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

[Frank Drebin]

Numbers are anyone's guess, but he would be dominant enough to never be under threat from losing the Art Ross year after year.

Unless Mario was playing.

I agree
I think the gap would be significantly smaller than a lot of us are assuming however

We are in a hockey world where the cap kills dynasties.

How much less dominant would Wayne be if he was making 16 mill a year and wasn’t surrounded by future hofers like messier, kurri, anderson, coffey, etc.

Like imagine a young gretzky in bedards position. Would he really be scoring 165, 170 of todays points in that position?

 

[Blue and Green]

As an 18YO/19YO rookie he tied for the scoring title when surrounded by BJ MacDonald, Brett Callighen, Stan Weir and Dave Lumley.

 

[Frank Drebin]

As an 18YO/19YO rookie he tied for the scoring title when surrounded by BJ MacDonald, Brett Callighen, Stan Weir and Dave Lumley.

I concede, lol

 

[Blue and Green]

And it got even more bizarre in the next two seasons when he ran off with the scoring titles by margins of 27 and 65 points while doubling the points totals and points-per-game averages of his next highest scoring teammates in each season.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

Gretzky would be one of the favorites every year for the Art Ross. I can see him score 40+ a year as well.

 

[NoName]

The 80s totals were obviously inflated relative to any era (although this era is also pretty high scoring with the rule changes in recent years), but despite that Gretzky was scoring eons above the 2nd highest player in the league (he won the Art Ross 7 consecutive years), only when Mario Lemieux was in his prime and Gretzky was past his prime a bit do we see him challenged. We just don't see a player consistently so far ahead of everyone else in the league for a stretch of years, even with McDavid. No one can know for certain, but my guess is that if Gretzky was born and raised in the modern era with modern equipment and training, my guess is he would still be the top scorer in the league for a good stretch in his prime.

 

[KaseMeOutside]

He had 1 peer in his prime that waa Mario


So more than likely he would still be number 1 now with 1 peer(McDavid)

 

[Nathaniel]

He had 1 peer in his prime that waa Mario


So more than likely he would still be number 1 now with 1 peer(McDavid)

Mcdavid himself has 3 peers

 

[HeadLiceHatty]

A real shame I never got to grow up seeing Gretzky in his prime, was too young, based off the things people say, I guess he would be McDavid but just a tad better.

 

[Video Nasty]

Mcdavid himself has 3 peers

Yeah, when he’s playing through injuries. McDavid injured is basically the best his peers are.

On the other hand, Gretzky and Lemieux injured were still better than anyone else, other than each other, so the overall point stands.