Wayne Gretzky is undoubtedly the greatest hockey player in the sport’s history. But as we see from other older former players now covering the respective sport they used to play, it appears as if Gretzky is a bit unwilling to accept change in the sport, particularly when it comes to the analytics of the game that wasn’t prevalent when he played in the league.
Ahead of the first overtime period in Friday’s Game 2 matchup between the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers, Gretzky was asked by NHL on TNT studio host Liam McHugh to break down what he was seeing from the Panthers as they looked to avoid a 2-0 series deficit.
Largely, Gretzky was impressed with what he saw from the Panthers throughout the third period. But when it came to the Panthers’ reliance on icing the puck from their defensive zone, Gretzky believes that this ultimately led to the game-tying goal from the Oilers in regulation.
“I thought Florida was fantastic the first 13 minutes of that period,” said Gretzky. “They were playing defensively by playing in the offensive zone. They started to flip pucks out and started to ice pucks. At 4-3, they had the puck in the slot area, 1-on-1, all they had to do was flip it out to the side. They ice the puck, now there is a faceoff in their zone. Edmonton regroups, they get another whistle in their zone. Another faceoff won, and all of the sudden it’s 4-4.
“I know analytics say you shoot the puck down the ice, but I’m not a believer in that. I’ve seen too many games cost by guys icing the puck. And then, it’s not their fault on the goal itself. But, just get the puck out and play smart. I don’t understand icing the puck. Rick Tocchet and I argue about this all the time. I’m just not a believer in icing the puck. That icing, I think, was one of the factors in them (Edmonton) getting the game tied.”
It’s a somewhat confusing take from Gretzky, considering there isn’t a lot of data available to suggest that icing the puck is an overly positive or negative thing to do, which he was implying here. So, it really isn’t the anti-analytics argument that he seems to think it is.
Still, fans weighed in on Gretzky’s statement here, questioning whether Gretzky even understood what the analytics really say about icing.
Regardless of Gretzky’s criticisms, the Panthers would ultimately prevail over the Oilers in double overtime to tie the series at 1-1.