Gretzky, Howe, Messier… Unger and Brubaker
It occurred to me recently that Garry “Ironman” Unger — who played with the Red Wings in ‘70-’71 and with the Oilers in the early 1980’s, might’ve been the only guy ever to have played in the NHL with Gretzky, Howe and Messier, the three top scorers in the league’s history.
(Incidentally, Ron Francis, the NHL’s 4th all-time highest scorer, played with Howe in ‘79-’80 in Hartford. But Marcel Dionne, #5 all-time, only started with the Red Wings in ‘71-’72, the year after Howe retired.)
A quick check online suggests that — there was one other NHL’er to share dressing rooms with Howe, Gretzky and Messier in his NHL career. And that was a journeyman by the name of:
- Jeff Brubaker (three games with Howe; four games with the Oilers in ‘85-’86)
Looks like there was one near-miss as well:
- Nick Fotiu (most of ‘79-’80 with Howe; and one game with Edmonton in ‘88-’89, the year after The Trade)