HOCKEY’S BEST: GRETZKY vs. MESSIER

            Winning five Stanley Cups in seven years, the Edmonton Oilers stand above all other dynasties that followed them. The Oilers were led by Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier, the two best players to ever don a uniform for the same club.  Born within eight days of the other on opposite ends of Canada, the dynamic duo turn 60 years old this month. It has now been 30 plus years since Edmonton last won Lord Stanley’s Cup.

            Time marches on adding age to all, and perspective for some. In retrospective, does the Great One stand alone as the Best One when comparing the two former teammates?  Offensive statistics provide a seemingly easy answer; however, the issue proves more nuanced than goals and assists when positing this question: Who provided more value to his team as measured by his overall contributions to winning hockey games?    

            Unlike baseball or golf, numerical demarcations cannot precisely measure a hockey player’s net worth because the game plays simultaneously in offense and defense, power and finesse, individual fortitude and collective effort, and requires leadership qualities to bring forth team cohesiveness.  Hence, designating Gretzky as the undisputed better player remains debatable without a view of the respective player’s impact on the aggregate game. 

            Statistical comparisons.  Numerically, Wayne Gretzky stands alone as hockey’s preeminent offensive player.  Without detracting from his offensive numbers, it bears noting that both he and Messier performed for an Edmonton juggernaut with a superlative supporting cast that fueled a scoring machine that rang up unparalleled numbers during a time of league-wide inflated scoring.

            Nonetheless, Gretzky’s tallies dwarf all others who have performed in the history of the NHL. He holds the hat trick scoring records for goals, assists and points, for the regular season as well as career and playoff totals.  His single season highs include goals (92); assists (163); and points (215).   Only Mario Lemieux approached those single season numbers.

            On a career level, the numerical gap between the two measures farther apart than Secretariat’s 31-length victory at the Belmont Stakes:

…………………. Games           Goals      Assists      Points
Gretzky            1487               894         1963           2857  
Messier             1756                694         1193           1887

            That numerical gulf might lead one to gloss over Mark Messier’s stellar career offensive totals where he ranks 9th in the NHL for career goals; 3^rd in assists; and 3^rd in total points.

            Some conclude that Number 99’s statistical dominance refutes any contention that Messier stood on par with the Great One.  But as Mark Twain once remarked: “There are lies, damned lies and statistics.”  Comparing any player with another and concluding that the player with bigger offensive numbers always proves a better player demonstrates unawareness about the required elements needed to win hockey games.  After all, there are two ends of the ice, and two sides of the scoreboard. A victorious team cannot just tally goals; it must keep the opposition from scoring more often.   

            Winning hockey championships demands not only offensive prowess, but also playing well in areas without statistical measurements:  Defensive zone play; body checking; passion in both ends of the ice; winning face-offs; and team leadership. In these subjective areas, most concur that Mark Messier patrolled the ice as the game’s most well-rounded player.

            Finesse vs. Force:  Interestingly, the contrasting styles of the two individual players enhanced the success of the other, which in turn created perhaps the most dominant teams in NHL history.

            When a young Wayne Gretzky began his NHL career, experts voiced concerned about whether his slender frame could withstand the physical rigors of the NHL.   Dave Semenko—who looked somewhat like a brawny version of John Travolta—served as Wayne’s so-called bodyguard. Semenko could and would fight anyone with fearsome results.  However, skilled skaters sidestep oxcart pulling icemen; avoiding a world-class skater with a mean steak proves far more difficult and disconcerting.  Messier’s blunt elbows and open ice body hits slowed opponents and kept them honest far more than a pugilist like Semenko.   Hockey remains both a balletic and brutal game.  Advantage lies with the team that has the man with the largest ice ‘presence’. Edmonton’s native son was as intimidating as anyone in the league.

