One thing about Gretzky that will always blow me away is that even if he never scored a single goal in his career, he’d still have the most points in NHL history from assists alone. No one has even came close to him in all these years-it’s astonishing.
Another way I like to put it- Consider the HR record in MLB baseball. In order for someone to break that record by the same margin Gretzky has over the 2nd all time leading scorer in the NHL, they’d have to hit around 1300 home runs.
Connor McDavid is on-pace to have over 100 assists for the first time in his career. The last time someone did it? Wayne Gretzky's 11th consecutive season of over 100 assists.
@@kentmartin9289 He's also the only player in history to have double digit goal totals for even strength, powerplay, shorthanded and game winning goals in a single season.
@@evelk5233 and those 212 points were only good enough for his 3rd highest points per game for a season. 205 points in 74 games and 215 in 80 games both topped his 212 in 80 games.
He sure made it look easy & made everyone around him better. He may not have the flashy highlights or display of skills like a McDavid, but he was so far ahead of everybody else with his hockey IQ that he didn't need to be flashy, though he still had his moments.
He had unparalleled vision. Messi in soccer and Jokic in the NBA are similar, heads always scanning before and after they receive the ball/puck. Gretzky always had plan A through plan Zed on every play.
My favorite Gretzky stat: he's "one half" of the highest scoring pair of brothers in NHL history - 2,861 points. Wayne, with 2,857, and his brother Brent, with 4. The next closest pair are the Sedin twins who tallied 2,111 points - Henrik with 1,070 and Daniel with 1,041. All six Sutter brothers combined scored 2,934 points - 73 more than the Greztky brothers - but it took them 4,994 games versus Wayne's 1,487. Wayne scored more points than any five of the six Sutters combined.
If you add career regular season and playoff points, the Gretzky's outscore the Sutters (and everybody else of course) 3243 for the Gretzkys, and 3211 for the Sutters.
That's like the player who said he'll never forget tonight's game where he and Michael Jordan scored 70 points. Jordan scored 69 of them. You know Brent could've had 0 points in his 13 NHL games and they're still 1st by miles.
I saw Gretzky at the airport in Toronto and everyone there wanted his autograph. No one had a pen or paper for him to sign. He told someone in the crowd to run to a restaurant and ask for a pen and napkins to sign. He waited until they returned and signed autographs for every single person there. This was during the playoffs, I'm sure he had a million other things on his mind but he made time for everyone wanting an autograph.
Nigel richards is pretty outstanding, possibly gretzky tier. Hes known for memorizing the french scrabble dictionary in 5 weeks, while not speaking french. Whats more outstanding in my mind is his endgame accuracy. At the end of a scrabble game theres no more hidden information, you can know exactly what tiles your opponent has, so it's vastly simpler and computers can calculate the exact best line of play. The top 10 not counting nigel have an endgame best play accuracy from 50-70%. Nigel has an endgame accuracy of 99%. That might seem like it's about twice as good, but looking at it another way it's making 1/30th the errors that the next best player makes.
He was equally awesome off the ice as an ambassador for the game. I'm a firm believer that he helped grow the league during his career, the man helped bringing hockey to the desert & to many markets without frozen ponds.
@@de132 Yeah, the most heartbreaking trade in NHL history ended up being the best thing for the league. Not sure, & doubt, the same thing happens if he would've went to Vancouver.
People who "don't watch hockey" should give it a shot. You don't know what you're missing! And there are so many new and exciting players. Crazy skills, and never a dull moment.
The thing I love most about Wayne Gretzky is that he's average in every way. Like me, he's 5 foot 11. Kinda skinny. Bobby Orr had amazingly powerful legs. Bobby Hull had arms like a body builder's legs. Mario was huge but incredibly agile. Wayne didn't stand out in any way--except between the ears. He loved the game and made it his own.
He made up for his height and relative lack of bulk by having 6'4"+ enforcers on every team he played with. You don't need to be a big guy if you have a bunch of much bigger guys who'll beat the crap out of anyone who dares to touch you. If Gretzky were playing in today's game, he wouldn't come close to the epic numbers he was able to put in back in the day.
@@hux2000 He was the smartest player on the ice. Wayne would figure out a way to be the greatest during any era he found himself playing in. Yes, he benefitted from Dave Semenko and others watching his back. But that cost him too. Cement-hands Semenko wasn't a skilled enough player to pad Gretzky's numbers like a more talented guy would have. The guy was so good they had to change the rules to make things more challenging. He had another famous nickname--Whine Gretzky. Not my favourite part of the package, but we could read his lips. ;-)
@@hux2000 He was also next to impossible to hit (as in body-check). I remember Gary Suter putting him out for months after nailing him head first into the boards.
As a hockey fan, I would usually describe Gretzky’s advantage as being that he thought the game much faster than anyone else. Or, as I often put it, “Gretzky knows where the puck is going before the puck does.”
Your post reminded me of something I read in Gretzky's biographical book long ago. I believe he said his dad told him to go where the puck is going not where it currently is. If you made your statement without ever hearing that quote from his dad you are very perceptive, that's exactly what he was trying to do.
