Gretzky, Lemieux, Orr: They would be Kane's 3-man dream team

Second in a series.

Think of all the superstars who have wowed fans over the years in the NHL.

Now, imagine being asked to name just three that you'd like to see jump on the ice to begin a 3-on-3 overtime session.

Because that the question that was posed to Patrick Kane, Mark Scheifele and Mathew Barzal during a 45-minute video conference Monday.

Kane was fortunate enough to go first, and the Blackhawks' superstar had no problem rattling of his trio:

• Wayne Gretzky - AKA the Great One. In addition to being the league's all-time leading scorer with 894 goals, 1,963 assists and 2,857 points, Gretzky AVERAGED 80.75 goals with the Oilers from 1981-85 and AVERAGED 203.2 points from 1981-87. He also led the league in assists for 12 straight seasons (1979-92). Gretzky helped the Oilers to four Stanley Cup titles (1984, '85, '87 and '88).

• Mario Lemieux, who spent his entire career with Pittsburgh and lifted the Stanley Cup in 1991 (after sweeping the Blackhawks) and again in '92. He led the league with 70 goals in 1987-88 and again the next season with 85 (while also dishing out 114 assists). Lemieux finished with 690 goals and 1,033 assists.

• Defenseman Bobby Orr, who revolutionized the game and led the league in assists five times. Orr won two Stanley Cups with Boston (1970, '72) and closed out his career with the Blackhawks, playing a combined 26 games with them in 1976-77 and 1978-79.

"It would be hard to bet against those guys," Kane said. "You look at Bobby Orr, the amount of points he had as a defenseman. It's just unbelievable, especially at that time. Maybe changed the way a defenseman played the game.

"Obviously watching some of those highlights with Lemieux and Gretzky playing on Team Canada back in the day. It seemed like they had a lot of chemistry where Gretzky was feeding Lemieux a lot.

"So that would be fun to watch."

The Islanders' Barzal chose Pavel Datsyuk, Brett Hull and defenseman Nicklas Lindstrom. Winnipeg's Scheifele chose three forwards in Steve Yzerman, Dale Hawerchuk and Adam Oates.

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Q: With a playoff berth on the line, the last game of the season goes to OT. What two non-teammates do you want to start with you?

A: Barzal went the unconventional, three-forward route and chose the Oilers' Connor McDavid and the Lightning's Nikita Kucherov. "I think that could be lethal."

Kane went with Toronto's Auston Matthews and Los Angeles D-man Drew Doughty.

Schefiele selected a pair of Oilers in McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, joking that "they'll probably just go and score themselves, so I'll be the defenseman."

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Q: When you were growing up, who were the guys that dazzled you?

A: Kane, who went to about 25-30 Buffalo Sabres games a season with his dad, said he had a "soft spot" for Ottawa's Alexei Yashin.

"He was a really fun player for me to watch," Kane said. "He put on a show in warmups one day and I had a Yashin jersey on. He was kind of playing up to me throughout the whole warmups. So that was fun. ...

"(We) sat right behind the opposing team's bench and I would look at all the sticks and kind of listen to what the coaches had to say. Watched the players come in and out of the tunnel, and how they got ready for games.

"Just loved it. Loved playing it. Obviously when I was younger, skated a lot and played on a lot of different teams. Took up a lot of my childhood, but to be honest with you when I was that young I wouldn't have it any other way. I just loved playing the game so much."