The Record Breaker—Wayne Gretzky's Achievements

In his first National Hockey League season in 1979-80, teenage phenom Wayne Gretzky finished tied for the League scoring lead with Marcel Dionne.  His accomplishments that season shocked the experts who had boldly predicted that Gretzky would fail to dominate.

Both Dionne and Gretzky finished with 137 points, but Dionne earned the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL’s top scorer because he finished with 53 goals to Gretzky’s 51. The League also decided that Gretzky would not be eligible for the Calder Trophy as the League’s rookie of the year. Since Gretzky played major pro hockey in the World Hockey Association the season before, the Legaue decided that he was not a rookie. Instead, the Calder was given to Ray Bourque, the Boston Bruins’ standout defenceman.

Gretzky would not finish the season empty-handed. He was selected as the winner of the Hart Trophy as the League Most Valuable Player. At just 19 years of age, he was easily the youngest NHL player ever chosen as League MVP.

The next season, Gretzky would break two major records. He finished the season with 164 points, breaking the record of 152 in a season set by Bruins’ legend Phil Esposito. Of the 152 points, 109 were assists, breaking the NHL record set by Bruins’ Hall of Fame forward Bobby Orr. In one season, Gretzky had bettered the achievements of two Boston hockey legends that many thought would never be broken.

Gretzky had already established a standard for himself that was different from any other NHL player. He would push that bar even further in 1981-82, a year that would forever change the game of hockey.

The Oilers were turning the corner from being an up-and-coming club to becoming contenders, and Gretzky started the season strong.  38 games into the season Gretzky had already netted 45 goals. Only two players before Gretzky had ever reached 50 goals in 50 games—Canadiens’ legend Maurice "the Rocket" Richard and Islanders’ sniper Mike Bossy. Edmonton fans expected that Gretzky would get to 50 somewhere between 42-46 games. However, in Game 39, at home to the Philadelphia Flyers, Gretzky would shock the hockey world. Gretzky had scored four goals to give the Oilers a slim lead with a minute left in the game. The Flyers pulled their goalie in favour of an extra attacker, and Gretzky took full advantage, sliding the puck into the empty net to give him 50 goals in 39 games.

The next record on Gretzky’s radar was Phil Esposito’s mark of 76 goals in a season. On February 24, 1982, Gretzky deposited his 77th goal of the season past Sabres’ goalie Don Edwards at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. He finished the season with 92 goals, becoming the first player in history to average over a goal per game. But even though Gretzky was scoring a record amount of goals, he was also setting them up; he finished the season with 120 assists, breaking the record he set the season before. And his 212 points to finish the season blew his own record out of the water.

In 1984-85, as the Oilers marched to their second Stanley Cup, Gretzky set a new playoff scoring record with 47 post-season points. His 30 assists that year also set a playoff record.

More records would come for the Great One. In 1985-86, he would record a shocking 163 assists and 215 points, setting a new standard in both of those categories.

Before the trade to Los Angeles in 1988, Gretzky gave fans hope that he would reach another lofty height. When number 99 was in his prime, there was a feeling that no offensive record was safe—including his own.

Even though Gretzky’s numbers gradually declined after he left Edmonton, he easily became the League’s top career scorer.  On October 15, 1989, Gretzky passed Gordie Howe with his 1,851st career point. Gretzky would eventually finish with 2,857 points in 1,487 career games (280 less than Howe played in his career). Gretzky’s career total of 382 points in 208 playoff games is also an NHL record.

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