Who is "The Greatest One"?

I think of the three the most talented was Lemieux, however that doesn't mean he is the best player. I would put Orr as #1 because he is the only defenseman to win the art ross, and he played in the same era as Guy Lafleur and Phil Esposito. Gretzky would be second in my mind. He had the best vision on the ice of ANYBODY who has played in the nhl, and was the best at capitalizing on all the talent he had and the talent around him. I think Lemieux is the most talented player to ever play, but he wasn't able to get as much out of the players around him like Gretzky

Gretzky, but I would have loved to have seen Lemieux play his entire career without cancer, spinal problems and in the worst clutch-and-grab division in hockey. That may have made the debate more interesting.

I never had the pleasure of seeing Orr play, so I do not feel I can comment on his place.

@k-Fleur: Lemieux turned journeymen into goal scoring machines. Look up Robbie Brown's and Warren Young's stats with and without Mario. Gretzky was surrounded by world beaters, he didn't need to make them better. Mario did, and was quite successful at it.

Definitely Wayne Gretzky!

Orr.

He revolutionized the position of defense; before him, defensemen wouldn't get involved in the play. They would just dump the puck out of their zone. Orr made it common for D-men to carry the puck and shoot (and score). Also, he was topping the league in alot of scoring categories, which is hardly ever seen from a defenseman even today.

Gretzky was probably the best pure scorer in NHL history; he just had that instinct and he had the skill to go with it. But he didn't affect the game the same way Orr did. The same can be said, to a slightly lesser degree, or Lemieux.

Wayne Gretzky was the greatest player ever to play the game the numbers he put up were just flat out amazing

only player to ever score 200 points and he did it four times!!!!!

he had 92 goals in a season

he had 163 assists in a season

he has the best point per game ever

He has more assists then the 2nd leading scorer all time has points

He is the alltime leader in every single offensive category

Lemieux isn't even in the mix in my mind, it is only between orr and gretzky.

Nobody has more points than gretzky had assists, enough said.

Bobby Orr

i will tell you why, when Bobby played he played during an era when the goalies were relatively good and he still scored tons of points every year. Secondly he was a defenceman and still won scoring titles

and finally when Gretzky played in the 80's and 90's there were only 3 or 4 goalies that are can even be considered goalies so basically he was scoring on minor league goalies for his entire career.

Wayne Gretzky he is the only one to play on the Kings and take them to the cup.

Well obviously Wayne Gretzky. Who else? I think Mario could have passed Wayne Gretzky, but he had injuries like you stated.

1. Wayne Gretzky

2. Mario lemieux

3. Bobby Orr

Bobby Orr was great, but not has big as Lemiux and Gretzky

so gordie howe just doesnt exist in this hypothetical scenario?

gordie howe. he could knock out anybody you mentioned and scored like a beast in seasons where it only took 8 wins to be a stanley cup champ.