UKRAINIAN PRO HOCKEY UPDATE (03/01/98)

UKRAINIAN PRO HOCKEY UPDATE

by Ihor Stelmach

Gretzky best in NHL history

Wayne Gretzky has triumphed in the closest race of his career to earn the ultimate designation: No. 1 NHL player of all-time.

Gretzky, who has won 10 NHL scoring titles, never by fewer than 10 points and once by 79, narrowly outpolled Boston Bruins' defenseman Bobby Orr and Detroit Red Wings' right-winger Gordie Howe in voting by The Hockey News Top 50 Selection Committee.

No. 99, a true hockey icon, has fashioned an unparalleled career with the Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues and his current club, the New York Rangers.

Fifty voters chosen by The Hockey News (THN) to determine the top 50 players in NHL history acknowledged that circumstance by making Gretzky the No. 1 choice. He collected 2,726 voting points, 13 more than runner-up Orr (2,713) and 45 more than Howe (2,681). Both Gretzky and Orr had 18 first-place votes. Gretzky earned No. 1 status on the strength of secondary support. He had 50 percent more second-place votes than Orr (18-12), the point equivalent of two first-place votes. Howe received 11 first-place votes and 14 seconds. Fewer than 2 percent in voting points separated all three.

The results speak eloquently about the respect accorded the three players. Gretzky, the smartest player in the history of the game, Orr, the most dynamic three-zone player, and Howe, the ultimate symbol of enduring excellence, represent the holy trinity of hockey greats.

Pittsburgh Penguins' center Mario Lemieux was a close fourth (2,308), joining the trio as separate and distinct from the pack. Lemieux reached single-season statistical heights exceeded only by Gretzky. Montreal Canadiens' legendary right-winger Maurice (Rocket) Richard collected 2,142 points to complete the top five players of all-time.

The Top 50 project was undertaken to mark The Hockey News' 50th anniversary. Voting was conducted prior to the 1997 NHL playoffs. The selection committee comprised ex-NHL players, plus current and past coaches, GMs, league executives, journalists and hockey historians. All eras and aspects of NHL history were represented. Voters were asked to slot players, regardless of position or era, from No. 1 through No. 50.

There is wonderful symmetry to the final list. Longtime partners Gretzky and Jari Kurri bookend the top 50 with Gretzky at No. 1 and the Finnish right-winger at No. 50. Hockey writer Jack Falla best sums up the length and breadth of Gretzky's 19-year NHL career. "If Gretzky were a mountain range," Falla writes, he would not only be as high as the Himalayas, he would be as long as the Rockies."

Orr was a gracious second-place finisher and said out of respect for Howe, "If I can't be No. 1, can you make me No. 3?" Orr is the only defenseman ever to win a scoring championship - he did it twice - and revolutionized the game. Defensemen were freed from the shackles of the blueline after his emergence in 1966. Orr recorded six straight 100-point seasons, a mark shared by five others and exceeded by Gretzky (who had 13).

Howe, whose career spanned an amazing five decades, earned the nickname "Mr. Hockey" and berths on a record 21 all-star teams. The Hockey News vote firmly establishes him as the league's best player from the pre-expansion era. He won six scoring championships and six MVP awards, totals eclipsed only by Gretzky, who completed a quadruple jump past Howe this season with the 1,851st assist of his career, one more than Howe had total points. Gretzky previously passed Howe in career goals, assists and points.

The closeness of the vote brings into sharp focus a long simmering Gretzky-Orr debate. With the utmost respect for Orr, step back for a moment from the entirety of Gretzky's career and compare the two legends over a comparable time frame. Orr played nine full seasons with the Bruins before knee problems did what no team could do: stop him in his tracks. Gretzky played precisely the same number of seasons with the Oilers before the trade of the century sent him to Los Angeles.

Compare their achievements over the same period, a level playing field because those seasons covered ages 18 to 27 for both, and the similarities are striking. Each defied the laws of statistical gravity. Gretzky won 17 major individual awards, Orr, 15; both were on nine all-star teams; and both won two Conn Smythe Trophies. Gretzky won two more Stanley Cups (4-2), but the greatest difference is in MVP honors: Gretzky won eight and Orr earned three. Gretzky added a ninth in his 10th season to complete the most dominating individual run in North American major pro sports history.

Howe won six Hart Trophies as the league's most valuable player and Kareem-Abdul Jabbar did the same in the National Basketball Association. However, nobody, but Gretzky has won his sport's top award nine times. It stands as a monument to Gretzky's career and a reminder to those who have witnessed a natural decline in productivity that, no matter how overwhelming today's career numbers are, the single season numbers from the first half of Gretzky's career surpass them.

Among them are most goals (92), assists (163) and points (215) in a season. Those and a host of others will be chased - but likely never caught - for generations to come. "These records aren't going to be broken," said Edmonton Oilers' GM-President Glen Sather. "They're just too awesome."

