The Wayne Gretzky Discussion Thread

[Elias Pettersson]

 

[Elias Pettersson]

 

[Elias Pettersson]

The Life of Wayne Gretzky...

 

 

[IBatch]

This is Wayne Gretzky's most unbeatable record.   He's the only player in the history of the game, that makes hyperbole seem understated.     This was in one year.   Ridiculous.   People drove for hours just to watch him score five or six goals a game or whatever that averages out to be. 

 

 

Edited September 4, 2023 by IBatch

[Ballisticsports.]

4 hours ago, IBatch said:

This is Wayne Gretzky's most unbeatable record.   He's the only player in the history of the game, that makes hyperbole seem understated.     This was in one year.   Ridiculous.   People drove for hours just to watch him score five or six goals a game or whatever that averages out to be. 

 

 

Amazing that 378 goals was in only a 82 game season

Gretzky met his idol Howe at a awards banquet that year and Howe gave him the advice to "work on your backhand"

[Elias Pettersson]

On 9/3/2023 at 2:29 AM, IBatch said:

So ... which of Gretzky's records will never be broken?

 

Here's a rundown from an article:

 

10.  Most Art Ross trophies - 10.   Lowest one 130 points.   Without checking their math, he won by an average of 195.5 during that span lol.   Good luck McDavid!   

 

9. 92 goals.   Good luck Mathews.  Hull came close one year (Gretzky was second in Hart votes that year too). 

 

8. 163 assists.   Yikes.  Ok .. well aside from Mario a couple times, who else has even scored that many points?

 

7.  1072 pro goals.   Exactly one more than Gordie Howe, of course that took him parts of five decades though lol.    Ovi, won't catch that one.   Not unless he's playing until he's 45 anyways. 

 

6.  1963 regular season assists.   Plus another 64 in the WHA ... plus 260 in the playoffs .. on enough said.   

 

5. 9 Harts, all his first decade.  Yikes.   Also the only guy to get 100% of first place votes.   Not all trophies are the same.   A finalist a bunch of times too. 

 

4.  2857 points.  No matter how you want to "era adjust", it's never going to be broken. 

 

3.  3 consecutive 200 plus point years, 4 overall.   Also on pace to do it a fifth time, but was injured.  

 

2. 51 game point streak.   Gaudy in itself.  Even gaudier that he scored 61 goals, 92 assists and 153 points during that stretch.    So in 60% of the games played, he bested McDavids best season so far. 

 

1.  50 goals, in 39 games.   That's a record, that is probably the easiest to beat on this entire list.    Which is goofy.   The fact he scored 9 of those goals the in games 38 and 39 trying to do just that (break the record) shows just what sort of athlete he was when he focused.  

 

Honourable mention.   122 playoff goals.   And 382 playoff points.    IF they kept that EDM together, likely have a lot, lot more.   But still.   That's 149 more than third place.   Messier is second with 295 points.   Crosby has the most of active players, with 201.   24 of those goals were GWG... tied with Brett Hull for most  in history.   Gretzky is 16th in league history for games played, yet has double the playoff points then all but six players. 

If I had to pick only one of those records to never be broken it would be 2857 points.  Unless they drastically change the way the game is played, (maybe play without goalies?), it will never ever be broken.  This record is completely safe.  Most of the other records are pretty safe as well unless they change the rules of the game, but 2857 points I think is the safest out of all of them.

[IBatch]

1 hour ago, Elias Pettersson said:

If I had to pick only one of those records to never be broken it would be 2857 points.  Unless they drastically change the way the game is played, (maybe play without goalies?), it will never ever be broken.  This record is completely safe.  Most of the other records are pretty safe as well unless they change the rules of the game, but 2857 points I think is the safest out of all of them.

Yep.   Would have to average 143.65 points over a 20 year career.     Only a handful of guys not named Gretzky managed one season like that.     Every level, just dominated.  

Edited September 4, 2023 by IBatch

[Elias Pettersson]

32 minutes ago, IBatch said:

Yep.   Would have to average 143.65 points over a 20 year career.     Only a handful of guys not named Gretzky managed one season like that.     Every level, just dominated.  

Just to put that record into perspective, Connor McDavid would have to score 155 points for an additional 13 straight years in order to break it.  He is 26, so he would have to play until he is 40. which he could, but score 155 points every single year until he is 40 years old...