This is exactly what my father said about Gretzky too... Not only did he know where the puck would be...he would know where all the other players were...down to the position of their skates and body parts...BEFORE they got there. It was astonishing to watch.
What people forget is that Gretzky, who used to 'Rocker' his blades, had the shortest turning radius of any player in NHL history... This, in conjunction with his peerless vision, and anticipatory abilities to see plays develop, to know where the puck, the opposition and his team mates would be, before they did, set him head and shoulders above everyone else. People talk about great skaters, and Sergei Fedorov's, who could play both forward and D, name usually gets mentioned. Team CCCP gave a very young Fedorov the job of trying to shadow Gretzky one time, figuring Sergei (kinda like Bob Gainey for team Canada, but in reverse) would be Red Army's secret weapon, only it didn't work out well for the Russians... and that's putting it mildly. I don't remember if it was team Canada vs CCCP, or Red Army vs the Oilers. (The latter most likely)... But Gretzky, the puck carrier, came at Sergei just outside the Russian blue... Then circled back with the puck... then came at him again... dipsy doodling this way and that... until Sergei fell flat on his butt... There came a stoppage in play... and Sergei got up, shrugged his shoulders, and skated toward the Russian bench with an exasperated, hang-dog look, as if to say... Forget it, I can't cover this guy. I quit. Let somebody else play the fool... Don't recall if it was the same game (more likely team Canada vs CCCP)_ ... but Mark Messier caught a Russian, think it was Sergei Makarov with a flying elbow... knocked him silly and cut him up pretty good... Nowadays, that would have been five plus game misconduct... But Messier mighta just got a double minor... One thing I recall clearly, is that Team CCCP wasn't the same after that hit... They wilted and lost (not unlike Red Army vs Flyers/Broad Street Bullies in 76)... Ah yes, 'Those were the days my friends' ...
“had the shortest turning radius of any player in nhl history” Didn’t bother reading anything else you said cuz this alone is total bullshit that you just pulled out of your ass. By the way if you respond to this, just provide a source… that’s literally all you have to do (though it will be tough since you don’t have one). If you respond without a source I’m just gonna take it as an admission that you’re lying
“Has the shortest turning radius of any player in NHL history” Didn’t even bother reading anything else because this alone is total bs that you made up on the spot. If you want to defend yourself, just provide a source (we both know you can’t).
@@chocomilkfps1264 First off, I mentioned a specific detail which helped give Gretzky such an abnormally small turning radius.. Second, I mentioned an incident involving Sergei Fedorov, widely recognized as one of the greatest skaters ever but woefully inept at shadowing Gretzky, lending credence to this... Thirdly, It's called the eye test, Junior... Ergo, if you want to know the source, I"M IT! Great skating, dynamic skating isn't all about speed... Gretzky was a dynamic skater, with yes, an abnormally small turning radius allowing him to turn on a dime, circle back with the puck, and leave defenders clutching at air... Orr was like that too, in a way, but he'd get guys going the wrong way with a subtle shake of the hips... Had you actually watched Orr or Gretzky play in their prime you'd take much of what I'm saying as a given... Admittedly, a lot of what gets written, like saying 'Bobby Hull was the fastest skater ever', or 'Bobby Orr the most dynamic skater ever', is subjective... But again, there's anecdotal evidence lending credence to this... Like the story, attested to by Habs players, about Orr catching Ivan Cournoyer (nicknamed 'The Roadrunner') from behind, again attesting to the fact that Orr was very fast in his own right... I saw Orr play from his Jr days as an Oshawa General on up (I lived in Oshawa, for a time, as a kid and attended Generals' games regularly)... I was also there , in the Hammer, at Copp's Coliseum, when Gretzky passed to Super Mario and he scored to win game 3 of the 1987 Canada Cup 6-5... Gordie Howe and the Detroit Red Wings used to come to the old Hamilton Forum, which they used to call 'The Barn' once a year to play the Junior Wings (their OHA affiliate) in exhibition. Hells bells, my mother's cousin coached the junior Red Wings in 1973... Unlike you Whippersnapper, I actually saw a lot of the all time greats play...
The difference in NHL point leaders is wild. the gap between 1 and 2 is BIGGER than the gap from 2 to 50 (gap from gretz to jagr is 936, jagr#2 to Vincent Damphousse #50 is 716 points)
Also didn't show games. If Lemieux didn't get Hodgkin lymphoma in his prime playing alongside Jagr and Francis, who knows whether he'd outscore Gretzky.
@@reubensandwich9249 lemieux is the best pure scorer to ever play the game. Take away his cancer and back issues, he would beat Gretzky in goals but he wasn’t on the same level as a playmaker (assists).
Stan Lee was a writer, not a cartoonist. All of the characters he's famous for are actually co-creations with a number of artists (though mainly Jack Kirby), or created by other people entirely (Captain America).
most were co-creations. the marvel way of doing comic books was to write some ideas and give a bit guidance to the penciller, and then the writer would only fill in the word ballons after the artists were done.
