#1 Who's Better? Wayne Gretzky vs. Connor McDavid

TheHabsFan I made this post to help people understand that Gretzky isn't for sure the greatest hockey player of all-time. In my opinion McDavid's skills outmeasure Gretzky's. This post is going to compare Gretzky and McDavid in 6 different subjects (Speed, Statistics, Hand-Eye, Balance, Defense Awareness, Offense Awareness)

1. Speed: Just watching a compilation of Gretzky and McDavid's breakaway goals, you can see that McDavid has much more speed. Watching McDavid in the skills competition for fastest skater just shows you how fast he really is. McDavid may not be the fastest NHL player ever, but he is on of them, and definitely faster than Gretzky.

Gretzky:0 McDavid:1

2. Statistics: At the moment of writing this, the date is Nov. 6, 2018. So McDavid has only been playing in the NHL for 4 years. But here are his stats, GP:224 G:97 A:181 P:278 +/-:49. And here are Gretzky's, GP:1487 G:894 A:1963 P:2857 +/-:520. So yes, it's quite obvious that Gretzky has the better stats, but don't forget that Gretzky lived in a whole other era. A era that in my opinion was way easier to score goals in.

Gretzky:1 McDavid:1

3. Hand-Eye: Hand-Eye Coordination is the coordinated control of eye movement with hand movement. So if you're really good at hand-eye, then, almost the moment you see something you'll react to it. There's a video of Connor McDavid on a breakaway and the puck somehow gets knocked up into the air, McDavid's hand-eye is so good that he immediately slapped the puck into the net. That takes serious hand-eye skill. Other than that, I think that they're both pretty even. But McDavid won my vote, merely because that beautiful goal.

Gretzky:1 McDavid:2

4. Balance: Gretzky barely ever got hit, because if someone hit him, then they'd be pummeled by Gretzky's bodyguards. But when Gretzky got hit, he was down! When McDavid gets hit he usually keeps his balance. But that's not much to give McDavid a point. So I'll call it a tie.

Gretzky:1.5 McDavid:2.5

5. Defense Awareness: Everyone should agree that Gretzky couldn't play defense. Their was never a day when Gretzky played good defense, it just wasn't his game style. And for me that says it all, how can somebody be the best hockey player of all time without being good a defense? To be the greatest hockey player of all time, one must play well defensively and offensively. McDavid can play defense, and he's quite good at it. In my opinion this easily goes to McDavid.

Gretzky:1.5 McDavid:3.5

6. Offense Awareness: Gretzky was very aware offensively, but so is McDavid. McDavid scans the whole rink so often. There's this one time when McDavid's on a breakaway and his offense awareness is so good he knows that Leon Draisaitl is behind him. So instead of taking a shot, McDavid passes it to Draisaitl and he scores. It takes amazing offense awareness to think that all through. But again, that's one example. And Gretzky was also really aware offensively. So it's another tie in my eyes.

Gretzky:2 McDavid:4

So McDavid wins my test! Now don't get me wrong, Gretzky is one of the best players ever, probably the best of his time. But hockey players are progressing as the years pass by, and I strongly think people don't give McDavid, Crosby, or even Hall a chance at being the best hockey player ever. Criticize my judgment as much as you like, I'd be quite happy to see your reasons on why Gretzky may be a better player.

Go Habs Go!

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I could've done more subjects to compare them, but I thought that was a good amount. - TheHabsFan