[Elias Pettersson]

@IBatch  Another record that should be in that top 10 is the fastest player to 1000 points.  Gretzky did it in 433 games.  That's an average of 189 points per year for your first 5 1/2 years in the league.  To put that record into perspective, Connor McDavid currently has 850 points in 569 games.  If he scores 150 points next season, then he would have 1000 points in 651 games, a difference of almost 3 full years...

Edited September 4, 2023 by Elias Pettersson

[IBatch]

1 hour ago, Elias Pettersson said:

@IBatch  Another record that should be in that top 10 is the fastest player to 1000 points.  Gretzky did it in 433 games.  That's an average of 189 points per year for your first 5 1/2 years in the league.  To put that record into perspective, Connor McDavid currently has 850 points in 569 games.  If he scores 150 points next season, then he would have 1000 points in 651 games, a difference of almost 3 full years...

Yes.   Also pretty sure his second thousand points came in pretty close to the same number of games too.   857 games actually.   So his second thousand points, was scored slightly faster than his first 1000.     684 of those goals.   About the same number games as Bossy played...And six less goals than Mario, in 58 less games, and 277 more points, in 58 less games. 

 

Edit:  Maybe him leading the league 16 of 20 seasons in assists is another record to consider... including 2 of his final 3 years, in the dead puck era.    Maybe could have done it in 92-93 if he wasn't injured.   Mario did it 3 times too.   Not sure who did it the other one his last season.   Bossy managed one Richard when Gretzky played plus one before, Gretzky 5, Mario 3.   So they split them to a degree (Bossy likely gets a bunch more).   Ovi, a remarkable 9 in his 18 seasons and counting ...

Edited September 4, 2023 by IBatch

[Elias Pettersson]

1 hour ago, IBatch said:

Yes.   Also pretty sure his second thousand points came in pretty close to the same number of games too.   857 games actually.   So his second thousand points, was scored slightly faster than his first 1000.     684 of those goals.   About the same number games as Bossy played...And six less goals than Mario, in 58 less games, and 277 more points, in 58 less games. 

 

Edit:  Maybe him leading the league 16 of 20 seasons in assists is another record to consider... including 2 of his final 3 years, in the dead puck era.    Maybe could have done it in 92-93 if he wasn't injured.   Mario did it 3 times too.   Not sure who did it the other one his last season.   Bossy managed one Richard when Gretzky played plus one before, Gretzky 5, Mario 3.   So they split them to a degree (Bossy likely gets a bunch more).   Ovi, a remarkable 9 in his 18 seasons and counting ...

Want to know another stat that will blow your mind?  

Most 100+ assist seasons in the NHL:

 

Wayne Gretzky - 11

Mario Lemieux - 1

Bobby Orr - 1 

 

Is that nuts or what?  I mean those 3 players are the 3 greatest players ever. But Gretzky completely dominates them in that one stat alone. 
 

Is there any other sport where one player just completely dominates most of the stats?  

 

Haha, dude has like 61 records. I would say at least half of them can never be broken. Maybe more.  Absolutely nuts when you look at the numbers. 
 

I don’t care what anyone says about playing in an era where goalies were small and didn’t wear much equipment. If it was so easy to score back then, then why didn’t every other player get 70+ goals and 200+ points?  

[IBatch]

46 minutes ago, Elias Pettersson said:

Want to know another stat that will blow your mind?  

Most 100+ assist seasons in the NHL:

 

Wayne Gretzky - 11

Mario Lemieux - 1

Bobby Orr - 1 

 

Is that nuts or what?  I mean those 3 players are the 3 greatest players ever. But Gretzky completely dominates them in that one stat alone. 
 

Is there any other sport where one player just completely dominates most of the stats?  

 

Haha, dude has like 61 records. I would say at least half of them can never be broken. Maybe more.  Absolutely nuts when you look at the numbers. 
 

I don’t care what anyone says about playing in an era where goalies were small and didn’t wear much equipment. If it was so easy to score back then, then why didn’t every other player get 70+ goals and 200+ points?  

