McDavid vs Gretzky: Who's Putting Up Better Numbers in Today's NHL? 

Too soon to be ranking Connor McDavid all-time, but when his career is over, he will mentioned in the same breath as Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Bobby Orr.

I’m a life long Oiler’s fan who was lucky enough to grow up in the ‘80s and watch those teams. IMO while McDavid is the most “advanced” (skating, hands, etc) player the game has ever seen, Gretzky is still the greatest to play the game. He had hockey iq and vision on a level never seen before or since, an under appreciated first step and speed, under appreciated shot, and an incredible ability to hold the puck and elude defenders. I think when all is said and done McDavid will go down as one of the top 3 players of all time but Gretzky will still be the greatest.

I don't know which is more impressive: The fact that Gretzky had 8 seasons as good or better than the one that McDavid is having now, or the fact that McDavid is even in the conversation with two of Gretzky's 8 best seasons, OR the fact that Crosby has almost identical production to Gretzky at age 35... ORRRR that Gretzky had the same production as Crosby today, when he was 35! All four of those statements blow my mind haha. Also Giroux was taken 22nd in the 2006 draft, not in the 2nd round.

Having said that, I was one of the lucky ones to have watched both Gretzky and McDavid now play the same team I love and what a special thing for fans to see twice in their lifetimes. Compared to all the fans across NHL teams, the Oilers fans get the twice in their lifetime talent. My dad asks me every time he sees me, Gretzky or McDavid and I’m team Connor all day long. They shouldn’t be compared because they didn’t have equal goalie talent back then.

I have seen Connor McDavid live at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Ca. twice. The first time he hit the post 30 seconds into the game and then proceeded to get a hat trick. The second time he scored one goal and got a beautiful assist. He was the main reason we got tickets. Unbelievably good. I am so glad I saw him and we are going to get tickets and see him again when he comes to town. It's like, "Yeah, we lost 6 to 2 but how about McDavid splitting our defense and scoring that goal in the 3rd period."

I don’t know how anyone can watch that and say that it made Gretzky look bad….it shows that he would still be a beast now

This year is the closest I've seen McDavid get to Gretzky-like dominance over the rest of the league. Now imagine a guy doing that from the age of 18, year after year, year. That was Gretzky.

Oilers fan here. Watched Gretzky as a kid and I watch McDavid now. The problem with era adjustments is it doesn't factor in things like nutrition, equipment, training, rule changes, etc etc. I could go on. It's pretty much impossible to say what Gretzky would do in the modern NHL or McDavid would have done in the 80's, because there are so many other factors involved that don't just involve stats. Guys in the 80's would drink beers during intermission and smoke a dart in the locker room. There is way more to consider here then just "goalies sucked in the 80's". All I know is that I feel blessed to have watched both of them play within my lifetime. GO OILERS!!!

I've seen loads of both, having grown up in Etown. I'll put it this way.. Connor is the 2nd greatest offensive talent I've ever seen. A 26 year old 99 would still put up at least 170 in todays Now NHL.)

You can only compare by how much ahead of their peers they were

Compared apples to oranges I think. Doing era adjusted stats are guesswork at best. What is used for example to compare equipment, training and diet.

I actually saw Gretzky’s last game against the Devils. Wayne was special.

McDavid plays in todays NHL; Gretzky played in yesterday’s NHL. Two different leagues. Both are tremendous players to say the least. Gretzky will always be ‘Greater One’

Gretzky was my Idol growing up Went to many many games in the Old Coliseum Watched Gretz his whole career,no one was better… That is until McDavid. Better (faster)skater Better puck handling. Both have-had superior vision. If you put McDavid in Gretzky’s era --McDavid wins….. If you put Gretzky in McDavids era- McDavid wins… Gretzky is the greatest to ever lacem up.. But we will have to wait and see how McDavids career goes!!!!

I love this stuff. Gretzky and McDavid fan here.

