As great as Wayne Gretzky was early in his NHL career, it helped that he had the team & teammates that he had. He was a HHOF player playing with other HHOF players. That team also won a Cup without him. We won't see a team like that again.
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Those Oiler teams were stacked. Messier, Anderson, Coffey, Fuhr
That is true, he had a ton of talent around him.
Don't forget Jari Kurri and Esa Tikkanen on those teams. Had the teams stayed together, people would be calling coach Glen Sather the Phil Jackson of the NHL; they don't.
Scotty Bowman seems to get the recognition in hockey.
(Scotty Bowman) > (Phil Jackson). It's 1 thing to win w/ the legendary Montreal Canadiens; those were HHOF teams. It's another to win w/ a team known 4 losing: Pittsburgh Penguins, with help from Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr & Paul Coffey.
Those Penguin teams were stacked too. Lemieux and Jagr in their prime.
Lemieux was in his prime when Penguins won 1st 2 Stanley Cups. They were also in Jagr's first 2 NHL seasons. Speaking of Jagr, he'll never be inducted N2 HHOF while he's alive: he keeps coming out of retirement to play for the team he owns.
He is like 60.