Wayne Gretzky is the greatest player to play the game of hockey and it probably wouldn’t have mattered what position he played.
Just last week, we were reminded how ridiculous Gretzky’s stats were because he is a total outlier on basically any graphical measure. Now, imagine how impressive that would have been if he was playing defence the whole time – because that must have been what it was like in junior hockey for the Great One.
He was playing defence according to the card below, and the bio gives you an idea of what that was like.
“Scoring is Wayne Gretzky's specialty. He picked up his first goal in league Hockey at the age of 5 and once scored three goals in 45 seconds. In the style of his hero Gordie Howe, Wayne is good at quick shifts, dekes, and has a terrific shot. He is shy, slight of build and no fighter. Bouncing back from his first major injury, which required caps for three front teeth, the Brantford born 11 year old is a hot prospect for the peewee league next year.”
We’re happy that Gretzky played forward in the end, because at least now we can have other discussions like “Who was the best defenceman of all time?” If he put up those numbers on defence, it wouldn’t matter what any forward did, he’d probably find a way to outrank them.
