How Great Would Gretzky Be If He Played In The Modern Era? (post-lockout)

[Washed Up 29YearOld]

Since Ovechkin broke the record, I've been skimming through the board and someone introduced a thought-provoking idea of Gretzky being a player in the modern era. Assuming Gretzky was drafted the same year as Ovechkin (05' ? I believe?) would he still dominate versus his peers the same way? How much so, in what ways?

I firmly believe a player is great no matter the era, but would Gretzky be as great as McDavid's 150 pt season? Would Gretz eclipse that? We all know scoring was way up for most of Gretzky's career and there was an uptick in expansion- diluting teams and boosting scoring totals.

Conversely, say you put McDavid drafted the same year as Gretzky, just how much does he dominate?

Thanks for the comments guys and gals, this question has constantly intrigued and alluded me. I'm looking forward to reading the replies.

**Edit to add, I never watched Gretzky play. As I became a hockey fan at a young age (born 93') . I have no meaningful memories of him playing as I was too young to appreciate it. So I'm basically asking you all because I am ignorant outside of some highlight reels.

 

[SEALBound]

With the newer skates, sticks, and training regimens? Still great, if not even more great.

 

[pdavemoney]

He led the league in assists (72 and 67 assists respectively) in 2 of his last 3 seasons as a washed up/shell of himself player, in the middle of the dead puck era. His goal scoring plummeted after a nasty cross check in the 91 or 92 season at the age of 31. He was still one of the best playmakers in the world at 38 years old. He would do just fine in today's NHL.

To answer the question, perennial league leader in assists, and probably points.

 

[Nathaniel]

Mcdavids 153 points is not that big of an anomaly now that kuch n mack hit 144 n 140 right after. Gretzky I think kucherov with better goal scoring n vision passing cranked up a level. Lemieux on the other hand would flirt with 180 easily in the 2020- present era

 

[dmac7719]

He'd still be one of the, if not the best players in the league still, can't really deny that.

But he wouldn't be putting up 200 pt seasons and outscoring the next tier of players by 50 points.

Talent floor has just risen so much since his time, those numbers are just not attainable

I think a better version of Kuch, but at C is a solid comparison

 

[Nasti]

Gretzky was significantly better than his peers. He would still be. Modern equipment, training, all the pampering players get nowadays, no two line pass, etc. At the age of 37, he was still competing in the scoring race with prime Jagr, Forsberg, and Bure.

 

[Rusty8719]

Feel like the way he would play in the modern era would resemble a lot like how Kucherov plays.

I think he'd rack up 80+ assists a year. The goal scoring wouldn't be as great in my opinion - more like a 35-40 goal scorer tops.

 

[WarriorofTime]

20-40 guy in his prime

 

[Hunter368]

Wayne’s edge was never his physical ability, it was his hockey IQ and ability to think multi plays ahead of everyone else. So he would still be elite superstar current day.

 

[Gregor Samsa]

A perennial 150-180 pt player

 

[braunm]

I would guess:
Peak: 170 points
Prime Years: 150-160 points

 

[fcpremix88]

I think his average season would be 100+ assists and 50+ goals.

 

[Randyne]

Gretzky would be annihilated in his office. He would retire after 10 games.

 

[Mike C]

Feel like the way he would play in the modern era would resemble a lot like how Kucherov plays.

I think he'd rack up 80+ assists a year. The goal scoring wouldn't be as great in my opinion - more like a 35-40 goal scorer tops.

Pretty fair analysis! Gretzky was a little more slippery than Kuch in the dynasty days but both highly cerebral and the elite of the elite

 

[Jurivan Demidovsky]

If Gretzky took half the abuse Sidney Crosby went through he would have crumbled

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

He is the best because he is smarter than everyone on the ice.

 

[Zybalto]

He is the best because he is smarter than everyone on the ice.

Pretty much.

He had a massive goals record and wasn't primarily a goal scorer.

He still has more assists than anyone else has points.

No one will dominate like he did.

