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Gretzky's 163 assists in 1985-86 Will Never Be Broken

  • Thread starter Thread starter FASTHANDS*
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Wayne has stated that he believes the 50 goals in 39 games in the 1981-82 season is the record he believes will be the most difficult to break. The closest he came to that mark was 50 in 42 during the 1983-84 season where he had a unreal 153 points in 51 games (61-92).

50 in 39 remains a record that no doubt will be very difficult to break, but his 163 assists in 1985-86 remains in my mind the most difficult of his records. No other player in NHL history besides Mario has scored 163 points in a season and it's 28 assists more then the second most assists in a season (135 by the Great One in 84-85).

Wayne averaged 2.04 assists per game that season and besides himself, the second most assists in a season is 114 by Mario in 1988-89. Records are made to be broken, but 163 assists will never be broken and is often overlooked when it comes to Gretzky's marvelous achievments.
 
No one knows how the game will evolve, but under current circumstances it's nearly impossible to break most of Wayne's records.
 
163 assists is more unobtainable in my mind. Cam Neely scored 50 goals in 44 games, which wasn't ridiculously far off.

The closest anyone came to 163 was Lemieux with 116, and then Bobby Orr is the only other player to even break 100.

By comparison to those guys, Neely is a mere mortal, and he came closer than they did. It'll be nearly impossible with today's goaltending though.
 
Only Lemieux and Gretzky have ever gotten more than 163 points in a season, let alone assists.

With the way the game is today, it is absolutely unbreakable. If/When the game evolves, you never know. But the way things stand now, to me that's the most unbreakable offensive record in hockey.
 
in the first quarter of the season, you always get guys that are within earshot of 50 in 50. you almost never get anyone close to a 50 in 39 pace, but you never ever get anyone even remotely close to a 2 APG pace even twenty games into the season. as something you have to maintain over 80/82 games as opposed to just 50, i think it's the more unbreakable record.* i don't think both sedins together will ever hit 163 in a year.

* barring unforeseen changes to the game, of course.
 
I've stated this before too - 163 is untouchable. Like mentioned above, only Gretzky and Lemieux have even scored 163 points in a season, let alone that many assists. And like others have mentioned as well, Gretzky had 50 in 42, Lemieux and Neely had 50 in 44, and numerous others have had 50 in 50 or less. But not even Gretzky ever came close to 163 assists ever again - in fact, he never had more than 140 aside from that season.

The fact that not even Gretzky was ever close to this mark again (as opposed to say... 215 points in a season, which Gretzky was close to with 212 and even on pace to beat in the year he scored 205 but missed 6 games) in my mind at least makes this one basically untouchable.

His career assists record is also unbeatable - but I'd put this one slightly ahead as far as difficulty (say a 10, instead of a 9.9) just because someone could end up playing for 25 or 26 seasons again like Messier or Howe, but as an elite playmaker. The odds are low, obviously, and I don't think anyone will ever be close in the 20 seasons Wayne did it over, but its possible someone could take a run at it if they played a lot more than 20 years.

Even then, they'd have to be more elite than Thornton or Crosby for playmaking - it would be necessary to have a LOT of 100+ assist seasons.
 
Uncle Rotter said:
Here's the really unattainable one. Still on a 3 points per game pace 51 games into the season.
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Yep and if he had stopped playing after 51 games he still would have won the scoring title. Would have been interesting to see how many goals he would have ended up with had he not missed 6 games with a banged up shoulder. He also had 50 in 42, but after 51 games he had the same goal total he did in 1982, 61 goals in 51 games.

And the next season, 1984-85, he had 145 points in 51 games. Year in and year out in those Oilers years he just kept on going, a remarkable streak of consistency that is likely never again to be equalled.
 
mrhockey193195 said:
Only Lemieux and Gretzky have ever gotten more than 163 points in a season, let alone assists.

With the way the game is today, it is absolutely unbreakable. If/When the game evolves, you never know. But the way things stand now, to me that's the most unbreakable offensive record in hockey.
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Also, if/when the game evolves to the point where someone can get 164 assists, the question is, how many assists will the next guy have? When Gretzky had 163, nobody else had more than 93. That relative dominance is what's really insane. The record might fall several times and those 163 assists could still be the most impressive stat ever.
 
revolverjgw said:
Also, if/when the game evolves to the point where someone can get 164 assists, the question is, how many assists will the next guy have? When Gretzky had 163, nobody else had more than 93. That relative dominance is what's really insane. The record might fall several times and those 163 assists could still be the most impressive stat ever.
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True enough. Even if someone ever does break it, which I bet my life they won't barring severe changes to increase scoring, the chances that someone leads the league in assists by a margin like that over the next guy, is in my opinion even more impossible, and that's what should be looked at. If next season someone gets 100 assists, and the next closest is between 50-60, then that's just as good.
 
Can people stop overusing the words impossible and unbeatable. His records re not impossible or unbeatable. They are without a doubt improbable to beat but not impossible. It won't happen soon but it might still happen. There might be other prodigies out there who are 10 or 20 years ahead of eveyone else like Gretzky was.
 
lextune said:
How do you figure that?

The year Gretz had 163, second place went to Mario with 93. That is 70 less.
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Yes and the difference between 100 and 53 is 57% which is the difference between 163 and 93. So basically he is right.
 
jkrx said:
Can people stop overusing the words impossible and unbeatable. His records re not impossible or unbeatable. They are without a doubt improbable to beat but not impossible. It won't happen soon but it might still happen. There might be other prodigies out there who are 10 or 20 years ahead of eveyone else like Gretzky was.
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True, Mario could have gotten many of them, but injuries and illness derailed him. The way the game is currently, the 163 assists is the one that sticks out in my mind has the one that is near "impossible" to get.
 
jkrx said:
Yes and the difference between 100 and 53 is 57% which is the difference between 163 and 93. So basically he is right.
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Sorry, hadn't had my 2nd cup of coffee yet, lol.

Anyway; another point worth mentioning regarding the 163 year is that Mario is a fellow top 4 all-time and Coffey, (who was playing with Gretz) was third that year with 90. 4th place would be Stastny with 81....

....someone do the % for that. I can't be trusted :P
 
the edler said:
ok this makes sense

the 80s also boosted his stats, plus goalies were crap
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To go off topic for a moment: How were goalies crap? Because they played a style based on athleticism and reflexes as opposed to today which is all about dropping to your knees if you think a shot is coming and trying to be big (including using equipment waaay bigger then they had in the 80's)?
 
PlagerBros said:
To go off topic for a moment: How were goalies crap? Because they played a style based on athleticism and reflexes as opposed to today which is all about dropping to your knees if you think a shot is coming and trying to be big (including using equipment waaay bigger then they had in the 80's)?
Click to expand...

Modern technique is far superior to the stand-up style, even with the old equipment. It's about playing percentages, and being proactive instead of reactive. You take away the easy shot (along the ice), and make the shooter beat you with a tougher shot. Check out the pads Roy, Belfour, Hasek, etc were wearing in the early 90's. Same as everyone else was. But it's no coincidence that it was those guys winning every Vezina trophy.

The big pads came later because the new style allowed for it, not the other way around.
 
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