Were Gretzky and Lemieux ever on the same line?

[McDeepika]

Now I am sure we have all seen the big goal that Lemiuex scored when Gretzky passed him the puck, but were these guys ever regular linemates in international competition?

Did they have chemistry or did both players require the puck too much to play well together?

 

[Ogopogo*]

Now I am sure we have all seen the big goal that Lemiuex scored when Gretzky passed him the puck, but were these guys ever regular linemates in international competition?

Did they have chemistry or did both players require the puck too much to play well together?

1987 Canada Cup. Gretzky had something like 21 points in 8 games sand Lemieux had something like 18.

They did OK.

 

[lextune]

They were on the same line for the entire '87 Canada Cup (9 games), they had unbelievable chemistry. Mario led the tournament in goals and Gretzky led in assists.

Gretzky, 3 goals and 18 assists
Lemieux, 11 goals and 7 assists

If you can find it, pick up the "Blades Of Summer" dvd set, because it was some of the greatest hockey ever played.

 

[arrbez]

I'm more interested to know who the luckiest player in the history of hockey was on the other wing?

 

[lextune]

I'm more interested to know who the luckiest player in the history of hockey was on the other wing?

It rotated, but it was mostly Brian Propp and Michel Goulet.

 

[Dark Shadows]

They were on the same line for the entire '87 Canada Cup (9 games), they had unbelievable chemistry. Mario led the tournament in goals and Gretzky led in assists.

Gretzky, 3 goals and 18 assists
Lemieux, 11 goals and 7 assists

If you can find it, pick up the "Blades Of Summer" dvd set, because it was some of the greatest hockey ever played.

I have 2 games from that Series vs Russia. I can add them to the Upload list if anyone wants

I have Blades of Summer, but I am a bit wary of adding a released DVD on google video. It likely would result in me losing my account and all the vintage games I added.

 

[JimEIV]

Hawerchuck was the third member of that line if my memory serves me right

I'm pretty sure he was on the ice with those two for the huge over time goal.

 

[JimEIV]

Hawerchuk was with them during that big game

 

[Bohemian93]

they were linemates in the 1987 canada cup and combined for 39 points in 9 games

 

[McDeepika]

I have 2 games from that Series vs Russia. I can add them to the Upload list if anyone wants

I have Blades of Summer, but I am a bit wary of adding a released DVD on google video. It likely would result in me losing my account and all the vintage games I added.

That would be great. I would love to see that.

 

[Dark Shadows]

That would be great. I would love to see that.

I am adding the Canada VS USSR Round Robin game now

Since I just unsuccessfully tried getting game 4 of the 74 Summit loaded and it froze, ill try this game instead and get back to that one

 

[lextune]

Hawerchuck was the third member of that line if my memory serves me right.

It doesn't I'm afraid. As I said, it rotated a lot but Dale was not out there with them very much at all.

I'm pretty sure he was on the ice with those two for the huge over time goal.

He was. But it was a big switch to have him out there with them. One that Gretzky himself later called a "big gamble", (he was of the opinion that Messier was their best faceoff man).

And it was not overtime, there was still 1'26" left to play.

Hawerchuk was with them during that big game

Only for that faceoff really. Dale was a big component of another line. Playing a lot with the likes of Messier, Anderson and Gartner.

Keenan was constantly switching up lines. In one game against the Czechs he used something like 18 different line combinations. The first time he used Gretz and Mario together consistently was when Canada beat the US 3-2 (Mario had the hat trick), some reporter asked Keenan "Why not Gretzky and Lemieux, same line, all the time?" Keenan said it would be "counterproductive".

But a few days later he actually came out and said "I've changed my mind", after that Gretz and Mario played together almost exclusively with a bunch of different wingers (depending on the situation), Gretzky obviously played center but Keenan often had someone else take the big faceoffs for him. That famous goal late in game three (games one and two were far better played games by the way), it was Hawerchuk. But he was by no means a big part of the regular rotation of wingers.


EDIT: I took this discussion as a good excuse to drag out the games and scanned through a few of them to try to gauge the most frequent left-winger. It is indeed Goulet and Propp as I had originally recalled.