            Conversely, playing on the same team with the likes of Gretzky, Paul Coffey and Jarri Kurri opened up a world of finesse hockey that honed Messier’s offensive skills that may not have reached full potential if he had broken in with another team that played a grinding dump, chase and wait game.   In their first years in the NHL, Messier registered only 33 points while his rookie teammate led the league in assists.  Given time playing with a team orchestrated by the Great One, the raw third round draft pick developed in a game of speed and finesse, and his point total grew with his emerging team. 

            Skating and Shooting.   The two Oilers’ viscosity differed in terms of the essential skills of skating and shooting.  Gretzky’s blades were perhaps the most underrated aspect of his game.  Even in his prime, there were undeniably faster skaters, though not many.  But no one could match his slippery, eel-like turning radius, be it at full speed or his elusive pivots along the boards. 

            He oft rushed the puck through the neutral zone in his hunched over skating style at maximum speed to secure that extra half-second while putting opponents to heel.  When he crossed the blue line, he sometimes veered along the boards, other times circling back against the grain as retreating defenders were pulled towards their goal as if sliding downhill away from him. With that gained moment of time, his wingers skated to the holes and trailing defensemen rushed to join the play, each knowing the puck could soon be his.

            He excelled in his office behind the goal, using it as a screen while employing deft footwork to evade aggressive defenders, then dishing passes to danger zones.  If defenders failed to challenge him, Gretzky would dart into the slot and let loose a shot towards a chosen corner of the net.   

            Then there was his slap shot, not the hardest, but cocked and fired with a quick release and uncanny accuracy.  In close, his shot found the holes like water finds the drain.

            Another understated aspect of his game included his dogged persistence and incessant uptempo skating with an insatiable lust to score.  Like a leopard, he remained poised to pounce on any mistake be it early or in the waning moments in a game.    Like an elite middle distance runner, Gretzky possessed that rare ability to skate at high speed during long ranging shifts reminiscent of Henri Richard.

            If Gretzky was a snow leopard, Mark Messier was a Siberian tiger, a true power forward. While number 99 appeared unexpectedly for a stealthy heist of the puck, train number 11’s audable approach signaled the coming of a freight train.   His combined speed and power made him the more dangerous one-on-one threat.  

            Messier skated straight up, head on a swivel as he barreled down the ice, dishing off after putting retreating defenders on their heels.  Messier rarely cranked a slap shot, but he possessed a wicked wrister, oft directing it opposite the goalie’s movement.  Adept on the backhand, he proved deadly on the breakaway with hands as soft as his physique was hard. 

            Just as important, the Edmonton Adonis possessed the speed to close in on the deep forecheck to deliver crunching hits along the boards, or more dangerously in open ice. His battles with Devils’ defenseman Scott Stevens in the 1994 classic Conference Final curbed Stevens’ physical dominance to manageable levels.  His open ice hit of Mike Modano required a call for the stretcher.  Mark Messier was Gordie Howe’s successor:  Highly skilled and physically dominant.

            The 1987 Canada Cup.

            The classic 1987 Canada Cup Finals between the Soviet Union and Canada for national hockey supremacy provided a heated crucible to examine the contrasting glow of these two hockey gems.  They were 26 years of age, and in their respective primes.  Each excelled, albeit in decidedly different fashions.

            Team Canada lost the first game of the three game Finals due in large measure to a tentative start.  At the start of Game Two, Mark Messier stands bent at the knees as he awaits the opening face-off, his inimitable glowering demeanor focused on the enemy.  He turns his head left and right and back again—one almost expects him to begin pawing at the ice—as he peevishly awaits the drop of the puck.  Soviet Center Igor Larionov declines to eye his opponent as he concedes his nemesis’s inevitable winning of the draw.

            Seconds later, Messier steams into the Soviet zone towards a retreating Viacheslav Fetisov who hurriedly unloads the puck to brace himself for the coming collision along the boards as the crowd rises for its’ first crescendo.  Moments later, after a big save the other way by Grant Fuhr, Dale Hawerchuk hits the raging bull with a pass on left wing. 

