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Route 66

© Ryan Joseph Robinson

Has there ever been a better hockey player than Mario Lemieux? It is a question that is difficult to answer, because it is almost impossible to compare players from different generations. It is also damn near blasphemous to suggest that someone other than Wayne Gretzky is the best player of all-time. I will probably go to hockey purgatory for saying this, but Mario Lemieux is the best player ever.

Lemieux retired for more than three seasons before coming back to play during the 2000-2001 season. Someone must've put him in a cryogenic chamber (right between Walt Disney and John Wayne), because number 66 hasn't missed a beat. It's frightening, really. Lemieux won the N.H.L. scoring title in '96-'97 with 122 points, and this season (after a LONG absence) he averaged more points-per-game than league leader (and team-mate) Jaromir Jagr.

Ask any hockey fan in Pittsburgh and Edmonton who the best player of all-time is and you will get a mixed response that will look like the results of a Coke versus Pepsi taste test. Gretzky or Lemieux. No disrespect to Gordie Howe and Bobby Orr, but in terms of domination, it's only a two-horse race. The numbers don't lie. Gretzky has won twice as many Stanley Cups as Lemieux (being on a stacked Oilers team can do that for you), and Wayne also holds more records than your grandparents' cluttered attic (Note: That's "Wayne", as in "Wayne Gretzky", not to be confused with "John Wayne", who is still in the cryogenic chamber). There has never been a better ambassador for the game of hockey than Wayne Gretzky, but all things considered, Mario Lemieux is still a better hockey player. The man averages the most points-per-game ever, even more than Gretzky, and although Lemieux was surrounded with some talented players in Pittsburgh, he did not have the luxury of playing on a hockey dynasty in Edmonton that included: Mark Messier, Paul Coffey, Grant Fuhr, Esa Tikkanen, Glenn Anderson, and Jari Kurri, just to name a few dozen. Let's not forget that the Oilers won the Cup the year Gretzky was traded away to L.A., which is a testament to the Oilers' depth.

How's this for a record: Mario Lemieux is the only player ever to score every type of goal in one game: an even-strength goal, a powerplay goal, a short-handed goal, a penalty shot goal, and an empty-net goal. How's that for versatility? The man is a Swiss Army knife. He is 6'4, around 230 pounds, and he can skate and stickhandle with the best of them. The term "five-tool player" is often used in baseball to describe versatile players. Well, Lemieux is a five-tool hockey player. He can: shoot for power, shoot for accuracy, pass, skate, and take a vicious Scott Stevens body-check.

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