Amazing content like always. I think it is by far the best comparaison of those two incredible hockey player. One legend and one soon to be a legend. 👌

I feel like the argument that the skill has improved overall in the defence and goal tending doesn’t really prove that McDavid is better, because I think if Gretzky had the tools, coaches and skill of other teammates today he probably would playing at the same level he did in the 80s. There are just some athletes that have a higher raw talent and are mentally and physically superior Gretzky is one of those guys he would use everything to his advantage to beat the competition. Just like any other great like Jordan, Brady, Phelps, Woods, Bolt, Schumacher.

Great video, thanks for the context. It really is a question with no answer. Gretzky is the 🐐. His individual achievements will never be repeated... but I think McJesus' freakish attributes and rise during this unparalleled era of competitive, high intensity hockey would see him carving up even the Great One at his best.

Such a great investigation! Thank you!

I think thats a fairly sound approach. I also agree, Gretzky was better, while McDavid is having a historic season.

Watched Gretzky and Mario growing up and to this day haven't seen anyone i'd say is better than either of them.

Anyone who's played the game back in the day knows that before they took out the 2 line offsides there were no stretch passes, moving the puck out of your zone was much harder,. The bottom line is mcdavid is an incredible player, he's a better skater than Wayne, quicker than Wayne, but Wayne had amazing rink awareness and clever pick control, they played in different eras, it's like comparing any star athletes from different eras, it's not fair to either. Gretzky was similar to Larry bird, not the most gifted natural athlete but they were super intelligent with where the other players were and experts in scoring.

Great video! I was curious about this and you answered it perfectly.

Let’s see McDavid win a scoring title with just his assists like Gretzky did 4 times….and SIMULTANEOUSLY lead the NHL in goals like Gretzky did 3 of those 4 times. Never been done before or since.

This method of adjustment is pretty good. Whatever the differences are between eras is mostly neutralized when averaged out through the entire league and compared year-to-year. All players for a given season play by the same rules regardless of number of games, number of teams, etc. The grand total numbers over a career are a testament to the consistency and longevity of the individual player. A player's individual year-over-year adjusted stats aligned by age or games played would be great too. I've been waiting all season for McD to explode to have an 8-point outing (no shortage of opportunities), but what we're getting is a steady diet of 1.5-3 point games. Let's hope they can turn on the jets for the rest of the season and the playoffs. Remember, he was still the leading scorer even after only playing three rounds (16 playoff games).

It's going to be interesting to see what Bedard does when he enters the league

You should add Bobby Orr’s stats especially years 1970 and 1975 when he won the scoring championship as a DEFENCEMAN. Let’s not forget that Phil Esposito was a 2nd line Center on the Chicago Black Hawks. He never averaged a point a game before joining the Bruins with Orr allowing him to balloon his stats to 152 points. It’s possible for Orr to have won the scoring for 6 years. That my friends is INSANE!!

I think the only way to gauge it is how much of a gap was there between Gretzky and the 10 next best players vs Mcdavid and the ten next best players.

You're missing Kucherov in 18-19 on that ppg list .. 128pts in 82 games for a 1.56ppg average.

This is an EXCELLENT video trying to use an objective approach to discover and normalize players across era's like the MLB did with the "steroid" period and even with the ballparks. Stats, don't lie, especially with normalization. Points per game is an excellent stat; yet, it is just one stat to get a glimpse. You're breaking down pts/game and mentioning of assists was another glimpse. The point here is if you add in more stats like +/- and S% as examples, you get more of a glimpse of how the player is contributing overall to the wins especially with hockey in the dynamic transitions between the defensive and offensive play, especially with the Center positional play in the transitions and helping out on defense as well. Yes, McDavid is an INCREDIBLE offensive player like Crosby, but when you add in +/- or better yet normalize +/- to the team by taking the average delta of the +/- per team based on at least 20% of games played and subtract the average +/- from the players +/-, McDavid is no where close to Gretzky as an OVERALL impact player. That is why I think there needs to be distinctions between offensive, defensive, and overall/legend players. I think that is the intent of awards as well, like with the Selke. How many times has McDavid even come close to the top x% on that list? Silence. How many times has Bergeron won? Objectivity or at least striving for that, like you are doing is the only way to attempt to arrive at the GOATs or legends. Stats/math is the only objective way especially with the attempt to normalize, not just saying oh the training is better and equipment is better so you can never compare, so I am glad for this video. EXCELLENT video and a great segway into classification of defensive, offensive and overall impact players. If you take just points per game, what I call the average delta +/- considering both player and team they play on and S% and look at the all-time stats, you will see the legends all at the top. Just looking at raw +/- and just for this season, of the top 50 players, there is only ONE player from EDM listed and that is Nurse at 49th, when you look at top 10 players, 5 of them are Bruins which is why +/- also gives a glimpse into depth and especially when you take the +/- AVG Delta that I indicated above. Is the game about the most points scored by a single person [offensive player] or is the game about dynamic team play that leads to integrated team play that wins championships in dominant fashion, Canadiens, 76-77 season look at the legends on that team considering pts/game; +/-, and S%

