sean
no arguement about gordie's prowess- but- Lindsey was usually thr first man into the zone to create turnovers and Delvecchio at center dished soft passes to Gordie. Dorgie's puysocal play dot him lots of room in front of the net to finish. Gretzky went to the back of the net to set up...
i think 2 stats would bear out the point0
# of unassisted goals ( gordie wouldnt have nearly as many) hence the nickname "The production line"
total offense gretz vs gordie (which should be used for arbitration cases)
in any case, to your point, if I were a GM with a chance to start a team, I probably would have taken gordie and messier before gretz because of his physical element!