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For Those Who Think McDavid Is Better Than Lemieux....

Maurice of Orange said:
The kids don’t understand how extraordinary Mario was in the early 90’s.

Mario played during the 2 line pass era, which naturally slowed the game down.
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I think that's the biggest reason people seem so quick to compare McDavid to Gretzky/Lemieux. Unless you watched either of those two, you have no idea what it's like to witness a player who is so far above the rest of the league that it is legitimately awe-inspiring.

McDavid is incredible but he's still a mortal. Mario and Gretz weren't.
 
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eojsmada said:
Pretty sure no one thinks McDavid is better than Lemieux.
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Yup. McDavid is in the top tier of the greatest ever. But not being able to lead his original club to a Cup puts him (imo) at the bottom of that greatest ever tier.,
 
jgs said:
I'm not an Oiler fan But the game now is way much faster then when Mario and Wayne played the game. The players are strong, skate faster and move the puck faster than back then. So it is hard to compare them. In their time Mario and Wayne were the best. But in this generation Conner is the best, he is so fast with the puck and the moves he makes with his hands are amazing. Oiler need more than just 2 players to win the Cup. And that is all they have 2 players that carry the whole team and in the playoffs 2 players are easy to shut down.
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Skills have evolved, but the human evolution in terms of speed and strength is an incredibly slow process. Mike Gartner was measured skating similar speeds to McDavid 30+ years ago. What mostly has changed is player equipment. For reference, here's a video of Oliver Ekman-Larsson trying on 80's equipment:

 
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Fiji Water said:
Watch this shift from Lemieux in the clinching game of the 1991 SCFs. Draws a penalty on a 5 on 3 with an absurd takeaway, strips another player on the same shift when it is 5 on 4, then goes down and undresses the goalie on a breakaway - all in the same shift. He just had another level offensively and defensively in the playoffs that McDavid, or anyone in history, simply does / did not have. Most talented player of all time:

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10/10 no politics loophole
 
avocadosmoothie said:
4 barely led his own team in scoring in an era where goalies were dressed like catchers lol
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You do understand why goalies had to wear smaller pads in that era, right? You also understand the skaters were on old, dull tube skates and of soft ice with 2X4’s for sticks?
66 and 4 were head and shoulders better than this iteration of players.
 
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Fatass said:
You do understand why goalies had to wear smaller pads in that era, right? You also understand the skaters were on old, dull tube skates and of soft ice with 2X4’s for sticks?
66 and 4 were head and shoulders better than this iteration of players.
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sounds like nostalgia talking. mathematically improbable for that to be true
 
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Fatass said:
Math? 🤣
Go wear soaking wet pads and skate around on dull blades on crap ice while carrying a 2x4 and then get back to me. It’s not nostalgia; it’s fact. 66 and 4 were the greatest ever.
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it doesn't matter what you shoot with much less skate on if the goalie is wearing catcher equipment

plus Orr played like 60 years ago bro. 60 years lol. hockey was way easier back then
 
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avocadosmoothie said:
4 barely led his own team in scoring in an era where goalies were dressed like catchers lol
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Orr was a defenseman and could walk the best offensive players in the world with ease.

Yes, the skill in the NHL has increased over the years but it's not like there's a league's-worth of offensive talent that went undiscovered. Lemieux, Gretzky and Orr still played against the rest of the world's best players, so it was all relative. Even then, peak Getzky could outscore a legend like Mike Bossy by nearly 100 points and Lemieux lapped a field of Yzerman, Lafontaine, and Selanne while taking off a chunk of the season for chemotherapy.

No amount of "the game has changed" can undermine that level of pure dominance.
 
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nowhereman said:
Orr was a defenseman and could walk the best offensive players in the world with ease.

Yes, the skill in the NHL has increased over the years but it's not like there's a league's-worth of offensive talent that went undiscovered. Lemieux, Gretzky and Orr still played against the rest of the world's best players, so it was all relative. Even then, peak Getzky could outscore a legend like Mike Bossy by nearly 100 points and Lemieux lapped a field of Yzerman, Lafontaine, and Selanne while taking off a chunk of the season for chemotherapy.

No amount of "the game has changed" can undermine that level of pure dominance.
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how many teams were in the league when Orr won his two cups?
 
avocadosmoothie said:
how many teams were in the league when Orr won his two cups?
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You think expanding/diluting the league's talent pool would make Orr less dominant? Even if you factor in the American/European influx into the NHL, this is a guy who beat Bobby Hull, Phil Esposito, Guy Lafleur, Bobby Clarke, and Marcel Dionne in the scoring race... as a defenseman (who was probably the best defensive player in the league).
 
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McDavid is going to get the LeBron treatment it seems...

Anyone who knows anything and isn't fueled by salt or hate knows this guy is still the best player since Mario. 2 finals losses doesn't change anything. "Ring culture " tells us he was somehow better off losing in the first round, but that is nonsense.

2x west conf champ is still an accomplishment in a 32 team league.
 
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