Would you say this is the most jaw dropping Gretzky statistic?

[tazzy19]

I found this link in the fastest to 900/1000points thread. The fastest to 1000 points is impressive enough, but to do it TWICE (in essentially the same number of games) - after already putting in a hall of fame career the first time? Just crazy...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NHL_players_with_1000_points

The fewest number of NHL games required to reach the mark was 424, set by Wayne Gretzky. Second quickest was Mario Lemieux, achieving the mark in his 513th game. In a sense, Gretzky was the fastest and the second fastest, as he scored his second 1,000 points (the only player ever to reach 2,000 points) in only 433 games after scoring his first 1,000 points. Of the eight defencemen to score 1,000 points, the fewest number of NHL games required was 770, set by Paul Coffey.

I used to think 163 assists in a season was the most absurd Gretzky record/stat. But this just might take the cake. Thoughts?

Click to read more...

 

[jigglysquishy]

Leading the league in assists 16 times.

No one else has 6.

Scoring will go up and down but he was the best playmaker in 16 of his 20 seasons. And he likely would have two more if not for injuries.

 

[GJB]

There are just so many records and facts to choose from.

For me, it's hard to beat Gretzky having more assists than anyone else has points. Insane. You take away every single one of his goals and he is still the all-time NHL points leader.

Side Note: Jagr has a chance to change this if he plays maybe 3 more seasons at the current pace, it could happen but I don't think it's likely.

 

[Voight]

Leading the league in assists 16 times.

No one else has 6.

Scoring will go up and down but he was the best playmaker in 16 of his 20 seasons. And he likely would have two more if not for injuries.

This plus EIGHT Hart Trophies in a row, nine total. Nobody else has more than 6 which is Howe and then after that nobody else has more than 3. Gretzky holds the record for most MVP awards of any player in North American professional sports.

 

[Cursed Lemon]

There is nothing more ridiculous about Gretzky's stats than if you took away all of his goals, not only would he still be the all-time leading point-getter, he also would've won four Art Ross trophies.

 

[BenchBrawl]

When deciding which of Gretzky's accomplishment is the most impressive, I avoid looking at those involving ''totals'', because while he was definitely the best offensive player of all-time, he also played in the most offensive era.

Gretzky's most amazing accomplishment will be comparative ones.Leading the league in assists 16 times is one of them.

 

[tazzy19]

When deciding which of Gretzky's accomplishment is the most impressive, I avoid looking at those involving ''totals'', because while he was definitely the best offensive player of all-time, he also played in the most offensive era.

Gretzky's most amazing accomplishment will be comparative ones.Leading the league in assists 16 times is one of them.

I somewhat agree. In this regard, 8 consecutive Hart Tropies (9 in 10 years) is the stuff of Disney cartoons. It's crazy to think it would have been 10 consecutive Harts had he not been injured for 16 games in 1987-88.

As for his 16 assist titles: I don't know what's more impressive - winning 10 Art Ross's (would have been 11 if they counted ties during his first year), equaling 50% of the time over a 20 year career, or 16 assist titles. Hard to say.

 

[tazzy19]

This plus EIGHT Hart Trophies in a row, nine total. Nobody else has more than 6 which is Howe and then after that nobody else has more than 3. Gretzky holds the record for most MVP awards of any player in North American professional sports.

Yes, and if you include his other professional MVP awards like Conn Smythes, Pearsons, Canada Cups, the World Championships, and all star games, I believe the number adds up to about 21 total MVPs or something ridiculous.

 

[ytsur*]

When deciding which of Gretzky's accomplishment is the most impressive, I avoid looking at those involving ''totals'', because while he was definitely the best offensive player of all-time, he also played in the most offensive era.

Then why wasn't anyone else during that era putting up similar gaudy/obscene records?

 

[The Panther]

I somewhat agree with Benchbrawl that the raw-stats figures are *somewhat* less impressive than certain other ones, due to the high-scoring culture of the era.

For this reason, I think his most impressive achievements are:
1) Degree of domination of peers
and
2) Doing (1) consistently, year-in-and-out, from 1980-81 through 1986-87.