            Messier explodes into the offensive zone, accelerating past Alexei Kasatonov on the outside and veers behind the net.  With Soviet defenders approaching obliquely, the maniacal one deftly lays a soft pass against the grain to the trailer Normand Rochefort who bangs it home.  Team Canada takes the early lead as Messier sets the tone for what has been called the greatest game ever played.

            If Messier ignited Team Canada’s flaming desire to win, it was Gretzky who fanned the flames.  Skating relentlessly, often double-shifted and directing the power play, the Great One registers assists in each of Team Canada’s next five goals in a 6 to 5 triumph in a game for the ages.  Three of his assists found Lemieux’s stick who recorded an equally memorable hat trick. As broadcaster Dan Kelly aptly put it:  “Gretzky loads the gun, and Mario pulls the trigger.” The playmaker extraordinaire fed Mario on two-on-one break, and added two goalmouth feeds to Lemieux that included a third period power play goal, and the game-winner in double overtime.

            The legendary Kelly who broadcasted nearly every important hockey game in his long career observed:  “I twice saw Gretzky score five goals in a game.  But [Game 2] might have been the best game I ever saw him play.” 

            As the camera focuses on center ice for the start of the decisive Game Three, Kelly declares:  “Wherever you see Larionov, you’ll usually see Messier.”  A clear leader of Team Canada from locker room to on-ice example, Messier’s varied and vial roles for Team Canada started with his unselfish embrace of a defensive role centering the line to run head to head with the Soviet’s famed ‘green unit’ of Larionov and linemates Sergei Makarov and Vladimir Krutov.  At the conclusion of the series, his line limited the Russian troika—perhaps the most potent offensive forward line in hockey history—to two even strength goals in the full-throttle, three game set which saw the two teams fill the net with 33 goals. 

            In addition to that role, Messier was the first forward over the boards to kill penalties, and when a key face-off arose, he skated out to win it.   Throughout the series where physical presence remained basic and essential, he patrolled the ice as a Canadian warlord demonstrated by an open-ice decking of the Russian tank Krutov.  If this were not enough, Messier worked the power play with Gretzky, Lemieux, Raymond Borque and Paul Coffey. 

            Meanwhile, the Great One continued his magic setting up Larry Murphy from behind the net for a game-tying power play goal in the second period.  And in the final moments of the decisive game, Gretzky streaks down left wing on a two on one.  Using Murphy as a decoy, he instead deftly drops a soft pass to a trailing Lemieux who snaps the puck into the top corner for the climatic winning goal for 6 to 5 victory, and the Canada Cup.

            Gretzky, with his resolute skating and puck skills, led all tournament scorers with 3 goals and 18 assists.  Afterwards, he noted that Canada had won because “We had more guts.” 

            Messier stood as the embodiment of that Canadian will to win.  While Gretzky and Lemieux led on the tally sheet, Team Canada’s transcendent leader’s passion to do whatever was necessary to win stood out as he filled all the intangible roles that winning hockey requires: defensive assignments, penalty killing, face-offs, physical play, and on ice presence.   Messier’s passion personified Canadian hockey, which proved as essential for victory in the Canada Cup as the Great One’s playmaking and Lemieux’s goal scoring.

            Four Times Lord Stanley’s Cup.

            Messier’s rise to national recognition came in Game Three of the 1984 Stanley Cup Finals when Edmonton faced the four-time defending champion New York Islanders.   The year prior, the Islanders swept the Oilers as they stymied Gretkzy, and thus far had repeated their defensive blueprint for success in this series.    

            With the series knotted and the Oilers trailing by a goal in the second period, Mark Messier began his gallop out of his own zone and into hockey immortality.   He gained the Isles’ blue line, deked past a groping Gord Dineen, cut in towards goal and let loose a rocket wrist shot past the startled New York goaltender, Billy Smith.  That spectacular goal broke open the series.   He followed his heroics with a third period bull run into the Islander zone with another goal, which sank the Islanders as the Oilers’ momentum proved unstoppable. Gretzky broke loose when he tallied early goals in Games Four and Five as Edmonto won their first Stanley Cup, but it was Messier’s dramatics that helped him earn the Conn Smythe trophy as the MVP of the playoffs.

