Quote:
Originally Posted by Kingsking
Gretzky scored his first 600 goals in 718 games.. he scored 294 in his next 770 games. What changed? .
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Obviously a lot of things changed as you say. Gretzky first 600 goals could be argued, he was playing with better players than his last batch of goals.
I remember watching the Oilers at Northlands Coliseum in the 80s and goals were like nothing we see now. Not just 2 on 1 passes to beat the goalie but maybe 3-4 passes in the slot and high slot to beat the poor goalie hung out to dry .And this was on the rush, not setups in the defensive zone.
On some nights they were setting guys up who were in the doghouse or needed to get their numbers up for bonuses and just kept passing it around until that guy had an empty net to shoot at. The Oilers talent level was unreal.
Once Gretzky got to LA and the other places, it was far more diluted.
I was trying to make a point with a hockey buddy I played with at one time who hated to lose, got really upset, and I said that I bet that Gretzky in his playing career probably lost more games than he actually won. I'm not sure if it's true, but Edmonton was probably no where near 500 in the early days, LA probably wasn't either when he got there, St Louis probably wasn't and not sure about the Rangers. I've never taken the time to try to dig out the stats, to see if I was right or not.