Wayne Gretzky had many records, and short of listing them all and having a year long voting process, I proceed to list ten of them, perhaps not his ten most prestigious but what have you, here they are:
9 Hart Trophies
10 Art Ross Trophies
16 Seasons Leading League In Assists
92 Goals In A Season (provided the NHL doesn't go beyond 84 games)
215 Points In A Season (same assumption above)
4 Seasons of 200+ Points
+98 In A Season for a Forward (same assumption as before)
382 Career Playoff Points
260 Career Playoff Assists
1.921 Points Per Game In 1,000+ Career Games
Wayne's playoff totals are the easiest to beat. He played 208 playoff games.
Nick Lidstrom played his 260th last night. Chelios hit 266. Its conceivable that a player with longevity (20ish years) and that plays on a perennial contender (i.e. mid-90s Wings till now) could hit 250+ games. Lidstrom will likely retire with 275+. A player like Crosby, if healthy, could hit 382 points in 260ish games.
Its still near impossible to beat, but its certainly the easiest to beat.
92 goals is beatable. Several people have come close.
No one has even approached his 163 assist season though. The most anyone besides Gretzky had was a peak Lemieux at 114.
So basically Gretzky's best is 1.5 times better than any one to ever play's best.
Henrik Sedin led the league with 67 assists this past year. So take his production and times it by 2.5 and you have Gretzky.
Gretzky hit 67 assists before Christmas.
Actually, I take that back. His 16 years leading the league in assists is the most impressive. The next highest is 5. Lemieux only did it 3 times.
His 16 years leading the league in assists is the most impressive. The next highest is 5. Lemieux only did it 3 times.
Yeah 16 seasons leading the league in assists was the driving force behind my post.
I feel it is the most impressive because unlike all the other records, it takes into account being a league best AND doing it for a long period of time.
In the future, 100 goals may become common place, but leading the league in any category will pit you up against the best, and to lead the league in any one category for 16 seasons seems dream-like.
To beat it you'd have to do that for 17 seasons and unless we're talking about a future where robotic limbs have been perfected, I just don't see any player being able to be so consistent for that long.
I've always disagreed with people who go on about how impossible 50 in 39 is. Yes, it's an amazing record, but it's logically not his hardest record to beat. His other records take years or even careers to match, this record takes literally 39 games. It's easier for a generational talent to hit a freak hot streak over 39 games than 1000 games. It's simple statistics. 39 is a comparatively small sample size. I'm not saying anyone will beat it though, just that it's not as impossible as even Gretzky himself makes it out to be.
I've always disagreed with people who go on about how impossible 50 in 39 is. Yes, it's an amazing record, but it's logically not his hardest record to beat. His other records take years or even careers to match, this record takes literally 39 games. It's easier for a generational talent to hit a freak hot streak over 39 games than 1000 games. It's simple statistics. 39 is a comparatively small sample size. I'm not saying anyone will beat it though, just that it's not as impossible as even Gretzky himself makes it out to be.
I think when the guy who did it comes back and says that this was the hardest thing for him to achieve....we should prolly take his word on it.
And for the record, the hardest Gretzky record to beat, bar none, end of discussion, is 11 100 assist seasons. There's no comparison. Yes, it's hard to lead the league in assists 16 times, but there's one guarantee; someone will, every year, lead the league in assists. However, getting 100 assists in a season? Only done 13 times TOTAL. And 11 of them were Wayne's. It would take a lot of convincing for someone to show me why a different record is harder. Orr and Mario did the impossible. They were too good. There will never, EVER be another Orr or Mario. And combined they did it twice. Wayne did it eleven times.
I think when the guy who did it comes back and says that this was the hardest thing for him to achieve....we should prolly take his word on it.
I disagree. There's nothing that leads me to believe Wayne Gretzky is particularly more intelligent than any of us. It's easier to be a fluke for 39 games than it is to be a fluke for 1000 games.
I disagree. There's nothing that leads me to believe Wayne Gretzky is particularly more intelligent than any of us. It's easier to be a fluke for 39 games than it is to be a fluke for 1000 games.
What does his level of intelligence have to do with it?
He feels it was the hardest thing for HIM to achieve. That it took more out of him to do than anything else he accomplished.
Over the course of a 1000 games you can make up for bad stretches with good ones.
Over the course of 39 games you have absolutely no room for error.
He feels it was the hardest thing for HIM to achieve. That it took more out of him to do than anything else he accomplished.
Because we have an understanding of what 1000s of NHL players have achieved in the past, and are capable of using the past to predict the likelihood of certain events in the future. Nothing tells me Gretzky is more capable at this task than either of us.
Because we have an understanding of what 1000s of NHL players have achieved in the past, and are capable of using the past to predict the likelihood of certain events in the future. Nothing tells me Gretzky is more capable at this task than either of us.
Yeah, because anyone has even come close to 50 goals in 39 games
The difference between you, me and him is that HE ACTUALLY DID IT!
He would know better than either of us how hard that was compared to everything else he did.
What does his level of intelligence have to do with it?
He feels it was the hardest thing for HIM to achieve. That it took more out of him to do than anything else he accomplished.
Over the course of a 1000 games you can make up for bad stretches with good ones.
Over the course of 39 games you have absolutely no room for error.
Because anybody can make an acertation on that. Gretzky isn't an authority on what record is the hardest to beat. I think 50 in 39 is near impossible, but i agree it's more likely to be beaten than career records. A player is more likely to flirt with Gretzky-esq greatness for 39 games than over a career.
Four 200+ point seasons. Virtually all of them are unbreakable with how low scoring the NHL is today, we won't see anyone getting close to these unless the NHL fundamentally changes and we get back to the 8-ish goal-per-game hockey we saw through much of the 80s (as opposed to the 5.5-ish goal-per-game hockey we see today).
