“Clash of the Legends: How Gretzky’s Grace and Ovechkin’s Power Redefine Greatness in the NHL”
Reigning Stanley Cup-winning coach Paul Maurice opined, “They’re completely different styles of play: completely different players, other than what an incredible record.”
By the time Maurice started coaching in the NHL in the mid-’90s, Gretzky and Mario Lemieux were on the downside of their careers, and Ovechkin was nearly a decade from starting his.
Teams turned to clutching, grabbing, hooking and holding to slow down skilled stars such as Gretzky.
“Gretzky made the game offensively so much more dynamic,” said St. Louis Blues coach Jim Montgomery, who played a few NHL seasons against Gretzky as well as one game in Russia against Ovechkin. “That led to real more defensive-minded approach by a lot of coaches: How do we stop these delays? How do we stop Gretzky behind the net, so the game got better offensively and then it got better significantly defensively.”
Post Comment