Gretzky doesn't think he could play in 'systematic' modern game

The Great One says there's less room for creativity in modern hockey than there was in his heyday and when he was growing up.

"What we've lost a little bit of is playing on the pond, and just going out there and using your creativity and your imagination, doing things with the puck, learning how to make funny plays, good plays and creative plays," Wayne Gretzky told CBC's Peter Mansbridge.

"We've lost a little bit of that imagination and creativity that we had in the '60s, '70s, and '80s."

Gretzky believes the diminished level of creativity stems from added pressure and an emphasis on methodical hockey at the development level.

"It's very much more robotic because it's more systematic now," he said. "There's too much at stake, not only for ... the NHL teams, (but) junior teams, college teams. If you go to a peewee hockey game here in Toronto ... these coaches are systematic now. You play left wing, you play your position. You play right wing, you play your position."

The NHL's all-time leading scorer isn't sure he could play in today's game.

"I don't know if a guy like (Hall of Fame defenceman) Paul Coffey or myself … could play in this era, because our creativity would have just naturally taken over, and now the game is so systematic," Gretzky said.

He also believes young players are being overworked.

"When I was 10 years old, I went to school at 9 o'clock and I got out at 3:30 … and then you went and did hockey, baseball, lacrosse," he said. "Now these kids they go to school at 8 o'clock, they get out at 11 and they're practising from 11 until 5 at these hockey academies and these camps."

Gretzky did concede that the overall level of play has improved despite the overall lack of ingenuity.

"The game's better. We're not losing anything in the game with this (diminishing) creativity and imagination. The game is better because the players are better."

The Great One is the latest - and most influential - hockey figure to weigh in on the lack of creativity in the modern game.

In an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last month, Pavel Datysuk said creativity in the NHL is fading.

Hall of Famer Guy LaFleur made similar comments in December 2015, and Gretzky himself told The New York Times in April that the NHL lacks creativity and imagination.

It's not a new argument, but it carries extra weight when reinforced by the game's most respected player.