Wayne Gretzky believes the 2012 Stanley Cup finals between the Los Angeles Kings and New Jersey Devils is going to be an exciting series that could easily go six or seven games.
“I know it’s going to be great hockey, I know it’s going to be entertaining,” Gretzky told HOCKEY CENTRAL at Noon on Sportsnet 590 The Fan Wednesday. “At the end of the day I think this is going to be a long series.”
The Kings were the eighth-place team in the Western Conference but Gretzky, a former captain of the Kings, believes his old club has been terrific on their current playoff run and has been successful for a reason.
“As a team they’ve been outstanding. Throughout the playoffs, it’s remarkable — although the games have been close, a lot of the games — they’ve kind of breezed through the first three rounds relatively unscathed. When you open up on the road in three cities and win the first two games of each series on the road you get a pretty commanding situation and that’s what they’ve done.”
Gretzky and his Kings advanced to the Cup final in 1993, where they eventually lost to Patrick Roy and the Montreal Canadiens, but he said this edition of the Kings is a lot different.
“It’s similar in that we started all four series on the road … so there are some parallels there, but the teams are different.
“Our team was not as good as this team, there’s no question about it. We got (to the finals) on believing in the group, believing in the team and following a good coach and getting good goaltending from Kelly Hrudey, and that’s how we got to the finals.”
Gretzky pointed to the skill of players like Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty, Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, along with the leadership of Dustin Brown, as the route of this team’s success.
Kings goalie Jonathan Quick has been solid in net and is the likely leader in the race for the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoffs MVP, but Gretzky knows L.A. is in for a test against future Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur.
The Great One is not shocked that Brodeur, who recently turned 40, finds himself four wins away from another Stanley Cup.
“He’s a special goalie,” Gretzky said. “I talked to Mark Messier yesterday about this, one thing that hasn’t changed is Marty Brodeur is the greatest puck-handling goaltender ever and if the Kings are going to have any success at all you’ve got to keep the puck away from Marty Brodeur as much as you can. With him handling the puck the defence never get physically hit and that’s a big part of the Kings’ game … They need to be able to get in and forecheck.
“The question is can Quick match what Marty Brodeur has done in the past and what Marty Brodeur will probably do in this series?”
Game 1 takes place in New Jersey on Wednesday night and the National Hockey League’s all-time leader in goals, assists and points said there is nothing quite like a series that will determine who hoists the Stanley Cup.
“The greatest feeling as a professional hockey player is sitting on the bench in Game 1 and you look up at the out of town scoreboard and there’s no out of town games, there’s only two teams left. That’s when you know you’ve made it.”
