Happy 65th Bobby Orr, the greatest hockey player ever

What if I said Wayne Gretzky had the greatest hockey career ever?

Can you dispute that, JR and Double J?

 

I don't think anyone can argue that.

There can be a debate as to who, for a short period of time was the best to play the game. For me the 3 are Gretzky, Lemieux and Orr.

 

The Namath legend starts way before the Jets with the Babe Parilli/Bear Bryant/Beaver County connection.

 

It's okay, he's got Versatile McSorley in his corner now.

 

There was a player who, while older than Gretzky was post-retirement, scored 137 goals and 171 points, including becoming one of the players who scored 100 points in a season for the first time (finished third in scoring with 103 points at age 41). I didn't include his WHA or his age 51 NHL totals either (oh and at age 51 he did have 15 goals and 41 points in the NHL...though it was an expansion riddled NHL).

I don't dispute Gretzky's unnatural talent, but I'll take Howe and Orr above him and maybe Beliveau, Richard, Harvey and Lemieux on the same plane.

Gretzky's raw numbers were incredible. But Howe, Beliveau, Richard, Harvey and, to an extent, Orr all played in an era when there were few to no Hardy Alstroms in a post-expansion league. Yes, the influx of European and American players has helped bring up the talent level but "back in the day" NHL minor league affiliates were littered with guys who would be NHL stars if there were more than six teams to play with. Of course, this would also start the watering-down process that expansion generally brings.

Doug Harvey was the pre-Bobby Orr Bobby Orr.

 

Rick James wished he could say, "I'm Bobby Orr, bitch!"

 

Not really. Sonny Werblin is responsible for the Namath legend.

 

Howe did have the greatest career - 32 years of pro hockey, and I don't care that six of those years were in the WHA, it was still major league. And then he played all 80 games in his last NHL season, scoring 15 goals at age 51-52.

Gretzky couldn't even hit double digits in his last season, at age 37-38. Don't give me any crap about dead-puck era - Rangers teammate Todd Harvey, who in 671 career games didn't score as many goals as Gretzky got in 1981-82 alone, managed to outscore the Great One that final year.

 

Having a great career is about more than having a long career.

 

You're right. Howe weeps at only having won four Cups, six scoring championships and six MVP awards (seven if you count the WHA). Oh, and scoring more than 1,000 goals in both leagues, counting playoffs.

 

It may be a communication mistake, but this is not true. Gordie Howe did not have 1,000 goals in either league.

Wayne Gretzky won four Cups, eight Hart trophies and 11 scoring titles. And counting the WHA and playoffs for both leagues, Gretzky had almost 900 more points than Howe. Counting playoffs hurts your argument.