Five Questions with Mark Messier

NHL.com's Q&A feature called "Five Questions With ..." runs every Tuesday. We talk to key figures in the game and ask them questions to gain insight into their lives, careers and the latest news.

The latest edition features Mark Messier, who retired in 2005 after playing 25 NHL seasons and winning the Stanley Cup six times with the Edmonton Oilers (1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990) and the New York Rangers (1994). Messier is third in NHL history with 1,887 points (694 goals, 1,193 assists) in 1,756 regular-season games. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007 and named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players during the League's centennial celebrations in 2017.

Mark Messier was among the many who watched ESPN's documentary series "The Last Dance," which followed Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls during their run to their third straight NBA championship and sixth in eight seasons in 1998.

Messier's interest extended beyond being a sports fan desperate for content after the NHL and other pro leagues halted play because of concerns surrounding the coronavirus. The six-time Stanley Cup winner was one of "The Boys on the Bus," a documentary that followed the Edmonton Oilers through the 1986-87 season that Andy Thompson, an executive producer on "The Last Dance," credited with being an inspiration.

"I loved it and I was happy to hear that (Thompson) got a lot of his inspiration from 'The Boys on the Bus,' which was really the first total-access sports show that was ever made," Messier said. "You can see some similarities in that regard. I loved it and thought they did a great job."

One of the 10 episodes of "The Last Dance" focused on Jordan's leadership and him not always being the nicest person when pushing his teammates to win. Messier, the only NHL player to be captain of two teams that won the Stanley Cup (Oilers in 1990, Rangers in 1994), knows a thing or two about leadership, including that there's more than one way to approach it.

Video: Mark Messier was one of NHL's greatest leaders has been presented each season since 2006-07 to the player who exemplifies great leadership qualities to his team on and off the ice.

"There's different styles of leadership and that is the way Michael was driven in so many ways," said Messier, who never has met Jordan. "Not only did he put a lot of pressure on himself to perform, but he also put a lot of pressure on everybody else to maximize their own talents."

Messier spoke with NHL.com from his home in South Carolina, where the 59-year-old has been quarantined with his family while helping with the on-line launch of Honeycomb, the fitness company he co-founded.

Here are Five Questions with ... Mark Messier:

The NHL announced its Return to Play Plan last week and hopes to resume the season this summer. Do you think it will be difficult for players to come back and play after such a long break?

"I don't think it's going to be a problem, especially for the young guys. The older guys maybe a little more, but these guys are trained. They might take some time off in the summer, but they're in great shape. It's a 12-month-a-year job now for the fitness for the guys. They'll give them enough time to get on the ice and get skating again and the muscle memory comes back very quickly. So I don't see that being a problem whatsoever."

The Rangers made a strong push before the season was paused March 12, going 14-7-1 in their final 22 games. What have you thought of their season?

"I've loved watching the Rangers this year. What a fun team to watch. (Forward Artemi) Panarin, it's been a long time actually since I've seen a player play the way he does, so unselfishly, with so much passion, charismatic, skill level. I always think of the great players that I played with, that they've always able to make players around them better. He not only makes players around him better, but obviously the whole team and dragged the whole team up another level, which is a sign of a real superstar.

"Then you've got the young guys who were playing excellent. You've got the new goaltender (Igor Shesterkin) and you've got (center Mika) Zibanejad, who has turned his whole career around it seems coming to New York. …They're well coached. I love the coach (David Quinn). He holds their feet to the fire, but he's fair and he speaks well in the press conferences."

Is the Rangers rebuild over after missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs the past two seasons?

"The rebuild is never over until you win. (Laughs). That's just the harsh reality of our game. You're never finished until you actually win. And even when you do win, you're still rebuilding the next year to try to win it again. So the word rebuild is a little bit under or overused depending on how you look at it. But teams are always building and trying to improve and will make moves necessary in order to improve their teams if they can."

The Oilers also have made big strides in their first season under coach Dave Tippett. What do you think about the direction they're headed?

"Same thing. It's amazing. (Forward Connor) McDavid and some of the younger guys are getting more experience in the League. I've always said it's a lot different playing and making the NHL and it's a completely different story of trying to stay in the NHL. … But the real litmus test comes when you've done the first three and now you're trying to win. The game itself takes on a completely different context of what you need to do in order to become a winner in the League.

"I think we see a lot of great young players in the League that have been around for four or five years that are starting to realize that winning hockey is completely different than regular-season hockey."

Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl led the League with an NHL career-high 110 points (43 goals, 67 assists) in 71 games. What have you thought of his season?

"An amazing hockey player. You can see another guy that can elevate his game when needed, has the ability to make players around him better, can think the game at the elite level, and again, another one of those young players that is finding out that in order to win, your game has to evolve to be conducive to winning."

NHL.com conducted the Video: Mark Messier was one of NHL's greatest leaders vote among its writers and editors to determine which players were the best to wear each of the uniform numbers. You wore No. 11 throughout your NHL career. What was the meaning of that number to you? Your father, Doug, wore it when he played, right?

"Yeah, my dad was a semi-pro hockey player. He played in Portland (Western Hockey League) and I can vaguely remember him as a young guy going to his practices and I vaguely remember sitting behind the goal for his games and he was always No. 11. So that just became the number I was hoping to get. My first year in Cincinnati (World Hockey Association, 1978-79), I was No. 27, and coming to Edmonton as a third-round draft pick (No. 48, 1979 NHL Draft) I didn't really have much clout. But for whatever reason No. 11 seemed to be available.

"Back then you didn't ask for numbers. You were given a sweater and you were happy to even get a sweater. So I was just lucky enough that the trainer probably knew a little history and it wasn't taken and he gave it to me."