Nobody in history has approached his scoring domination of peers in those seven seasons, and probably only Orr (late-60s to 1975) has dominated a position so consistently for nearly as long.

I mean, Gretzky is a guy who scored 50 goals in 42 games and no one cared. It rated no big headlines, and is generally forgotten today. Kind of tells you something about how easy it was to get blasé about his achievements in this period.

 

[Hippasus]

Having more assists than anyone else has career points. 163 assists and 215 points in a regular season, and 47 points in 18 games in a playoff season are up there for me too.

 

[shazariahl]

Leading the league in assists 16 times.

No one else has 6.

Scoring will go up and down but he was the best playmaker in 16 of his 20 seasons. And he likely would have two more if not for injuries.

That's an excellent point. It isn't just that he had a lot of assists; if they made the nets as big as soccer goals, the totals could be beaten. But for someone to be so much better at playmaking that his peers that he could beat Gretzky and lead the league 17+ times in assists seems basically impossible. It isn't just that you'd have to be dominant in that aspect, you'd also have to either play really long, or be extremely healthy (probably both) on top of everything else.

 

[DisgruntledGoat*]

Anyone remember the 'Gretzky rule' that most hockey pools employed in his prime? That is, if you were lucky enough to draft Gretzky, you only got points for his assists, not his goals.

He was so dominant, they had to change the rules to make it remotely competitive.

 

[Sens Rule]

Anyone remember the 'Gretzky rule' that most hockey pools employed in his prime? That is, if you were lucky enough to draft Gretzky, you only got points for his assists, not his goals.

He was so dominant, they had to change the rules to make it remotely competitive.

Also in some pools you could pick "half" of Gretzky's totals and someone else could pick the other "half".

 

[Ogopogo*]

I like his 9 goals in 2 games. The man had 41 goals in 37 games and tore it up to hit 50 in 39.

One of the most impressive though was his 69% scoring title victory margin in 1987. That is true domination - 183 points while the runner up had 108. Amazing stuff! Lemieux never came anywhere close to that mark.

 

[mrhockey193195]

For the sake of naming an accomplishment that many haven't heard, Gretz did not get shutout in two consecutive regular season games until Feb 24 and Feb 26 of 1989.


EDIT: Thanks to The Panther for debunking this here. This stat is actually incorrect.

 

[tazzy19]

The question I have is which was more impressive (career wise) - Gretzky's first 1000 points or his 2nd 1000 points? (The 2nd one only took 9 games more, so the games played is almost the same and therefore irrelevant.) Both 1000 point stretches could easily each be a hall of fame career. Heck, what he accomplished over his last 857 points could have arguabley got him into the hall of fame as well (2 Art Ross's, multiple top 5 finishes, Lady Bing Trophies, etc). Interestingly enough, his last 857 points came after game number 857 (the number of games it took him to reach 2000 points)...kind of spooky. There are a lot weird, almost pre-destined, Gretzky numbers actually if you do the research.

 

[tazzy19]

For the sake of naming an accomplishment that many haven't heard, Gretz did not get shutout in two consecutive regular season games until Feb 24 and Feb 26 of 1989.

That's rather insane, to say the least. Basically if you went to watch Gretzky play in the 1980s, you were pretty much guaranteed to see him score at least a couple points. If he didn't score at least one point, it must felt like winning the lottery for the opposition.

 

[Thenameless]

To me the most impressive is his assists in general whether measuring per season or career totals, or other cool facts like "he could win the Art Ross on assists alone".

Hull and Lemieux were at least in the neighbourhood of his 92 goal season, and it's conceivable that Lemieux could have matched a 215 pt season if everything went right.

What's ridiculous is Gretzky's 163 assists in a season. As good as Lemieux was (I'm a Lemieux fan), I really don't see Lemieux being able to match this under any scenario. His best of 114 assists in a season is relatively pedestrian when compared with Gretzky's best assist seasons.

