Wayne Gretzky, left, and Mario Lemieux
were a dynamic duo for Canada on the International stage (CP
Photo).
Wayne Gretzky, Hall of Famer and the Phoenix
Coyotes coach: "You don't replace players like Mario Lemieux.
Mario's a great hockey player and a good person. He's meant so much
to the game and done so many great things. He had tremendous reach.
He was a big, strong man. He played with intelligence, and he had
incredibly soft hands. He also had tremendous grace. The game will
miss him. I'm sure he'll stick around in a capacity that he'll still
be involved in the game for a long time."
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman: "Mario's exceptional
play earned him accolades. His ability to face adversity earned him
respect. His devotion to Pittsburgh and the Penguins earned him admiration.
His dedication to hockey - at both the NHL and international levels
- earned him the enduring appreciation and thanks of everyone associated
with the game. We celebrate his playing career and wish him only the
best in the future."
Bobby Orr, Hall of Famer: "In my mind the most talented
player I've ever seen. If it were not for health problems, God only
knows what his numbers would have been."
Bryan Trottier, Hall of Famer and a former Lemieux teammate:
"How many more points would he have had if he stayed reasonably healthy?
400? 500? 600? We'll never know. No disrespect to Wayne Gretzky, Gordie
Howe, Mark Messier, Bobby Orr, Gilbert Perreault ... but Mario did
things nobody else could ever do."
Glenn Healy, former NHL goalie: "There are two players
when I played that I feared. One was Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux
was the other. I knew when he was up for his next shift. I didn't
even care who was on the ice before him, it was when is he getting
out. The game went at his pace and it was scary to play against him
because you knew that at any time he wanted he could beat you."
CURRENT NHL PLAYERS
Jaromir Jagr, New York Rangers forward and a former Lemieux
teammate: "He was the best player I've ever seen, I've ever
played with. I didn't have a chance to see Wayne Gretzky much, because
I came in 1990. But Mario was probably the most gifted. He had everything:
size and strength and skill and how smart he was. There's nobody going
to be like him, not another player, not right now, I don't see anybody.
Not even close."
Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins rookie: "It's
hard for me, being so young, to put myself in his shoes and understand
what he's going through. But all I can do is really imagine what it
feels like to be in that situation. I think it's a very tough thing
to have to do that if he wasn't going through what he's been through.
For someone to not be playing hockey to go through what he has is
tough enough. But to do that and do what he's done on the ice is unbelievable."
Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils goalie: "It was
a great challenge playing against him. I really looked forward to
facing him and was fortunate to be able to play with him internationally.
He took care of business on and off the ice and certainly will be
missed."
Daniel Briere, Buffalo Sabres centre: "It's a big
loss for the players, for the NHL. He was still a big attraction wherever
he went. I know that for myself, playing against Mario was always
special. My two most important games in my career were my first game
against Mario and my first game against Wayne Gretzky. It's a sad
day for hockey."
Vincent Lecavalier, Tampa Bay Lightning forward:
"He's been one of my idols for years. Growing up in Quebec, we all
looked up to him. We watched every step he made
Mats Sundin, Toronto Maple Leafs captain: "Him and
Gretzky were in a league by themselves. They're icons. I really don't
believe we're going to see players of that calibre again."
Jeremy Roenick, Los Angeles Kings forward: "I'm very
disappointed, I'm the biggest fan of Mario there is. Playing against
him, his leadership, his personality, his talent - he epitomized everything
that the ultimate true professional is. He has so much class and treats
everyone the same. The way he came back and played after Hodgkin's,
how many people would have done that and come back the way he did?
That's unheard of talent and heart."
MEDIA AND OTHERS
Bill Cowher, coach of the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers:
"I remember going to see the guy and, wow, he was a magician on the
ice. There's not a better ambassador for the game, not a better person.
He's done so much for the city…"
Stephen Brunt, Globe and Mail: "All of the signposts
of shinny immortality are there: two Stanley Cups, an Olympic gold
medal, a Canada Cup and World Cup and a stretch during which he was
undeniably the most dominant player in the game. He had a combination
of size and skill and strength that has so far been unmatched, even
in an era of super physical specimens, and he lifted teams to greatness
on his shoulders."
Damien Cox, Toronto Star: "Lemieux was magnificent,
but at this, his second retirement, he can be regarded as magnificent
as more than just a player. Superstar. Ambassador. Civic leader. Doting
father. Mentor. Businessman. Patriot. Mario Lemieux was all of those."
Jack Todd, Montreal Gazette: "If it is possible to
underrate a player who is generally recognized as one of the great
stars in the history of the game, then Lemieux was underrated. Perhaps
it was because he made everything look so easy; I watched a whole
compendium of his great goals and great assists yesterday and the
thing they all had in common was that in every instance, Lemieux looked
as though he was simply toying with the opposition.
Dave Molinari, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "In the end,
it wasn't all the losing that pushed Mario Lemieux out of the NHL….
When Lemieux announced his retirement yesterday, it was mostly because
he'd concluded that he no longer could do a passable impersonation
of the guy who had dominated pro hockey the way few men have. He remembered
what it was like when he made winning Stanley Cups and scoring championships
seem almost effortless. When every shift he took was an invitation
to excellence. When he routinely did things with the puck that defied
opposing defences, logic and, occasionally, a law of physics or two."
Andrew Conte, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "From the
moment he joined the Penguins in 1984, Lemieux has been seen as the
savior for a National Hockey League franchise that appeared destined
to relocate. More than two decades later, that's still the case."
Karen Guregian, Boston Herald: "Mario Lemieux and
Wayne Gretzky were hockey’s version of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.
After the departures of Bobby Orr and Gordie Howe, the hole in the
superstar department was filled by Gretzky in 1979, followed by Lemieux
five years later. Before you could catch your breath from watching
the amazing exploits of one, along came the other to wield another
dose of shock and awe. They won Stanley Cups, sold out rinks, dazzled
crowds and put up points like pinball wizards."
Scott Burnside, ESPN.com: "Watching Lemieux collect
an incredible 76 points in 43 games during the last half of the 2000-01
season was a perpetual exercise in suspension of disbelief, as though
his very presence on the ice defied the laws of time, space and nature.
It didn't last, but even when injuries once again began to take their
toll, Lemieux surprised many with the breadth of his passion for the
game."
Michael Farber, SI.com: "Other than perhaps Rocket Richard and Montreal, no player in hockey history is so intimately linked with one city, one franchise. Lemieux saved the Penguins in 1984 as a rookie, won them championships as a veteran, and saved them again as an owner."