Wayne is by far the best. One can only hope that the Oliers can take advantage of Mc David in their lineup and win another Stanley cup

Gretzky was special for being so far ahead of his time. Truly he was the Great One for being so, so much better than everybody else for his era. He definitely had a genius about him to rise so high above the level of his time despite the inferior training available at the time. Connor McDavid is also better than his peers, but he's not better by quite as much. And if you think about it, it makes sense: the level of hockey has risen so much higher than it was in Gretzky's day. With modern training, strategy, fitness, coaching, etc, players come closer to realizing their max potential. *Gretzky* would probably have been an objectively better player if he'd had to play in today's modern hockey, even if he wouldn't have pulled in the same #s. Gretzky was a genius and he would have learned to adapt to the much faster pace of modern hockey. So yeah, I think Connor is our modern Gretzky. I observe that Connor is significantly faster than Gretzky, and he shoots about as good as Gretzky. So if we are going to compare anything, it would be game vision. Connor is very good in this regard---see how many assists he gets---but I still think in this one regard, Gretzky is still untouched. He was just so good at setting up the puck for his teammates, it's almost unexplainable. Though, with a caveat: this could be a result again of poorer goaltending, which allowed Gretzky to make the types of assists that simply don't work as well today because goaltenders are so much better trained to handle back and forth puck movement. Regardless of whether we assume the objective skill of McDavid may or may not be slightly better than Gretzky's was, greatness isn't just about the output of one or two seasons either, its about duration of superior output. Connor can't be considered the greatest of all time, because he just hasn't been at the top long enough yet. But perhaps give it some more years of output like or better than his current season and we'll revisit those ideas. In professional chess there is a similar discussion regarding whether Magnus Carlsen or Kasparov is the greatest chess player of all time. Arguably Magnus is a stronger player than Kasparov ever was, with modern training assisted by supercomputers, but Magnus hasn't been at the top as long as Kasparov was at the top in his era. Same thing as Gretzky and McDavid, right? They are both gems and "generational talents" to be sure, but any discussion about McDavid being the greatest ever has to be had only after McDavid has shown he can stay great for a long time, like Gretzky did. Cheers.

Gretzky was a scoring machine in all levels of hockey .

Right now top 5, if he continues like this for the rest of his career top 3

Love how almost every fantasy team that picks him up generally wins. Do you notice that trend in your various leagues?

Having seen Gretzky, Lemieux, and McDavid play, McDavid is the closest thing that today's generation has ever seen to #99 or #66. With all due respect to Crosby, he was never at that level. Also, while Ovechkin can keep racking up 50 goal seasons until he's blue in the face, Ovie has never been (nor will he ever be) at the level of Gretzky, Lemieux, McDavid, or even Crosby for that matter.

This is McDavids 1st 50 goal season. Gretzky had 9 including a season with 92 and 87. There have been over a dozen 50 goal scorers in the NHL. McDavid is barely in their company, not in Gretzky's.

McDavid could undress Gretzky 10x over.

Did the era make Gretzky or did Gretzky make the era?

I got to see both Gretzky and McDavid live. McDavid is better.

