewhat close to Gretzky in his day, he has more assists than anyone else has points. Vision and a knowledge of how to play that game that hasn't been seen before or since. He didn't play in the 40s it was the 80's and 90's. The 80s saw Roy and Ron Hextall winning Conn Smythes and the likes of Andy Moog and Grant Fuhr. Broduer came in 1990. There also hadn't been crazy expansion yet and individual teams hadn't had the talent pool diluted as is much the case today.

But as for the numbers:

A rookie season of 51G-86A-137P, Crosby 39G-63A-102P (more that 30% higher)
92 goals in 1981, 92 goals AND 120 assists.
In 4 different seasons he scored or assisted on more than 205 goals, in the 5 seasonss since 2000 the Carolina Hurricanes scored 212, 217, 171, 172 and 286 goals total.
More than 50 goals for his first 8 seasons, interupted because he missed 18 games in 87-88, still had 40G + 109A
5 60+ goal seasons,
12 40+ goal seasons in a row,
11 straight seasons with more than 102 assists.

He was a 2-way player, throwing out his rookie year +39 was his lowest +/- in Edmonton, +98 the highest, 6 stright years over +60, +518 for career.

14 of his first 15 seasons over 120 points, the one he missed he only played 45 games but was on pace for 120 with 65.

1.92 points per game for career (2.4 in Edmonton)

Heres a little extrapolation because they didn't keep track of power play assists until 1990, he would have had a respectable 204G 600+A 800+ point career if he only played on the powerplay.

Had he never stepped on the ice for a powerplay, he'd still have the all-time record for points at 2323,(Messier next at 1887), assists at 1633 (Francis next at 1249) and tied for 9th in goals
with Lemiuex with 690.

If he retired after his nearly 9 seasons in Edmonton he'd still be 8th on the all time point list with 1669 and 6th in assists with 1086 and tied with Joe Sakic at 17th in goals with 583.

You don't think of the LA years as being that great only because the Edmonton ones were so fenominal. In 8 years in LA (where he only played one full 82 game season) he had 246G - 672A - 918P. Still top 15 all time points and top 50 assists.

10 Ross Tropheys (Most points), 9 Harts (MVP) including 8 in a row.

Is Crosby going to be one of the greats? Probably, but he'll never be the Great One.

Answer 8

You can't make a comparision on the strength of just one game, or even one season. When Crosby demonstrates that he can put up Gretzky-like statistics over the long haul, then maybe he'll be comparable. Until then, he's just a good player... maybe even a very good player... but Gretzky will always be 'The Great One'

Answer 9

I'd give it to Gretzky, because he has proven time and time again to have the leadership skills on the ice to make a winning team. Remember the powerhouse Edmonton Oilers franchise in the 1980s? I do.

As for Crosby being the best in the NHL... in 5 years, he won't even be the best Penguin. Mark my words.

Answer 10

Gretzky is the correct spelling. Please don't compare Crosby or even Ovechkin (rookie of the year) with Gretzky. This is only their 2nd season. If/when they win multiple Stanley Cups, then you can compare them!

Rules have changed from when Gretzky played to now. They are trying to increase scoring now. Defenses played tougher back then so I have to disagree that you said defenses were worse then.