MARIO AT HIS BEST

Here's an excerpt from my latest TribLive.com column:

There are a lot of what-ifs for Mario Lemieux. Wayne Gretzky maxed out. Did all he could.

Lemieux needed back surgery.

Lemieux beat cancer.

Lemieux retired for three-and-a-half seasons.

Otherwise, Lemieux might have scored 1,000 career goals. (But Lemieux was ennobled by his difficulties. They made the story bigger.)

Lemieux spent the early part of his career on bad Penguins teams, elevating marginal talents like Warren Young and Robbie Brown.

Gretzky played in Edmonton with arguably the greatest collection of offensive talent ever.

Put Lemieux on that Oilers team and he could have a 100-goal season.

Lemieux had pockets where nobody ever played hockey better.

Like his 199-point season in 1988-89.

His assault on the NHL after radiation treatment for cancer in 1993: 30 goals and 26 assists in 20 games.

Posting 35 goals and 41 assists in 43 games in 2000-01, his comeback season, entering mid-campaign after no training camp.

To read more, click HERE.

Comparing Lemieux and Gretzky will always end inconclusively.

But what Lemieux did in 1988-89, the rush of production in '93 after beating cancer, and not missing a beat upon coming back in '00 after three-and-a-half years idle...all that had to be seen to be believed.

I'm not sure Gretzky provided that.