The best to ever play the game?

The debate will never end. Who was the best hockey player of all-time. Mario Lemieux or Wayne Gretzky?

In an interview fan a Swedish newspaper, NHL newest Hockey Hall Of Fame, Nicklas Lidstorm answer the question: Mario Lemieux was the best player he ever played against, one vs one, reports nhl.com.

"It was all about Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Steve Yzerman. Lemieux had an incredible reach and some really good skills with his stick. Gretzky had that too, but he made all the players around him better. Individually, I would say Lemieux was the better player."

The former Red Wings saw plenty of Lemieux and Gretzky in his 1,827 NHL games.

Just like the debate surrounding Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, Super Mario and The Great One were two different players dominating in somewhat different eras.

Set aside the differences, some could make the case that the best player ever was, Bobby Orr.

The sad truth is that we will never see the best players of different era play against each other at their prime.

Who knows, maybe Connor McDavid's name will get thrown in the same conversion 20 years from now.