Gretzky says he's proudest of the 50 in 39 (and thinks it's the hardest to break), but I don't think so. This is only a half-season record, so a guy who gets off to a really hot (and lucky start) might have a chance at it. What I don't see happening is another player "AVERAGING" two assists per game over an entire season, when Art Ross winners are currently having trouble getting to 100 points.

 

[Voight]

Hull and Lemieux were at least in the neighbourhood of his 92 goal season, and it's conceivable that Lemieux could have matched a 215 pt season if everything went right.

Disagree here, everything did go right in 89 but he just didnt have the skill to reach 215.

 

[WarriorOfGandhi]

it's not a record or a statistic, but I've always been blown away to think that a two-point game by Gretzky was a bad game. I had 4 goals and 1 assist in like 25 rec league games last season. A two-point game for me would result in buying a case of beer and a pizza to celebrate.

 

[Black Gold Extractor]

Here's something more obscure (but something that we all know about Gretzky): his even-strength offensive domination. If Gretzky never played a second on special teams (bolded indicate a league-leading statistic):

Season|GP|EVG|EVA|EVPTS|New Rank
1979-80|79|37|62|99|8
1980-81|80|36|69|105|6
1981-82|80| 68 |79| 147 |1
1982-83|80|47|85| 132 |1
1983-84|74|55|82| 137 |1
1984-85|80|54| 93 | 147 |1
1985-86|80|38| 106 | 144 |1
1986-87|79|42| 82 | 124 |1
1987-88|64|26|65|91|17
1988-89|78|38|62|100|8
1989-90|73|26|70|96|14
1990-91|78|33|70|103|8
1991-92|74|17|46|63|-
1992-93|45|14|24|38|-
1993-94|81|20|42|62|-
1994-95|48|8|15|23|-
1995-96|80|16|38|54|-
1996-97|82|19|46|65|-
1997-98|82|17|43|60|-
1998-99|70|6|26|32|-
Totals|1487|617|1205|1822|4

Without any powerplay or shorthanded points, Gretzky would have:

6 Art Ross Trophies (tied for most with Howe and Lemieux)
1 goal-scoring title
3 assist-scoring titles

Career-wise, without any powerplay or shorthanded points, Gretzky would have the 2nd most assists and 4th most points... and still be a 600+ goal-scorer. The guy ahead of EV-only Gretzky in assists (Francis) played 244 more games for 44 more assists. The new point leader (Messier) played 269 more games than EV-only Gretzky for 65 more career points.

As for his 6-year peak, EV-only Gretzky would have a lead over Bossy of 1.19x (831 versus 698 points). That would be probably be enough for EV-only Gretzky to be deemed a generational talent (6 Art Ross wins, plus 4 other seasons top-ten in scoring before a career-derailing injury caused by a hit from Gary Suter).

EDIT: In case anyone is wondering, over his 6-year peak, real-life Gretzky has a 1.75x lead over Bossy (1219 versus 698 points)...

 

[The Panther]

Just to add to the above: In 1984-85, Gretzky won the (retro) Richard Trophy for most goals... and he scored only 8 power-play goals all season.

There are a lot of factors involved in these seemingly unbelievable statistics (talent, era, teammates, unique style, 'mental' as opposed to physical hockey, etc.), and Gretzky would be the first to give credit to his teammates, but when you look at some of these achievements, one thing become clear: During his long prime years, Gretzky had an unparalleled motivation and desire to play his best, every shift, every night. I really respect that, because in the 80s he sometimes had scoring titles locked up in late January. But he loved the game and felt a responsibility to the fans to play his best at all times.

 

[Mickey Marner]

For the sake of naming an accomplishment that many haven't heard, Gretz did not get shutout in two consecutive regular season games until Feb 24 and Feb 26 of 1989.

Do you have the boxscores to prove this? It seems cartoonish that it would take a decade to shutout a player in consecutive games. Like, the idea that Gretzky was never held pointless in two consecutive games as an Edmonton Oiler (in the regular season) is insane. He almost became the NHL's all-time leading scorer before that happened!

 

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

Disagree here, everything did go right in 89 but he just didnt have the skill to reach 215.

What didn't go right was playing only 76 games. Would have been right there if he had played 80