Who Is The 2nd Best NHL Player Of All Time?

Answer 1

Mario Lemieux or Bobby Orr, in my opinion.

I didn't see Orr play enough in his early prime to judge him too much, but he changed the game as much or more than did Gretzky, who I consider the greatest.

Answer 2

The second best nhl player of all time was Bobby Orr, but he was only slightly behind Gretzky. Lets look at some stats.
Gretzky dominated every offensive category, but Bobby Orr could dominate the entire game. When he was on the ice, he dictated the play. His team would almost always score, and his opponents would almost never.
To see that this is true, all we do is compare the +/- of the two players. Bobby had an overall +597. Wayne had an overall of +518. If you also consider the number of games that each played you'll see that Bobby had an average of +0.91 per game, while wayne was down at +0.38 per game.
Also it should be known that wayne gretzky had 7 seasons where he finished in the minuses, Bobby had none.
This evidence goes to show that, although gretzky dominated offensively, bobby orr dominated games, he shut the opponents out, and scored the goals. Gretzky was less of a complete player, that much is undeniable.
So... overall I'm going to say that the second best was Orr, but thats just because although Orr shone brighter during his short nhl career, gretzky showed durability, and dominated the league offensively for a long, long time.

Answer 3

If Wayne Gretzky is the greatest, then Mario Lemieux is the second best player of all-time. Many seasoned hockey scouts would concur that Lemieux was the most talented player of all-time though. His stickhandling was uncanny, his on-ice vision was just as good as Gretzky's, earlier on Gretzky had a much better supporting cast (Kurri, Anderson, Messier, Coffey, Lowe, Huddy, Semenko, Tikkanen, McSorley, Fuhr, etc.) than Lemieux (Dan Frawley, Terry Rudkowski, Rob Brown, Craig Simpson, Bob Errey, etc. circa 1984-1988) and one little thing we are forgetting: Lemieux was often injured! Gretzky was a mostly durable player (save for a serious back injury in 1992-1993), while Lemieux battled back pain, (potentially career ending), hip pain (potentially career ending), Hodgkin's Disease (potentially life ending), and heart troubles (sadly career ending and ironic, since he played with a ton of heart most of his career). The man was the best player in the world for the bulk of the 1990s, and was on top of his game the first season of his comeback. Keep equally in mind that Lemieux was also retired for three and a half seasons, too. That's a big chunk of his prime he was either hurt or retired. I would have Lemieux pegged at 2,000 points if he was healthy.

Answer 4

Who would pick Gretzky as second best? He broke more records and influenced the game more than any other player. Look at his playoff records, his regular season records. Not even Mario is close to him. Only Messier is in many cases or Howe. Second best NHL player of all time choices go to Howe, Lemieux, Orr and Messier. Messier is second in the league in all time points. He has won 6 Stanley cups. Howe was a fearsome leader but only won the cup 2 times, Orr won it 2 times and also revolutionized the way defencemen play. Lemieux won the cup 2 times and set some more records.
With all due respect to Howe, Orr and Lemieux I must pick Mark Messier as second. His presence on the ice was legendary. He could score, hit, fight, intimidate and carry his team. A complete player. Howe is the same and a close second but only has 2 cups and is behind Messier in points. Messier is my choice for 2nd best NHL player of all time.

Answer 5

I think it would be a toss up between Mario Lemieux and Bobby Orr. My choice for best all-time player is no other than the "Great One" Wayne Gretzky. It will take a very talented player to ever match what Gretzky did in his career.

Answer 6

Gretzky was number 1. I think there is a 3 way tie for 2nd between Bobby Orr(he revolutionized the way a defence man plays hockey and set a lot of records), Mario Lemieux(he took over after Gretzky retired as the ambassador of hockey and made his laughing stock Penguins into champions), Steve
Yzerman(he also turned his laughing stock Red Wings into champions). All 3 of these players deserve a close second to Gretzky for their love of the game and not for the pay cheques, undying devotion to the team that drafted them, leadership ability,scoring prowess, physical ability, willingness to play through injury and health problems, undying admiration from fans of the game even if we did not cheer for the teams they played on.

Answer 7

Assuming Gretzky as #1, I'd go for Gordie Howe (although Lemieux and Orr are certainly reasonable choices). He played forever, was as tough as they come, routinely had a lot of points in a league that scored far less than today, and did everything well.

As far as Lemieux being better than Gretzky, let's get real. Gretzky had 200 points 4 times -- Mario never did. Gretzky had 4 stanley cups to Mario's 2. The reasons everyone likes to use as evidence that Mario was better just don't fly. He played in the same era Gretzky did so there was NOT "less scoring". Lemieux had PLENTY of help -- Jagr, Francis, and Coffey were not exactly minor leaguers. Yes, Lemieux was deadlier on breakaways and a better stickhandler but he did NOT have Gretzky's passing skills and anticipation.

Answer 8

To suggest that Gretzky wasn't the best ever or did the most for hockey ever, is ridiculous. I can understand fans want to root for their team, but come on...

Howe was #2 in NHL history. Orr and Mario tied for #3. Rocket Richard and Messier for #4.

Answer 9

very unfair questions. Orr, Howe, Lemieux, Gretzky... all played at different times and eras so it will not be fair to look at howe who played in a time when you never seen a150 point player ever to gretzky who played in a time when goalies where subpar and scoring was up

Answer 10

Mario Lemieux