            The defending champs repeated in 1985, losing only three games in the playoffs.  There was no stopping the Oiler gusher. Jarri Kurri notched a playoff record of 19 goals, with Gretzky and Messier each depositing 12 of their own.   Gretzky set a playoff record registering 47 points, and won the Conn Smythe trophy.

            An inspired Calgary Flames team upset an overconfident Oiler bunch in 1986, winning in seven games, with an Edmonton ‘own goal’ late in the third period being the difference.

            The Oilers re-claimed the Cup in 1987, but it took seven games over a determined Philadelphia Flyer team, and an extraordinary performance by their goaltender Ron Hextall, who won the Conn Smythe trophy in a losing effort.  In Game Seven, Edmonton out shot Philadelphia 43 to 21, but fell behind early in the contest until Messier knotted the score on a nifty three-way passing play.  Grezky set up Kurri for the lead; the Champaign was iced after a third period goal by the irrepressible Glenn Anderson.

            The following Spring, the Edmonton Oilers reached the Stanley Cup Finals once again, at which time Messier’s name stood atop the list of playoff scorers, one point ahead of Gretzky.  But at the start of the Finals, Edmonton Coach Glen Sather assigned his versatile center and his linemates the job of shutting down the Boston Bruins only effective scoring line of Janney, Neely and Joyce.  Messier performed his yeoman’s work sacrificing his offensive role as his line throttled the Bruin attack.  Gretzky dominated offensively as the Oilers swept the series.  On the strength of his scoring prowess, Gretzky won his second Conn Smythe. 

            Thereafter, Edmonton traded Wayne Gretzky to the Los Angeles Kings as the experts noted the end of the Oilers’ Stanley Cup run.

            The Stanley Cup minus The Great One.

            The de facto captain now officially wore the ‘C’ for Edmonton. Two years later, he spearheaded his team’s drive to an improbable fifth Stanley Cup.  Trailing the Black Hawks in the Conference Finals two games to one, the Oilers turned the series in Game Four in Chicago, led by their captain who registered two goals and two assists in a 4 to 2 victory.  Edmonton advanced, and defeated Boston in the Finals in five games.   Messier and linemate Craig Simpson lead all scorers in the playoffs.  The voters awarded the Conn Smythe to goalie Mike Ranford, but many who watched Edmonton’s playoff run opined that the trophy should have gone to the man who wore the Oiler “C”. 

            In another cost-cutting move, Edmonton traded their captain to the New York Rangers in 1992.   His arrival in New York was akin to Broadway Theater, and the newly minted Gotham center iceman proved up to the challenge.  Ranger goaltender Mike Richter noted that the locker room changed the moment Messier joined the team as the Rangers knew they had the real deal, a leader dedicated to winning, with the passion, skills and ability to raise his play when needed most.  In his first year in New York, the NHL awarded him a second Hart Trophy as the league’s MVP.  

            The following year, the Rangers won the Stanley Cup, their first in 54 years, and the only one the team has won in the past 80 years.  Messier’s game-to-game contributions included his aforementioned battles with Scott Stevens; his memorable guarantee of victory when the Rangers trailed the Devils three games to two in the Conference Finals, and then delivering a hat trick and assist in the 4 to 2 victory; and the crescendo Game Seven victory over Vancouver in the Stanley Cup Finals, which included a goal and an assist by the Ranger captain who raised the Cup for the sixth time.

            No Answer.    Undoubtedly, Gretzky proved the greatest offensive forward over the course of his career underscored by his unsurpassed numerical records in the regular season, in his career, the Canada Cup and his four Stanley Cup runs. But statistics aside, Mark Messier’s own offensive contributions combined with his complete game package, his physical on-ice presence and leadership, his big time moments on hockey’s biggest stages, and his six Stanley Cup championships loom so large that he stands on par with Wayne Gretzky. 

            Perhaps referring to them equally as the Great Gretzky and the Monumental Messier suffices.