Generational Talents

[Romang67]

I mean you could do that kind of exercise with any non-Gretzky player really and result would be similar.

Absolutely. Which is why no one is claiming someone else from that era was comparable to Gretzky. As they shouldn't have (if they indeed did) with Bossy.

 

[jigglysquishy]

Correct. Its cool and fun to remember the history of the original 6, but for that entire time it was roughly 100-120 players playing 50 game seasons. The league was nothing, sorry to say it.

The Stanley Cup was 51 years old when the Original Six started. You're missing out on 50% of hockey history.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

Correct. Its cool and fun to remember the history of the original 6, but for that entire time it was roughly 100-120 players playing 50 game seasons. The league was nothing, sorry to say it.

Just know that fifty years from now, there will be people who feel the same about the hockey that you currently enjoy and comment on.

 

[Ace Card Bedard]

Correct. Its cool and fun to remember the history of the original 6, but for that entire time it was roughly 100-120 players playing 50 game seasons. The league was nothing, sorry to say it.

It took expansion in 67-68 to start the growth and even then another decade plus to start to see the roots grow.

So defense and goalies cant qualify?

I can't say I've seen a defenseman meet the standards of dominance since Bobby Orr.
Goaltenders? Jacques Plante I guess but that was in the 50's and 60's.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Correct. Its cool and fun to remember the history of the original 6, but for that entire time it was roughly 100-120 players playing 50 game seasons. The league was nothing, sorry to say it.

It took expansion in 67-68 to start the growth and even then another decade plus to start to see the roots grow.

So defense and goalies cant qualify?

The original 6 didn’t start until the 40’s, when the NHL officially began it was the original 4.
Toronto, Ottawa and 2 Montreal teams.

 

[x Tame Impala]

Generational players are hands and feet better the next best tier of players. Gretzky, Lemieux and Orr were. Sorry but McDavid is not hands and feet better then the tier of players under him. If Mcdavid is a generational player then so is Jagr and Lidstrom.

Since 2016/17 (after McDavid's 40 game rookie season) until this past season McDavid is...

-1st in points
-Has a 144 point lead over 2nd place (Draisaitl) his teammate, in 10 less games
-Has a 1.56 PPG which blows away his closest competition (Kucherov), averaging an additional 14pts per season more
-Is 1st in Playoff PPG
-2nd only to Kucherov in total playoff points but Kucherov has a whopping 28 more playoff games than McDavid
-Won a Smythe without winning the Cup
-5x Art Ross, 4x Pearson, 3x Hart, and a Richard in his trophy case

-The only people with as many or more Ross trophies as McDavid are: Gretzky, Howe, Esposito, Jagr, and Lemieux.

-The only people with as many or more Hart trophies are: Gretzky, Howe, Shore, Clark, Lemieux, Morenz, Orr, and Ovechkin (i'll toss a Hart Crosby's way because he missed out on a 2011 Trophy he surely would've won if not for injury)

-The only people with as many or more Lindsay/Pearson trophies are: Gretzky and Lemieux (i'll toss another one Crosby's way for 2011 as well). Jagr, Ovie, and Lafleur have 3 each

McDavid is generational.

 

[benfranklin]

The Stanley Cup was 51 years old when the Original Six started. You're missing out on 50% of hockey history.

Just know that fifty years from now, there will be people who feel the same about the hockey that you currently enjoy and comment on.

The original 6 didn’t start until the 40’s, when the NHL officially began it was the original 4.
Toronto, Ottawa and 2 Montreal teams.

Everything pre Orr was barely an organized sport. I recognize the history and awesome the NHL has been around that long, but yes that is a completely different generation and sorry, not sorry, but when there are only a handful of teams in a league for 50+ years, I dont take that too seriously amongst the greats who are doing it with 20-30+ teams. They paved the way, sure, but there wasnt much competition to be "generational" amongst your peers.

Fifty years from now, we will have 40-50 teams in the league and maybe be international, but we will still recognize Gretzky, Lemieux, Crosby, and McDavid as the greats over randoms from the 30s that no one has ever heard of.