 

[NVious]

21 minutes in



It's hard to say exactly what he'd be doing, but I feel like Kucherov is the low end version of him. So I'll say at the low end I'd expect 120-140 points regularly, at the high end maybe pushing 160+. He is the great one so maybe he could do more than that and reach similarish stats to his 80s, but it's hard to say.

 

[nowhereman]

He'd be the best player in the NHL by a wide margin, albeit not to the extent that he was in the 1980s. People want desperately to compare McDavid to Gretzky but that's a huge stretch, especially now that we are seeing guys like MacKinnon and Kucherov close the gap. Gretzky was just so damn good and Lemieux is the only forward I've ever seen that was legitimately close to him.

 

[K1900L]

You simply can't compare players from different eras. Even if one would put Gretzky into modern equipment, the game has developed a lot, it is much faster, the intensity over a modern 82 game season suffocating. 4th line players and bottom pairing defensemen nowadays need to have a workout regimen comparable to that of the healthiest and most athletic 20% of players 30 years ago, the analytics of today's game are mindblowing.
This discussion comes up multiple times every year in any sport basically. And as much as I hate to say it, your favorite players from 30+ years ago probably wouldn't be as successful today.

But if we are here already, just for the fun if it, keeping in mind that he still was right up there in the scoring race at the end of his career: with 1-2 years of accustomation to the speed, equipment and athleticism, I suppose he would give the top 4 forwards McDrai, MacKinnon, Kucherov a good fight. But I don't see him consistently outperforming them, especially not in the playoffs, where I believe McDrai would finnish ahead of him regularly.

'But Gretzky dominated his peers in the 80s', doesn't mean that he would do this today. He helped transform the game. And many things deemed exceptional in the past are nowadays hockey 101 for any hockey player growing up. They would know how to deal with it, different to players back in the day.

 

[ozzie]

I find it wild that Gretzky made the decision to focus less on scoring and more on assists. Turned out pretty well for him in the perfect storm. Game was changing, team was amazing, they were doing a lot of new things against the grain of the traditional NHL. I remember reading how they brought a lot of European influence, west/east play instead of north/south, cycling back. There was a theory as well that Gretzky and the Oilers benefited from their games not being on TV due to late starts. Teams were not prepared as much as possible.

His IQ would be one of the best no doubt but he would also be crippld by coaching, systems, defense, goalie equipment et cetc.

 

[StreetHawk]

Gretzky was significantly better than his peers. He would still be. Modern equipment, training, all the pampering players get nowadays, no two line pass, etc. At the age of 37, he was still competing in the scoring race with prime Jagr, Forsberg, and Bure.

Main thing for him is training like the modern player. Plus the gap between players is smaller than in Wayne's era. He'd get hit and have to learn to either avoid them or take them.

He wouldn't score at the rate he did. I mean, he averaged 65 goals per season (583 in 9 years) while in EDM which is Ovy's career high for example.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

He’d be the best player in the league by a lot.

Unless Mario was also in the league. Mario would be unstoppable with the new rules.

 

[Jaytee]

He’d have the hockey sense to dominate in any era, but he wouldn’t be strong enough to last in today’s NHL.

Perhaps modern day training would bulk him up, but who knows if an extra 20 lbs. of muscle would slow him down.

Even back then he wasn’t a particularly great physical specimen. They used to joke that he consistently finished dead last on the Oilers during strength and fitness tests, but he had so much skill that he overcame this weakness. In today’s NHL I don’t know if he still would. Just like in today’s NHL, Bobby Orr wouldn’t seem quite so fast, and Bobby Hull’s slapshots would get blocked most of the time.

That’s the sad reality of professional sports...the game doesn’t always get better, in fact sometimes it gets worse, but the players continuously get better.

 

[RevengeOfTheDrai]

This question tends to come up six months or so, and the answer is always that he'd be the favorite to win the Art Ross every season. The difference is that the separation from his peers would be smaller than in the past. The talent level is higher, but Gretzky would be a better shooter, passer, skater, puck handler, and more athletic, had he grown up today with current hockey programs, nutrition, and fitness.