Gretzky: Crosby is 'best player in the game'

/

Wayne Gretzky phoned in to Dan Patrick's show Wednesday morning. Not a single question was directed to the Great One about his interest in returning to the NHL in some capacity, but it was, nonetheless, an interesting interview.

On the NHL today, compared with his era, and how he might fare now:

"It's a different game. These guys are bigger and faster. Progression. We've come a long way. The hockey's better today. Goaltending is better. You have 30 teams in the league and pretty much every team has a goalie that's pretty capable.

"So it's a different game. I don't know. There's more power plays now. I would probably enjoy it. That's probably the big difference."

On which team he'd want to play for today:

"(Laughs) Whatever team's going to win the Cup.

"You know what? I loved where I played. New York, L.A., Edmonton, St. Louis. I got treated great in every city, so if I could go back and play for one of those teams again I'd be happy."

But style-wise?

"Well listen, I love the way Darryl Sutter coaches. I think he's really one of the best coaches in hockey. Really enjoyable to watch his team play.

"I don't know, probably... maybe the Hawks. I'd like to give Patrick Kane the puck. He's a pretty good player."

Is Chicago a dynasty?

"It's shaping up that way. In this day and age, to be competitive for three, four, five years... I know they've got two championships and seven games away from a third. If they win this year, we can start really kind of focusing on that. It's something pretty special. It's harder to be a dynasty in this day and age with the salary cap system. Your homework and your scouting has to be flawless and they seem to have done a very good job of that. You've got to get a little bit lucky. They got Toews and Kane in the first round and Duncan Keith and they can build their team around those three guys. You know, it's a nice squad to watch, that's for sure. It's going to be an unreal series."

If there was a fantasy draft, who would you take first?

"Crosby. (Laughs) He's the best player in the game. I don't think it's even a question.

"Now, if you're Chicago and you've got Toews, there's probably nobody in the league they would trade him for, other than maybe Crosby. You know, Toews would probably be a good 1b pick. You're not going to go wrong if you had the second pick and you got Toews."

If you were going to build your team and you could have anybody, including goaltenders, you'd still go Crosby?

"I'd take Crosby. He's the best player in the game, in my estimation anyway. My belief is he's the best player.

"But you can't win without a goaltender. Jonathan Quick's pretty good and we saw that in Game 7 against Anaheim. You have to have a goaltender, especially in this day and age, or you're not going to have a Stanley Cup."