Look the answer is clear, if we are having a debate for greatest career or greatest player its gretz and its a easy choice. If were talking most skilled to ever put on skates its McDavid. Put Gretzky in todays game and hes lucky to even be playing pro hockey at all, put McDavid into the 80's and youre looking at video game numbers. 400, 500 points? More even? The fact is that the game is just different and the players today are flat out better.

They have a lot of the same skills, both excellent players. In Gretzky's day the oilers built a team around him, and some of the other players were no slouches either. They need to build a team around McDavid before he wants to be traded. It would be interesting to see the "line statistics" McDavid's line versus Gretzky's line, which line was more productive, and their + - etc. Good players are even better when they are on a great line.

GREAT video. thanks for putting in the effort and research

These number will be faulty. Why? Because looking at how many points are scored by the league in the past vs now also depends on the rest of the players in the league. Back in the old days there were limited foreign born players, not as many superstars as there are/were from the mid 90’s until now. If we had the same caliber of players league-wide as they were limited to in the 70’s and 80’s, the average points scored would be far less. Gretzky was way ahead of the rest of the league when he played, as McDavid is now, but the league is way better now than it was when Gretzky played. However, it could also go the other way, that Gretzky is way better than McDavid, since there was way more hooking and holding allowed in the old days. Also, the sticks are far better these days, as is the sports science behind the players. There’s so many factors like these that it makes it hard to give concrete comparisons. Personally I’d take McDavid, simply because he seems more impressive. So much speed, far outpacing the rest of the league, and such soft hands, but also very high hockey IQ. Just my opinion.

Game was more physical back in the day. Also you had the 2 line pass rule

Wayne Gretzky is by far the better player are guys kidding me right now I watched both players play

Mcdavid all day, then and now. Better shooter, passer, skater, stickhandler etc. time moves on, there’s a new GOAT

The observation doesn't need to be adjusted . Revelance is the key. Which player stood head and shoulders above their peers. And on a constant basis. Equipment and rules don't matter if the rest of the players are still on the same playing field. Those assist were accomplished with no 2 line passing.

No one else is close

McDavid isn't even a pimple on Gretzky's rear end. A preseason NHL game in the 1980s had more intensity than a playoff NHL game does in today's era.

Love this! Great video 😄

I vote #2 of all time for now.

While I do appreciate all that McJesus can do…..I’ve said the same about Ovi……Gretz played in an era where clutching, holding and hooking were rarely called as well as still having the two line off side call, his entire career. He also had 215pts in one season as well as 92 goals in one season. In my opinion…no contest.

McDavid will probably go down as #3 in history after Gretzky and Lemieux. How many cups he wins and if he can stay healthy will be a major factor.

What your missing is Gretzky scored 80 more points than the second leading scorer of those seasons.

Give their generation our technology and equipment and vice versa it will be closer in numbers. Gretzky is a gem and an unimaginable talent and McDavid is the best in the world today. Just give McDavid the exact same stick that Gretzky has, see how he does. Just put Gretzky up against the goalies we have today. There are too many variables to compare, but I’ll tell you this… it is speed and physical skill vs the greatest hockey mind.

Gretzky is the all time greatest ! Just think what his point totals would have been had the Edmonton Oilers had the financial ability to keep that team together ? If they did Gretzky would have had over a 1,000 goals , 3,000 points 5 more Art Ross Trophies , Hart Trophies and probably 10 Stanley Cups ! This is a great video breakdown of how great Wayne was . Not only on the ice , but off of it as well. His trade to L.A. helped the sport grow in the Western United States and in warm weather climates across the Country . In my opinion he should be Commissioner of the NHL , NOT Bettman !

How many cups did Gretzky WIN in his first 8 years? How can you put any comparison there? McDavid didn't SCORE 50 till his 8th year. stupid comparison.

Gretzky once won the scoring title with just his assists. Gretzky was THAT MUCH BETTER than his peers.

McDavid's goal vs Nashville lololol omg that was insane.

