Quote:
Originally Posted by RomaGoth
I never said that Lemieux didn't whine. All great players whine, that is one of the reasons they are great (or a sense of entitlement....). Gretzky also scored more points in his career than Lemieux, what is your point with shorthanded goals exactly? I was saying that I always liked Lemieux more than Gretzky as a player. Lemieux matured into a great team player later on in his career, and I never saw that from Gretzky. One thing that is certain, Gretzky played on much better teams than Lemieux did. Besides the two cups he won while Jagr was in Pittsburgh (92-93), the Pens were not a great team most years.
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He was (I'm assuming) referring to your proclamation that Mario was a much better two way player than Gretzky.
As for playing with great teams, that's another that can help/hinder. Playing with one great line meant that Mario was on the ice for a premium amount of time while the Oilers could and did play their second line a lot more than necessary because of the talent (and because of the score in a lot of games). You could definitely argue that had the Oilers had a bit less scoring talent that Gretzky would have seen more time, put up more points, etc, etc.
In the end, all that is conjecture. Gretzky had better longevity, greater individual seasons and was still a fantastic leader for the team and ambassador for the sport. Doesn't mean Lemieux wasn't, but to imply that Gretzky wasn't a team player/leader/etc is a disservice.