 

[NYRSinceBirth]

That's scarier than any defensive pairing, not matter how big and bad. I could only imagine what it would be like to have the job to 'stop' those guys (I used ' ' because you could only try, and usually you couldn't).

 

[Big Phil]

WE all know about the '87 Canada Cup, that's no secret. But here's my question. How about Mario and Wayne on the same line in the NHL? For one season I came up with numbers out of a hat here, but they are pretty accurate:

Gretzky: 80gp 81g-174a- 255 points
Lemieux: 74gp 109g-116a- 225 points

Do I paint an accurate picture?

 

[lextune]

WE all know about the '87 Canada Cup, that's no secret. But here's my question. How about Mario and Wayne on the same line in the NHL? For one season I came up with numbers out of a hat here, but they are pretty accurate:

Gretzky: 80gp 81g-174a- 255 points
Lemieux: 74gp 109g-116a- 225 points

Do I paint an accurate picture?

....it does seem like most people know about the '87 Canada Cup, but I wish more people could actually see the games. Not only for Wayne and Mario but the KLM line was also pure poetry to watch.

As for the dream NHL season if I had to speculate I'd actually guess that Mario would end up closer to 130 goals

 

[arrbez]

They'd pretty much put up infinity points together

 

[Big Phil]

....it does seem like most people know about the '87 Canada Cup, but I wish more people could actually see the games. Not only for Wayne and Mario but the KLM line was also pure poetry to watch.

As for the dream NHL season if I had to speculate I'd actually guess that Mario would end up closer to 130 goals

Oh yes of course, the KLM line was unbelievable in those games. While we have bad final memories of Krutov you wouldnt know it by watching him in 1987. The guy was a machine, a tank. Same with Makarov. They were virtually unstoppable out there too. Not to mention if you want to see Fetisov in his prime that's a good start as well.

And as much as critics rag on Coffey and Fuhr I don't think they ever played better than in this tournament. Coffey skated circles around the Russians, and they weren't exactly plodders either. Fuhr was at his best in the clutch. And if you have any doubt about why he's in the HHOF, look no further than this tournament. This was his type of hockey, and he excelled

 

[Dark Shadows]

That would be great. I would love to see that.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2172233430058236129&hl=en

USSR vs Canada 1987 Round Robin game added. Finals game 3 is on its way

 

[VMBM]

Vladimir Krutov played easily the best hockey of his life in the '87 Canada Cup. Those 3 final games remained the only games in which I had seen him play for a long time, and thus I used to overrate him a bit (no, he doesn't belong to the USSR Top 10 of all-time!). Of course he didn't always play THAT well (I think he was a slightly inconsistent player). Larionov didn't play very well, but IMO Makarov and Krutov were never really depended on him anyway.

Wayner and Mario, what can be said? 1+1 doesn't always make 2, but here it worked beautifully. Gretzky was the set-up man and Lemieux the trigger guy, and it was rreeaaallllyyyy grreeeaaaaaat .

Still, even those two don't make Team Canada '87 the best team ever.

 

[redbull]

krutov discovered that fast food, liquor and other vices were as much fun as scoring goals, he got worse and worse on the ice when he played in north america.

he used to be a great player.

makarov was probably better than krutov.

but gretz/mario were by far the best players on the ice.

 

[VMBM]

krutov discovered that fast food, liquor and other vices were as much fun as scoring goals, he got worse and worse on the ice when he played in north america.

he used to be a great player.

makarov was probably better than krutov.

but gretz/mario were by far the best players on the ice.

Makarov WAS the better player. Period. Around '86-'88 Krutov might have been Makarov's equal, or even slightly better, but all in all: Makarov >> Krutov. It is possible, though, that Krutov was the better goal-scorer.

BTW, according to Viktor Tikhonov, Anatoli Tarasov once said that Krutov is the best Soviet forward ever, but that just seems a very strange statement to me.

 

[redbull]

BTW, according to Viktor Tikhonov, Anatoli Tarasov once said that Krutov is the best Soviet forward ever, but that just seems a very strange statement to me.

i remember that being said about Krutov, then being so surprised and disappointed when I saw him play in Vancouver. He was only 29.

I later found out how out-of-shape he'd become, which explains a lot.