Just How Great is The Great One?

Perspective on a couple of Wayne Gretsky's NHL records

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Aboard a crowded private jet on the June 10, 1978, Wayne Gretzky grinned from ear to ear.

He had good reason. Actually, 50,000 of them. The  wunderkind had just received an outsized for television and photos, freshly transacted, $50,000 check--a down payment on a seven-year $1.75 million personal services contract he just signed with Nelson Skalbania, the flamboyant owner of the World Hockey Association's Indianapolis Racers.

No NHL-WHA bidding war? Gretzky was 17. The National Hockey League did not allow a team to sign a player under the age of 20.

The WHA was the only option for the Brantford, Ontario native, who had outgrown the junior league hockey scene.

On October 20, 1978,  playing in his fourth game--ironically, against the Edmonton Oilers--with 6:37 left in the second period, the mop haired teenager slipped a backhander past goaltender Dave Dryden before 6,286 at Market Square Arena (although 100,000 will likely claim they were there) for his first professional goal. 34 seconds later, he scored his second.

Unfortunately, for Racer fans, Gretzky would score only one more goal wearing an Indianapolis uniform.

Fortunately, for hockey fans, he would score 891 more.

Despite the outsized contract, the Racers were in the fast lane of financial trouble. Skalbania was forced to liquidate some assets to generate cash, specifically players. The strapped engineer by training sent Gretzky, goaltender Ed Mio and left winger Peter Driscoll to, yes, the Edmonton Oilers, owned by a long-time friend of Skalbania, Peter Pocklington, for a reported $850,000 on November 2, 1978. 8 games into his Racer career, Gretzy was gone. 17 games later, the Racers were gone.

When the NHL absorbed four WHA teams as expansion teams after the 1978-1979 season, Gretzky was allowed to stay and to play with Edmonton despite the fact he was still under the legal age to be a player in the established league.

As a 19-year old, Gretzky scored 51 goals and recorded a league-high 86 assists to lead the NHL in points with 137 in the 1979-1980 season. He was just warming up on the ice.

Over his 21-year career, Gretzky set 58 NHL records, including at least two that are likely to never even be approached yet be broken.

The first is assists.

“He knew where every player was going to be all the time and their idiosyncrasies,” said Bruce Flanagan, a statistician for the Racers when Gretzky played was quoted in the IndyStar. “Not only for his teammates, but also the opponent. He’d know if you were playing a particular team, this player would always skate this way, always go to his left or his right. (A player would) make this mistake in his skating and Gretzky would know that and take advantage of it."

To the tune of 1,963 assists in his two plus decades between the boards. So, just how distant is Gretzky's career assist mark?

Only 13 players in NHL's 100 plus year history have accumulated more than 1,000 in their career. Of those, only 1 other player has more than 1,200--Ron Francis with 1,249. That's 714 assists or a 36% differential. 36% higher than #2!

Let's look at that difference and Gretsky's mark from another perspective.

During the last 8 full NHL seasons, the leader has averaged 74 assists per season. Thus, the difference between Gretzky and Francis is 10 full seasons of leading the league. The difference!

At the current highest scoring pace, to reach Gretzky's career mark, a player would need to maintain that level of excellence for 27 seasons.

How many players have played 27 seasons? Only one. No not Gretzky but the ageless Gordie Howe, who was still strapping on skates at the athletically advanced age of 51 in 1980. And, yes, he still tallied 69, 65, and 70 assists at the ages of 45 through 47 for the WHA's Houston Aeros. But, I digress.

What if a player could bump up the current season high assist pace of 74+?

Only 13 times in NHL history has a player compiled more than 100 assists in a season. Not surprisingly, Gretzky achieved triple figures 11 times, including a mind-numbing 163 assists in the 1985-1986 season. Mario Lemieux with 114 in the 1988-1989 season and Bobby Orr with 102 in the 1970-1971 season are the only other players to top the 100 mark.

Thus, only once in the past 50 years and twice in 100 has a player other than Gretzky compiled 100 assists. So, 20 seasons of 100 is probably out.

How about 90?

Only 17 times has between 90 and 100 assists been achieved in a season. By 12 different players. Including Gretzky twice. So, you are looking at 22 seasons with at least 90 assists.

80 to 90 assists per season? 37 times. 25 years of hockey. Remember Gordie Howe.

The second Gretzky record? Points.

Add his league record 894 goals to the league record 1,963 assists and the 2,857 is somewhere east of the Oort cloud.

A player would need to average 100 points for 29 seasons.

See Godie Howe.

And, more perspective. Only 17 players in NHL history have achieved half of Gretzky's career points total!

The leader for the last 8 full NHL seasons has averaged 113 points with a peak of 153, the highest in the past 25+ years.

At 113 points, you are still looking at 25+ seasons at that level of excellence.

Gretzky played on four Stanley Cup champions and won nine NHL Player of the Year honors.

And, set two records that, in my humble analytical estimation, will never be broken or even approached in the next century.

Yes, the Great One still stands out--on the ice or in a crowded private jet.

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