A highlight reel of Lemieux moving in alone on the goalie would make for some of the greatest moments in hockey. He had the most incredible insticts in front of the net ever. Had he stayed healthy (he overcame cancer, a herniated spinal disc and an arythmic heart during his playing career) and had he played for an owner that had the resources to build a team around him the way that Peter Pocklington did for Gretzky in Edmonton, its easy to argue that he would have over-shadowed the Great One. We will never know definitively. But without a doubt as a goal scorer his play had way more flash than his contemporary. One sportswriter neatly summed up that if they were guitar heroes, Wayne Gretzky would have been Eric Clapton, an innovative and all around solid player with a long career and Mario Lemieux would have been Jimi Hendrix the blazing player that burned brightest but briefly.