I'm quick to point out other great players of that era that did pretty awesome in the 90's too.   And guys from the 70's that also did pretty great in the 80's.   And ones in the 90's who dominated the 2000's.   Gretzky's career crossed over those players.   Most folks got to see some of Sakic, Jagr, Selanne, Forsberg, Lidstrom, Francis etc ... Coffey and Borque played against those guys too.   Dionne, Trottier, Bossy, Lafleur, Robinson, Potvin, Clarke, Gainey etc.  Funny thing about save percentages.  They all went up in the 90's, including Patrick Roy's, and it wasn't like he was a patsy in the 80's.   Nice to see them go back down to around .903 again.   Maybe, just maybe, part of that had to do with the sheer talent level too.   And talent levels finally catching up to expansion too. 

Edited September 5, 2023 by IBatch

[Alflives]

2 hours ago, IBatch said:

I'm quick to point out other great players of that era that did pretty awesome in the 90's too.   And guys from the 70's that also did pretty great in the 80's.   And ones in the 90's who dominated the 2000's.   Gretzky's career crossed over those players.   Most folks got to see some of Sakic, Jagr, Selanne, Forsberg, Lidstrom, Francis etc ... Coffey and Borque played against those guys too.   Dionne, Trottier, Bossy, Lafleur, Robinson, Potvin, Clarke, Gainey etc.  Funny thing about save percentages.  They all went up in the 90's, including Patrick Roy's, and it wasn't like he was a patsy in the 80's.   Nice to see them go back down to around .903 again.   Maybe, just maybe, part of that had to do with the sheer talent level too.   And talent levels finally catching up to expansion too. 

Guy Lafleur was amazing, especially at 5 on 5. 

[Elias Pettersson]

Guess who was in Vancouver last weekend?

 

 

[Alflives]

2 minutes ago, Elias Pettersson said:

Guess who was in Vancouver last weekend?

 

 

Aquilini was east. So was 99. Never heard of the other guy, so did the Google thing. 

[Elias Pettersson]

Want to know another stat that will blow your mind?

 

There is only one player in NHL history who has won the scoring title (The Art Ross trophy) with two different teams.  Can you figure out who that is?

 

Haha, of course it is Wayne Gretzky...

 

7 Art Ross trophies with Edmonton Oilers\

3 Art Ross trophies with LA Kings

[Elias Pettersson]

There are two players who have won the Hart trophy with two different teams.  Who are they?

 

Wayne Gretzky

8 Hart trophies with Edmonton Oilers

1 Hart trophy with LA Kings

 

Mark Messier

1 Hart trophy with Edmonton Oilers

1 Hart trophy with New York Rangers

[Elias Pettersson]

 

[Kevin Biestra]

52 minutes ago, Elias Pettersson said:

There are two players who have won the Hart trophy with two different teams.  Who are they?

 

Wayne Gretzky

8 Hart trophies with Edmonton Oilers

1 Hart trophy with LA Kings

 

Mark Messier

1 Hart trophy with Edmonton Oilers

1 Hart trophy with New York Rangers

 

If Jagr had just had two more points in '06...

[IBatch]

5 hours ago, Elias Pettersson said:

Want to know another stat that will blow your mind?

 

There is only one player in NHL history who has won the scoring title (The Art Ross trophy) with two different teams.  Can you figure out who that is?

 

Haha, of course it is Wayne Gretzky...

 

7 Art Ross trophies with Edmonton Oilers\

3 Art Ross trophies with LA Kings

Yes.  And the league gave an 8th Art Ross trophy to Dionne, that they tied in points, Gretzky had a goal or two less ... in less games.    They really weren't fully supporting Gretzky,  the WHA was an annoying chapter in the NHL lives, some guys said he "wouldn't make the Toronto 's 50's teams".     Puny arms.   No way he'd make it through one year without getting pounded into a stretcher.    So 11 of his 20 years, he led the league in scoring, one of those tied.   What is even more impressive is how far ahead he was to second best ...  and those were some great players.  Dionne, Lafleur, Goulet, Stastny, Hawerchuk,  Bossy, Yzerman, Messier,  Kurri, later Sakic, Bure, Federov, Mogilny, Sundin etc etc etc.. His last Art Ross was on a bad/mediocre LA team.   The writing was on the wall after making it to the final, things started falling apart.  1992-93 ... considered retirement, came back and had one last great run.   NYR was close too, had an epic series against PHI, who went to the final that year, both Gretzky and Lindros scoring a hat trick in the same game.    So maybe that was his last great series ... 1997 I think.   Almost 20 years after he became pro, in the dead puck era, against a pretty awesome team. 

Edited September 5, 2023 by IBatch