LOS ANGELES – It was looking at a living Mount Rushmore of hockey. Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr and Mario Lemieux, seated next to each other, talking about their legacy. A fourth player, Gordie Howe, there in spirit, as the three legends all agreed he was the best player of all-time.
The trio has rarely been in the same location together. Gretzky and Lemieux have seen plenty of each other on the ice, as competitors and as teammates on Team Canada. But Orr lamented the fact that he never took the ice with either of them in the NHL.
“I would have liked it. I don’t know if I would have wanted to play against them,” he said.
“If I had any disappointments … I mean, I’m a lucky guy. But I wish I could have played a little longer. Not being able to play with those guys in the National Hockey League was so disappointing.”
[Follow Puck Daddy on social media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Tumblr]
Orr and Gretzky were briefly teammates – once. It was in 1980, and Orr was playing in a charity game for Billy Heindl, his former teammate with the Oshawa Generals that had fallen on hard time after his playing days. He asked Gretzky, who had completed his first NHL season with the Edmonton Oilers, to participate.
“I was so mad,” recalled Gretzky. “I had to fly from Hawaii to Winnipeg. And the only reason I did was so I could play with Bobby Orr.”
Said Orr, in 2004: “It was the only time I’d ever been on the ice with Wayne and I’ve never been on the ice since with him, so obviously it was a thrill. But the game itself? Remember, it was for charity. It wasn’t all-out, magnificent plays or anything like that. But to be on the ice, with a player like Wayne and a person like Wayne, was special, it really was.”
Gretzky can remember his father coming back from a Toronto Maple Leafs game against the Boston Bruins and raving about Orr.
“He came back and he told me that this guy Bobby Orr was pretty special. All I remember saying to my dad is, ‘I can’t play defense,’” recalled Gretzky.
“So my dad said, ‘OK, forgot about Bobby Orr.”
In the end, Gretzky became the greatest center of all-time and Orr was the NHL’s greatest defenseman. They both changed the game, figuratively and literally.
Like when, for example, the NHL rewrote its rulebook because of Gretzky. Something that Bobby Orr took pleasure in reminding us about in needling Gretzky on Friday.
“I think you know the Gretzky penalty rule,” said Orr.
“What is that?” asked Gretzky
In the 1980s, the Edmonton Oilers used to create 3-on-3 situations on the ice by getting a second set of offsetting penalties during 4-on-4 play. The open ice created near automatic scoring situations for the Oilers.
So “The Gretzky Rule” had the NHL stepping in and negating additional loss of manpower when minor penalties were called. The NHL Board of Governors voted 17–4 in favor of amending the rule, which kept play at 5-on-5 after coincidental minors and prevented Gretzky from exploiting 3-on-3 play.
“You don’t remember that?” asked Orr.
“No,” said Gretzky.
“When you used to go down to get the 3-on-3.”
“Yeah, OK,” said Gretzky, smiling.
“That rule was for you,” said Orr, becoming the defenseman goading the scorer.
“Yeah, OK, thank you,” said Gretzky, changing the subject.
It was a glorious moment between two legends, two stars and two players who forever changed the game.
—
Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
MORE FROM YAHOO SPORTS
