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Wayne Gretzky didn’t pound his hand on the table when he spoke the words. Nor did he speak those words as some kind of bold, stop-the-presses pronouncement.

From his perch on the “NHL on TNT” set Sunday, Gretzky said the NHL should create an annual award presented to the defenseman who registers the most points in a season. And that the award should be called … the Bobby Orr Trophy.

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Because The Great One believes Orr and Gordie Howe are “the greatest players ever.”

Should the NHL tweak the manner in which it pays annual homage to its top defenseman? It’s an ongoing and growing discussion. As recently as last week, The Athletic’s Eric Duhatschek weighed in with a piece on the Norris Trophy, which is presented each year to the defenseman “who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-around ability in the position.”

Duhatschek wrote that the Norris was designed to honor defense, explaining the very position — again, defense — “was originally created to prevent, not produce, goals.” He believes the NHL could highlight that distinction by adding a second trophy that shines a light on the league’s top offensive defenseman. The award, Duhatschek said, could be named after Orr or Paul Coffey.

And now, ahem, Gretzky is weighing in. He advocates for “a Bobby Orr Trophy, for the most points for a defenseman, and then (a trophy) for the best defensive defenseman. Have two awards. You should honor Bobby Orr, him and Gordie Howe, the greatest players ever.”

Gretzky’s opinions have weight. To fans of the Boston Bruins in particular, these comments bring more cheer to what is turning out to be the best regular season in the history of the franchise. With their 4-3 shootout victory over the St. Louis Blues on Sunday at Enterprise Center, the B’s (60-12-5) tied the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens (60-8-12) for second-most victories in a season. With five games remaining before the Stanley Cup playoffs begin, the B’s are two victories away from matching the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings (62-13-7) and 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning (62-16-4) for most wins in a season.

Given that Boston’s victory over the Blues was televised nationally on TNT, and that Gretzky made his remarks on the “NHL on TNT” set immediately following the game, it’s reasonable that many Bruins fans were tuning in. It must have been uplifting to hear Gretzky place Orr and Howe on a pedestal, as he has often done.

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Gretzky’s knowledge of hockey history isn’t limited to his own stellar résumé. He knows, for instance, that Orr registered his best offensive season with the 1970-71 Bruins, with 37 goals and 102 assists for 139 points. Coffey, Gretzky’s longtime Edmonton Oilers teammate, has the second-highest total, with 48 points and 90 assists for 138 points in 1985-86.

Orr’s brilliant career was derailed by knee injuries, which limited him to only 657 games, most of them with the Bruins but also including 26 games during that unfortunate parts-of-two-seasons cameo with the Chicago Blackhawks that many don’t talk about in polite society. He had 915 career points, 11th most by a defenseman in NHL history. Bruins legend Raymond Bourque, who played 1,612 career games, including 94 games with the Colorado Avalanche that are OK to talk about because he won a Stanley Cup with the Avs, holds the record with 1,579 career points. Coffey, who played 1,409 games — 532 of them with Edmonton during the Cup-winning Gretzky years — is second with 1,531 points.

Gretzky’s remarks about Orr bring to mind an encounter that took place years ago when the late actor John Candy introduced The Great One to Lenny Clarke, the Cambridge, Mass., raised actor/comedian who grew up worshiping Orr. The Gretzky-Candy-Clarke meeting took place following a Toronto Argonauts football game.

“This was back when Doug Flutie was playing quarterback for the Argonauts, and I wanted to see him play,” said Clarke, speaking by phone Sunday night from Los Angeles, where he’s working on the upcoming NBC series “We Thought We Were Done.”

When Candy made the introductions, Clarke shook Gretzky’s hand and said, “It’s a pleasure to meet the second-greatest hockey player of all time.”

To which Gretzky responded, “You must be from Boston.”

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Looking back on it, Clarke said, “We had quite a laugh over that. He handled it great.”

As to who actually is the greatest hockey player of all time, everyone has an opinion. In the opinion of The Athletic, which assembled “The Athletic NHL99,” it so happens that No. 99 — that is, Gretzky — was No. 1. Orr was ranked No. 3, just behind Mario Lemieux. It wasn’t that Gretzky was not pleased with the honor; it’s just that he doesn’t crow about it at the expense of the likes of Orr and his childhood hero, Howe.

Nate Greenberg, the retired longtime vice president of the Bruins, noted that he’s often heard or read about Gretzky deflecting to Orr and Howe when these discussions come up.

“And it’s reciprocal,” said Greenberg. “I’ve heard Bobby make similar comments about Wayne Gretzky. That’s just the way those guys are. There’s a lot of mutual respect there.”

(Photo of Wayne Gretzky: Ben Jackson / NHLI via Getty Images)

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