Need to factor in 3 v 3 OT. In the 80's and 90's, there were no tie breakers in Regular season. 2nd, way more clutching, grabbing & hitting back then. 3rd, sticks were way heavier and barely any curves on them. Plus they were wooden. No way can any player stick handle the same with today's stick as a wooden stick. 4th, NHL was forced to take away the 2 line pass and make it a 1 line pass because they wanted to slow down the 80's Oilers scoring pace. 5th, 1 ref back then. Now 3 refs to watch for more infractions. Players do not need to fear as much when handling puck or behind the play.

I don't mind the recalculations for fun stuff like this. But who thinks every player in the 80s would scale the same? Also, if Gretzky played without headhunting or even a red line, would he not do even better? Also, points are stats, not a measurement like kilograms. If you lift a kilo on Tuesday, it is the same mass as the kilo you lift on Wednesday. Goals and assists are not like that. Every goal is different. Circumstances matter.

If Gretzky had the same training and equipment the current players do then he yet again laps and McDavid becomes his Draisaitl.

Both great players. It's a nice mathematical exercise but all comparisons for different generations is really impossible.

Great video (clear explanations and stats) - I like it ! ... Aftercall, stats are made to help the discussion over a BBQ between friends. Hi. HI.

The changes in gear alone make this comparison completely and entirely impossible. Not to mention sports science, progression in tactics, nutrition, medical science, more competition driving improvement among players, etc. People who make an argument that modern players are better are technically correct, but they never ever take into account the differences in pretty much everything about the game between the eras. People haven’t become more capable athletes in the last 40 years, they just have more tools to bring out their potential.

There is no question in my mind as to the better of the two - it is Connor McDavid. I was 16 when Wayne Gretzky entered the NHL. In fact it never crossed my mind to compare McDavid to Gretzky because I'm old enough to remember seeing Bobby Orr play. Wayne Gretzky's career coincided with an era of high goal scoring due in part to smaller goalie pads and less talent. I even wonder if Wayne Gretzky could play in today's NHL.

Before we go off into fantasy mode... WE ALL NEED TO REMEMBER THAT WAYNE GRETZKY SCORED 1000 points BEFORE HE TURNED 23 YEARS OLD. Let that marinate for a minute. 😳

Third best all time IMO

I think a missed calculation is the difference between ppg vs field example 1983-84 1.19 ppg differeence vs 2nd place coffey This year McDavid vs Draisaitl is .38 ppg difference -the sheer dominance of Gretzky was different

Having watched both players, McDavid is far more talented. Look at the highlight reals of both players - it's no contest. With respect to the number, they can be misleading. Take Assists. Gretzky isn't getting the assists that he gets if not surrounded by Jari Kurri, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey, Glenn Anderson (all Hall of famers). While McDavid has Leon Draisaitl, Gretzky had better players surrounding him. Just look below how much better Esposito became when he played with Orr - who you play with makes a huge difference.

I know that Gretzky is The Great One, but in my eyes, McDavid is The GOAT, for now.

Really not even a question. Gretzky dominated his era more than McDavid is.

The game is so much faster than back in Gretzky's era . The players overall are much stronger and quicker than in Gretzky's era. No doubt that Wayne was the best during his career. That said I don't think Gretzky would have put up those numbers in today's game. Wayne was better in every aspect of the game offensively except for his speed. McDavid has everything Gretzky had and has the speed on top of that. The key in my eyes is the speed in which McDavid has puts him ahead of Gretzky. Now you have to wait and see if McDavid puts up the numbers that Gretzky did for his career. Then decide who was the better player. I think right now McDavid is the better player. The other factor is line mates. Gretzky's were better than McDavid's, so that would be another reason why I think McDavid is better at this stage in his career, but 1 year doesn not make him the best of all time. So let's just wait and see how McDavid's career goes then decide who was the best player.

I don't think you can do a rule fo 3 like. I mean you cannot do a proportial adjustment for gretzy for today. I think there is another factor. The difference from average for the amazing talents at the end of normal bell curve distributions will get different adjustments to the average differences.

If the scoring in Gretzky’s time was 22% higher in your example at 4:39, then your math is wrong. You should be dividing his stats by 1.22 not multiplying by (1-.22). This would increase 99s numbers slightly.