So, too is the best player in National Hockey League history: Wayne "The Great" Gretzky!

Orr, Howe complete hockey's holy trinity

As she watched her husband flip through "The Hockey News Top 50 Players of All-Time: The Definitive List," Janet Jones-Gretzky could see that special gleam in his eyes.

"I was watching him look at the book and I could see the excitement in his eyes," Jones-Gretzky said. "He really was honored to be in that type of company. What's nice about him is he never takes things like this for granted. He doesn't like to put himself on a pedestal."

But that's exactly where Wayne Gretzky was on January 9. While the greatest basketball player of all-time, Michael Jordan, was shooting jump shots at one end of Madison Square Garden, the greatest hockey player of all-time, Wayne Gretzky, was telling a packed news conference at the Garden that he was "a little embarrassed," about the attention focused on him after being named the No. 1 player in NHL history.

"I'm extremely honored and I don't have the words to describe how good I feel about it," Gretzky said. "It's something I still haven't come to grips with."

Gretzky said if he were on the Top 50 Selection Committee, he would have voted for Gordie Howe and Bobby Orr.

"This is great, I'm in the money," Howe said at a packed news conference at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto later that day. "Win, place and show. When this came out, I said, 'I know exactly how this is going to end up,' and I called the top three right on. Maybe I should be a scout."

If he were one, Howe could search the world over and probably never come up with a talent like the native of Parry Sound, Ontario, who occupies No. 2 on the esteemed list. Former Philadelphia Flyer great Bobby Clarke (who incidentally occupies No. 23 on the list) defined Orr's dominance when he said, "In many ways, Orr was actually too good for the rest of us in the NHL."

Don Cherry couldn't agree more. The former Boston Bruins' coach who was on the Top 50 Selection Committee, made no secret about his choice. While giving Gretzky his due, Cherry was shocked more people didn't agree with his choice of Orr as No. 1.

"When I look at a hockey player, and I mean a complete hockey player, I look at a guy who can score goals, make plays, block shots, hit and fight," Cherry said. "And Bobby Orr was the most complete player I've ever seen."

Hockey historian Bob Duff chose Howe as No. 1 for much the same reason.

"What impresses me the most about Howe is he could play the game any way you wanted it," Duff said. "If you wanted toughness, he could provide it; you wanted goals and he could score and if you wanted him to check, he could do that, too."

"And of all the statistics he had, the one that is the most impressive is at the age of 51, he scored 15 goals in the NHL. A lot of guys in the NHL won't score 15 goals this year," he added.

Former New Jersey Devils' GM Max McNab said Howe may have reached greater statistical heights, but after breaking Rocket Richard's record of 544 goals, had little to prove.

"Gordie didn't have that rabbit to chase," McNab said. "He was the leader, and another assist didn't really matter."

It can be argued that no one will ever reach Gretzky's statistical heights, though. Consider Gretzky would have won three scoring championships and tied for a fourth strictly on the basis of assists. The fact that he would be the all-time leading scorer in NHL history even if he hadn't scored a single goal is absolutely mind-boggling.

Gretzky has recorded four 200-point seasons where no other player has hit 200 once. He had nine straight 100-point years and added four more for a total of 13. Then there are 50 goals in 39 games, 92 goals, 215 points, 874+ career goals ...

"Scotty Bowman used to say that when everyone was hitting .300, he was hitting .450," said another Top 50 Selection Committee member, John Davidson. "You forget about the greatness of him until you sit down and study the NHL record book. When you do, it's scary."

Gretzky talks of reaching 3,000 points - he has 2,761 as of the Olympics break - but won't stay in the game just to chase the milestone. He will stay as long as he's enjoying it. And he's doing that, thanks in part to his 7-year-old son, Ty.

"I get a real kick out of looking up in the stands and seeing him there," Gretzky said. "It's kind of like when you're a kid and after you score you look to see if your dad is up there."

As far as the No. 1 ranking is concerned, Gretzky is thrilled that he is held in such high esteem, "but the difference between that and winning the Stanley Cup is this is an opinion and that is fact."

With all due respect, Mr. Wayne Gretzky, this is a fact, too. You are the No. 1 player of all-time.

* * *

Following is the complete list of The Hockey News' Top 50 Players. Of the top 50 pucksters of all-time there are four Ukrainians. (Or more precisely, of some Ukrainian descent). These include Wayne Gretzky (No. 1), goaltender Terry Sawchuk (No. 9), super-sniper Mike Bossy (No. 20) and long-time Boston Bruins' captain Johnny Bucyk (No. 45). Not too shabby a representation for Ukrainian pro hockey players. (Profiles on Sawchuk, Bossy and Bucyk upcoming in future Ukrainian Pro Hockey Updates. Stay tuned.)

(Quotations courtesy of Steve Dryden and Ken Campbell of The Hockey News.)

The NHL's top 50