How Wayne Gretzky changed Mario Lemieux's entire career

Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky for Team Canada during the 1987 Canada Cup

Hockey fans will never forget the 1987 Canada Cup. It’s still considered one of the best events in hockey history, with the best-of-three final between Canada and the Soviet Union as the highlight of the tournament. The games between these two star-packed teams have been called the best ever, but the tournament was also special because of Canada’s first line.

For the first and only time in their careers, Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux played on the same forward unit, and Mike Keenan’s decision to place the two superstars on the same line was highly successful, as they combined for 29 percent of Canada’s goals in the tournament.

We all know Mario Lemieux as one of the greatest players in hockey history, but at the time of the 1987 Canada Cup, he was just a 21-year-old still striving to reach his potential in Pittsburgh.

Lemieux and Gretzky in Canada Cup

Wayne Gretzky had already won three Stanley Cups with the Oilers. Although everyone knew that Mario Lemieux was a generational talent, fans in Pittsburgh were still waiting for him to reach his full potential. He had recorded at least 100 points in all three of his NHL seasons, but fans expected him to challenge Gretzky in the scoring race.

After the Canada Cup, something changed. All of a sudden, Lemieux was everything Penguins fans had dreamed of, and in the next two seasons, he posted career-highs of 168 and 199 points. And Wayne Gretzky played a huge part in that.

How Gretzky helped Lemieux

In the book Gretzky to Lemieux: The Story of the 1987 Canada Cup, it was revealed that Gretzky, with the help of coach Mike Keenan, decided to “do everything in his power” to help Mario Lemieux reach his full potential.

“Wayne had two reasons for doing it,” Keenan said in the book, per ESPN. “One, he saw Mario’s talent, and he knew he could make a difference on our team. He wanted to affect Mario’s approach to the game as quickly as possible. The other thing is Wayne needed someone to give him a push. Whether it was on a conscious level or a subconscious level, he knew he needed a challenge, and he knew Mario had the talent to be the best. From the moment Mario came into the league, Wayne knew what he was up to at every second.”

Wayne Gretzky confirmed that he tried his best to mentor Lemieux before and during the tournament, and it certainly seemed to help him.

“I think it had a lot to do with the history of Canadian hockey,” Gretzky said. “I remember hearing about the ’76 Canada Cup and how Bobby Orr had taken [Guy] Lafleur under his wing. In ’81, I was the kid, and Lafleur was helping me out.

“Sitting there with Mario, it didn’t seem like it had been that long since I was following Lafleur around. It’s a special thing to be a part of. It’s like a big circle.”

Lemieux himself has described the 1987 Canada Cup as a turning point in his career — and everyone noticed what Gretzky did for him. Even his teammates and coaches saw how Gretzky, with just a few words here and there, helped Mario grow.

“You could see Gretzky dragging Mario into the fight more and more as the camp went on,” said Bobby Clarke, also a part of Team Canada in 1987. “He was so generous on the ice. He did things to bring Mario into it. He wasn’t worried about competing with him. And that relationship made that team.”