I watched Gretzky play. Played shinny with him at the Ancaster double rinks in the early/mid 70’s. He was great. Incredible vision. Very smart,a passing genius. But he was protected, never hit. He wasn’t tough, a completely different game in the 80’s. Opponents were instructed not to hit him. The Gretzky era was wide open,10 goals a game. Goaltenders were much smaller with much smaller equipment. Gretzky was great ,However, I’ve been around hockey for 60 years. There has been speed… Larkin, Bure, Coffey. Toughness…Ovechkin. This Conner McDavid is amazing,a special talent. One other player would/may be his equal and that would be Bobby Orr. Nobody skates like McDavid,that speed skill and finish. Bobby Orr, I’m sure would have. Gretzky didn’t skate like McDavid or Orr.

You don't see the huge difference in their game,you are blind.Connor is fun too watch but he wont be winning anything soon.Wayne had twice as many goals at this point and cups 🙃

And how many Cups difference is there?

theyre gonna go down as the 2 best ever

Gretzky may be the greatest, but greatest and best are 2 different categories. Players are about 2 inches taller and 15lbs heavier than when Gretzky played. They are also faster, more skilled with the puck, better hand eye, better defensively, better coached, better trained. Literally every single player in today's game could play in the 80s. You can't say the same thing other way around, not even close. Other than maybe Patrick Roy, can you even name me 3 other goaltenders that played in the 80s that could play in today's game? I can't. The smaller, less skilled goalies who had a stand up style, with smaller equipment would get absolutely destroyed by today's players who have shots that are harder and more accurate than ever. Also, Gretzky couldn't take a hit. He got hit, what 12 times in his career, and was hurt in a third of them. That was one of the "rules", don't hit Gretzky. He is the reason, more than any other factor, why salaries are the way they are, so he was given some leway. Another thing people don't consider, the 70s and 80s are the definition of watered down hockey. They were great players overseas that couldn't, or didn't want to play in the NHL. Today, 99% of the best players on the planet are in the NHL. Furthermore, 80s hockey was wide open offense. Other than Montreal, who else played defense? Nobody. Today, every team does. If Gretzky was in his prime, compared to today's players, he would be literally one of the smallest and slowest guys on the ice. It's just the evolution of athletes in general. To compare players based on points alone is so myopic, since the game and the style of play is so different from era to era. Simply watch a few random games in the 80s, and see how Gretzky moves. Him and Lemieux were the best, back then. But they got passed 20 years ago. The best, most talented players ever? I would say, McDavid, Crosby, Datsyuk, Ovi, Makar...

Reminds me a lot of Paul Kariya.

What is included in the requirement of being called the greatest? Is it purely points per game? Is it a combination of points per game and amount of cups? Is it the sum of mastering all aspects on both ends of the ice + points per game + cups? I think that it is the latter. Therefor I don’t think that Gretzky and Lemieux are qualified to be contenders of being called the greatest. They won a few cups and they had the highest points per game average including some insane seasons - but they weren’t complete as players. And as impressed as I am with McDavid I don’t see him as a complete player either. The top two players in my eye that both are complete, have high points per game average and have won several cups each are Crosby and Forsberg. I’d say that they are the only two that compete for the title “The Greatest”. Both are the best at protecting the puck, defending, battling in the corners etc and they are together with Gretzky, Lemieux and McDavid the best passers and playmakers. On top of the mentioned skills they also have insane work ethics, always back-check, are high in steals and block shots. Even though Crosby has a slightly higher regular season points per game and regular season goals per game, Forsberg has a higher regular season assists per game, slightly higher playoff points per game and to my amazement a much higher playoff goals per game which leads me to draw the conclusion that Forsberg leveled up during playoffs. If I would have seen a more complete game from McDavid and a few cups to his name, I would definitely rank him as the main contender for the title “The Greatest” - but I don’t see it, he has played seven seasons without winning, isn’t changing up his game to win, isn’t the best battling in the corners, nor the best puck protector. His leverage is his insane speed which gives him a huge advantage. He is also amongst the best dribblers ever together with Datsyuk, Forsberg, Crosby and a few others. Probably I’d rank Forsberg higher than Crosby for the facts that he was slightly better than Crosby at defending the puck, passing, physicality, keeping his balance and because he has won SC, OG, WC twice and still holds the JWC points record. So 1. Forsberg 2. Crosby 3. Orr 4. Lemieux 5. Gretzky 6. McDavid

