Penguins History: The Greatest Player I Ever Saw

“Who’s the best hockey player you ever saw?”

It’s a question I’ve been asked many times over by friends and casual acquaintances alike. My answer is always the same.

Mario Lemieux.

I’m sure I’ll get some push-back. A friend of mine once sat next to former Pens’ GM Eddie Johnston on a flight to Boston and asked EJ who he rated as the best player of all-time. Johnston didn’t hesitate in naming Bobby Orr, his good friend and former roommate with the Bruins.

To those who never saw him play, Orr was a magnificent all-around defenseman who revolutionized the game back in the 1960s and ‘70s with his daring end-to-end rushes. He was a lot like former Pen Paul Coffey, only he could play defense and was physical to boot.

Orr led the league in assists five times and scoring twice. He won the Norris Trophy eight years in a row and the Hart Trophy (MVP) three years running. In 1970-71, he was a plus-124. Let that sink in for a moment.

Had knee injuries not effectively wrecked his career by the age of 27, there’s no telling what he could’ve accomplished. He was similar to fabled baseball pitcher Sandy Koufax in that regard…a brilliant talent forced to retire all-too-soon.

To digress further, some I’m sure would mention “Mr. Hockey,” Gordie Howe, a superb all-around forward who combined supreme skill and scoring ability with legendary toughness over a pro career that spanned five decades. They don’t call a goal, an assist and a fight the “Gordie Howe Hat Trick” for nothin’.

Of course others would pick Wayne Gretzky. The “Great One” tallied an astronomical 2857 points over a 20-year NHL career…nearly 1000 more than runner-up Jaromir Jagr.

Perhaps I’m biased. But to me, no one holds a candle to Lemieux. He was special from the moment he stole the puck from Boston’s Ray Bourque and swept in on goalie Pete Peeters, freezing the B’s netminder with a forehand-to-backhand move mere seconds into his very first NHL shift. Mario was a tantalizing and, in many ways, unprecedented blend of size, speed, power, reach, skill and deception, not to mention supreme hockey sense.

His first few seasons were difficult to say the least. A shy 19-year-old who spoke little English, Mario was tasked with saving a franchise that barely had a pulse, let alone a bevy of NHL talent to support him. It’s hard to describe how miserable the Pens were when he first arrived. Well, maybe not so hard. The previous two seasons they were a combined 34-111-15.

Yeah, they were that bad.

While Lemieux was skating with the likes of Terry Ruskowski and Warren Young (a career minor-leaguer who miraculously scored 40 goals on Mario’s wing), Gretzky by comparison was surrounded by future Hall-of-Famers Mark Messier, Jarri Kurri, Glenn Anderson and Coffey.

Yet Mario persevered. He became only the second rookie in NHL history to tally 100 points. During his second season he racked up 141 points while centering for Ruskowski and Doug Shedden. In ‘86-87, he tallied 54 goals despite missing 17 games due to injury and illness.

Lemieux emerged from Gretzky’s considerable shadow with a breakout season in ‘87-88. Aided in no small part by the addition of Coffey, “Super Mario” tallied 70 goals and 168 points to wrest both the scoring title and Hart Trophy from his rival.

“I’m not sure if dominant is a strong enough word to describe what Mario will be this year,” said then-Capitals GM David Poile heading into the ’88-89 campaign.

He proved to be prophetic.

I’ve never seen anyone approach the player No. 66 was that season. Truly a man among boys he was, quite literally, a threat to score every time he hopped over the boards. Which he pretty much did. Mario complied a shooting percentage of 27.2…on 313 shots…good for 85 goals.

Put in perspective, last season Sidney Crosby, Phil Kessel and Evgeni Malkin combined for 82.

Yes, it was a different era. Goalie pads were small and brown and the nets looked awfully large. But it doesn’t detract from Mario’s amazing achievements.

He scored 31 power-play goals and 13 short-handed goals. He had nine hat-tricks. Again, by comparison, Crosby has 11 for his career.

On New Year’s Eve he struck for five goals in five different ways against New Jersey, a feat still unmatched and voted the NHL’s Greatest Moment in 2017. Mario registered 49 multiple-point games, including 35 games of three or more points.

Incredible.

He tallied 199 points, 13 shy of Gretzky’s all-time single-season mark while skating in four less games. Given Mario’s scoring rate of 2.61 points per game, had he played in those four games he may well have matched or shattered the record. Not to denigrate these guys, but this was with Robbie Brown and Bob Errey skating on his line.

For good measure, Mario registered another five-goal, eight-point performance–including a hat trick in the first seven minutes–during a 10-7 rout of the Flyers in the playoffs. Perhaps permanently ruining Philly goalie Ron Hextall in the process.

Had it not been for the debilitating back injury he suffered the following season (while in the midst of a 46-game point scoring streak) there’s no telling what his career arc might’ve looked like. Although Mario recovered to lead the Pens to two Stanley Cups and capture four more scoring titles and two more MVPs, the injury robbed him of some quickness and deception. To my eyes, he was never quite the same.

“You wonder what kind of career he would’ve had,” said Bill Torrey, architect of the great Islanders dynasty of the ‘70s and ‘80s. “Guys had no idea how to defend him. I don’t know of anyone who has frozen players like Mario. He could beat you with his shot, his stickhandling, or just by holding onto the puck. Defensemen would drop down thinking he was going to shoot. Goalies would commit before he did. On breakaways, he was the best I’ve ever seen.”

Bourque concurred.

“He just holds the puck out there on his forehand and dares you to commit yourself,” said the Hall-of-Fame defenseman. “If you do he slips it past you, and if you don’t, he controls the blue line and has time to make the play.”

Who’s the best hockey player I ever saw?

I’ll let one of our finalists answer this time.

“What he can do I couldn’t do,” Orr confessed while Mario was still an active player. “He can do more things than any other player I’ve ever seen.”