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

[Hippasus]

In the playoffs with Edmonton, he failed to score a point in 15 of 120 games. Three of those occurred in one series -- Detroit vs. Edmonton, 1987 (thanks, Hawerchuk).

I'm not getting this reference. Hawerchuk was playing in Winnipeg.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

Could we leave Mario out of this thread, just for once...?

Yes, please. And officially.

 

[The Panther]

I'm not getting this reference. Hawerchuk was playing in Winnipeg.

Last game of the preceding series (Winnipeg/Edmonton) at Winnipeg arena. Oilers working on completing a 4-game sweep. Gretzky and Hawerchuk are in the Winnipeg end of the ice, to the right of Grant Fuhr. Skating behind Gretzky, Hawerchuk grabs Gretzky's body from behind and head-slams him into the ice. Result, Gretzky probably concussed.

 

[mrhockey193195]

...

His longest pointless streak, for a 9-year period, was three games. This occurred three times in nine years.

...

Thanks for this. This debunks my "stat" that Gretz wasn't shutout in back-to-back games until he got to LA. I edited my post.

 

[Hammer Time]

Thanks for this. This debunks my "stat" that Gretz wasn't shutout in back-to-back games until he got to LA. I edited my post.

Still, going from 1981-1987 without being held pointless back-to-back in the regular season is very, very impressive. That's six years, almost 500 games.

 

[tazzy19]

Still, going from 1981-1987 without being held pointless back-to-back in the regular season is very, very impressive. That's six years, almost 500 games.

Not just, very, very impressive. It's ridiculous to the point of being obscene. 80s hockey or not, this was still the NHL - the best league in the world. To not get held pointless for 2 or more games in the NHL for a better part of a decade is insane.

 

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

47 points in 18 games is pretty ****ing disgusting.

 

[blogofmike]

Even Gretzky never approached 163 assists. Once he came with 28. Another time within 38. At the time no other player had scored 160 POINTS.

 

[Black Gold Extractor]

Scored 1600th point (with Edmonton) at age 26.

To add to that point, Gretzky recorded his 1600th point in his 667th game.

The most talented offensive player of our current era recently recorded his 900th point in his 677th game, ten more games to record ~700 fewer points than Gretzky.

(For anyone interested in adjusted numbers from Hockey-Reference, it's ~1300 for Gretzky and ~1000 for Crosby in the same approximate time frame. Basically, Gretzky has an adjusted ~30% lead over a generational talent and outlier performer in his own right. And I'm using the "~" because everything that's adjusted is at least a little hand-wavy.)

Of the nine players faster to 900, excluding Gretzky and Lemieux, only Bossy cracked 1000 in roughly the same number of games (656th game).

Here's another fun one: Gretzky could still be the all-time points leader if he retired the day after the November 30th, 1989 game against Edmonton (of course), where he notched a goal and assist to give him a career total of 1889 points. That was his 799th career game. He was still 28 years old (well, 28 years and 308 days old, to be fair).

 

[Kyle McMahon]

Even Gretzky never approached 163 assists. Once he came with 28. Another time within 38. At the time no other player had scored 160 POINTS.

163 assists in a season is one of the most under-appreciated and unbreakable records in all of sport. As you say, even Gretzky himself never came close to breaking it. Lemieux's best total, 114, is tied with Gretzky's 8th-best total.

If scoring went back up to 1980's levels, I could definitely see somebody scoring 93 goals eventually. Maybe even scoring 50 goals in 38 games. But 164 assists? I really can't see that ever happening, barring drastic changes to the nature of the game.

I would sooner expect somebody to hit 100 home runs, rush for 3000 yards, or score five goals in the final match of the World Cup than register 164 assists. Wilt Chamberlain's 50.4 points per game average is probably comparable in terms of likelihood to be broken.

 

[ytsur*]

Bryan Trottier and Adam Oates sit #16 & #17 in all-time points, respectively.

Combined, they have less points than Gretzky.

Let that simmer.

 

[Big Phil]

Bryan Trottier and Adam Oates sit #16 & #17 in all-time points, respectively.

Combined, they have less points than Gretzky.

Let that simmer.

Dang...........it's simmering

 

[overg]

I think that the most impressive stat is that there simply isn't just one you can use, that the sheer number of options is in and of itself the most impressive facet. And to add to that, the absurdity of some of the stats that can be found from Gretzky's career, and how far-fetched they are, and that they are beyond comprehension.

Agreed. I've seen so many absurd Gretzky stats over the years, and yet I still get blown away by a new one from time to time.

The problem is, of course, just how to convey the magnitude of his dominance to someone whose understanding of Gretzky is limited to "no one was allowed to hit him and goalies were terrible."

He was so far beyond anything seen in today's game, it's almost impossible for the new generation of fans to understand how good he was. It definitely takes some time to discover and truly understand just how brutally Gretzky obliterated the competition.

 

[authentic]

Still, going from 1981-1987 without being held pointless back-to-back in the regular season is very, very impressive. That's six years, almost 500 games.

I was not aware of this. That is just ********, but not only speaks a lot towards just how good Gretzky was, but the state of the game in the 80's as well. A player with every attribute of Gretzky and Lemieux combined would not go 6 freakin years today without being held pointless 2 games in a row.

 

[mrhockey193195]

Bryan Trottier and Adam Oates sit #16 & #17 in all-time points, respectively.

Combined, they have less points than Gretzky.

Let that simmer.

That's a great one. For assists, it would be Gilmour and Recchi at #13 and #14.

 

[tazzy19]

That's a great one. For assists, it would be Gilmour and Recchi at #13 and #14.

Indeed

 

[Black Gold Extractor]

Here's another stat (although there's another contributing factor):

Gretzky had 1669 points in 9 seasons for the Oilers.

Post-1990 Cup win, every regular season leading point total for the Oilers up until last season (from Tikkanen's 69 in 1990-91 to Eberle's 63 in 2014-15) is 1624 points in 24 seasons. Only three seasons top-10 in scoring (one by Weight and two by Hall). Only one 100-point season in those 24 seasons - Weight's 104 points in 95-96, actually also the last 100-point season by an American-born player... and counting? <looks sideways at Kane>

EDIT: I should mention that if we include this year's leader, Hall with 50 points in 55 games so far, the post-dynasty leaders combined total is currently 1674 points in 25 seasons. Yay us... I think.