You can't make a comparison. Gretzky was using a heavy wooden stick. Physics prevented him from doing anything that McDavid can do with his stick. Goalies were terrible in the 80s which helped him score, but the equipment Gretzky was using was laughably bad compared to today's best equipment. Too many confounding factors to compare eras statistically. That said, McDavid's highlight reels are way better than Gretzky's. There's no contest. But, again, this is largely due to Gretzky carrying around a few extra pounds of equipment in all the wrong places.

will mcdavid have a 1000 point lead over his peers by the end? no, so the answer is no.

Gretzky Did it first. Period. No Special Hockey Schools growing up, 24hr one on one trainers or Composite sticks. Don’t get me wrong I Love McDavid he’s the New Face of the Oilers he’s by far the best but like I said Wayne did it first skating on a backyard rink.

Just put it this way.. Connor would need 20 "historic" seasons for 20 years to catch Gretz

One thing I can say is Gretzky could never skate as fast as Connor McDavid

Imagine if McDavid was shooting on goalies which had the equipment of the Gretzky era???? Dou-ble those numbers. Imagine if McDavid had a Yarri Kurri ???

even gretzky said him self said the game isn't the same. Goaltending was never this good back than. They use to have goalies with pillows back than.

Is McDavid a better skater than Gretzky? Yes. Is he faster? Yes. Does he have faster hands? Yes. But is he better than Gretzky? No.

Only reason i still give it to Gretzky is because he was that much better than his peers. While everyone and their mom was scoring 50 goals and 100pts on those absolutely embarrassing 80s "goalies" (in quotes because can you even call them goalies), gretzky was putting up 90 goals and 200 points. But damn those goals Gretzky scored were jokes lol just walk in clappers from the top of the circle, sliders across the ice, "dekes" where the goalie looked like he was wearing running shoes instead of skates...McDavid is so much more talented. But Gretzky still the GOAT

McDavid better. Gretzky greater. For now.

The game is much better today ... higher skills across the NHL.... Mcdavid is as acknowledged by Wayne playing in an era that is harder to score now then when Wayne played ... check out the youtube of Wayne on Connor.

I’m not sure your stats are comparable because Gretzky himself said that the goalies back then were NOT at all comparable to todays goalies because the guys he played against were the heavier guy that couldn’t skate and he said todays goalies are the most athletic on the team so he even says I don’t think I’d be able to score the way McDavid is able to today. So if you’re not adjusting to that concept then the point is really moot.

There is no McDavid with out Gretzky. It is nhl hockey evolution. Just like when Roy broke in as an 18yo rookie in 1986 and hoisted a cup, he changed goaltending by creating the standard orthodox butterfly style all elite goalies practice today.. with the exception for the anomalies of Brodeur and Hasek who had unorthodox and hybrid styles. Another example is Babe Ruth, baseball player elites today wouldn't be as good without what the Babe did back in the 20s.

McDavid is putting up better numbers in today NHL..... Gretzky is 62 years old!

Men, I envy those who don't have any more important things to worry about.

There’s an error in the formula that used to convert gretzkys stats. It’s hard to explain in youtube comments, but if we use the 82-83 season for example. You get 3.86gpg in 82-83. The formula : 2.45 x 3.16/3.86= 2.005 (2.45 / 1.2215 = 2.005) What you did is : 2.45 x (1-(1.2215-1)) =1.907. You basically did 2.45 x (2-1.2215) = 1.907 which you might be able to see why its wrong

McDavid might be the only player ever capable of sweeping all the Forward individual awards. If he suddenly decided this offseason to "work" on his defensive game like he did his shot, you'd be looking at the single best talent of all time.