Elite athletes enter a "zone" where time moves slower. Gretzky was the athlete for whom time moved the slowest. Knowing in advance where all 12 players would be in 5 seconds, making opponents look foolish, and teammates look brilliant.
As an Australian I was going to mention Don Bradman. I know little about ice hockey but I wager you would probably have to multiply Gretzky by 2 to get a Don Bradman. His test batting average is 99.94. Only 5 other players in history have averaged over 60, with the next best being 62.15. All in an era of limited protective equipment and uncovered pitches. Statistically the greatest athlete of any sport ever.
Gretzky showed the power of pure offence in hockey. His ability to score goals, and more importantly, to set up his teammates to score goals, is unmatched. It's like he could generate offence at will. A singular talent.
The two things I felt gave Wayne such and advantage. First, there was no "weak side" when it came to his skating. He was just as comfortable on his weak side as his strong side. Second, his father trained him about the big picture on the rink, and Wayne had an understanding of where the puck, teammates, and opponents, are going to, not just where they are now.
To truly highlight how absurdly dominate he was, here are some stats: -If Wayne was never credited with a goal, he would STILL be the all-time points leader solely on assists -Wayne Gretzky was the fastest player to score 1000 points in the NHL. The second fastest is….Wayne Gretzky.
Was lucky to watch him in person for four seasons as a Ranger. You did a great job summing it up He wasn't exceptional to watch either at the start or end of his career in terms of hot dogging but the guy did everything right. Bobby Orr is a better player but Gretzky made it work like no one else
Watched both play and I'm willing to concede Bobby Orr was better at defense, but that's where I draw the line. Well in addition to that Orr could also control the tempo of play better than anyone too. Gretzky's only real rival for hockey GOAT is Mario Lemieux.
It looks so much better without all the damn ads on the boards...... I wouldn't even mind the digital ones on TV if they would go back to all white in the Arenas.
I met him in an elevator going down to the lobby one morning in Toronto. He was with another player and his son. I believe he was coaching Phoenix Coyotes at the time and they may have been in town to play vs the Maple Leafs. I didn't say a word and enjoyed a quiet moment with a Legend.
You would have to get 100 points every season for 28 seasons and you would till be 57 short. You would have to score 50 goals every season for 17 seasons and you would still be 44 short. Ovechkin getting close! Mind blowing...
His hockey IQ was through the roof and in particular, his anticipation of where the puck would be rather than where it was. He also represents a quantum leap in a center setting up in the offensive zone and involving his teammates in scoring opportunities. His goal scoring has more to do with his ability to anticipate than anything else, though his stick handling and skating were enough to create open shots for him.
It was a great time for sports: - Gretzky in hockey - Tyson in boxing - Jordan in basketball Arguably 3 of the best to ever compete in their respective sports, and all 3 were active at the same time! You could also add Maradonna for soccer, but he was 2nd best behind Pele.
Wayne Gretzky est le GOAT sans aucun doute. Suivi de près par Mario Lemieux. Et Mike Bossy est le #1 buts/match. Wayne Gretzky pouvait tout faire sur la glace, vision périphérique incroyable, sens inné et lecture du jeu unique. Le nombre d’assistances 1,963 est un record inatteignable, comme celui de Henri « the Pocket Rocket » Richard qui a gagné la Coupe Stanley comme joueur 11 fois!
OOF, the video dies on the vine the moment the creator says, “Stan Lee was alright at drawing comics”. If the intro can’t get the lead-in examples right, why endure another second of it?
It’s kinda wild that guys like Wayne Gretzky, LeBron James, and Jerry Rice are just going to hold their records forever because they came into the NHL, NBA, and NFL and were dominate for 15+ years.
And for those of us who did watch hockey, and were around back then remember how much fun it was watching Gretzky play. I grew up in Pittsburgh, and it is just so unfortunate that Gretzky and Mario Lemieux very rarely got to play against each other. (We got to see how awesome they were as teammates in the Canada's Cup.) Part of that was the amount of time Lemieux lost due to injuries/illness. The other part was the fact that the Oilers and Pens were in opposite conferences, and for the bulk of Mario's early career, he played on a team that was too pathetic to even hope to face Edmonton in the Stanley Cup Finals. Gretzky and Lemieux were the two best players of all time that weren't named Bobby Orr.
Mario Lemieux would be right there at the top with Gretzky if it wasn't for the cancer. Most people don't realize that Mario was averaged above 2 points per game like Gretzky, but he lost how many of those prime years to cancer. it honestly would be Gretzky, then about 50 points back, Mario, then the 800 points back everyone else.
@@MichFedorchak Mario was too reliant on the power play for his points no matter if he was healthy or not or who his teammates were. If he didn't get a ton of pp, he couldn't hit big numbers.
If you ever see some old footage of Wayne wearing and old sweater with a N on it back when he was 10 he was wearing number 9. We also had some great men of sports dinners in brantford and that’s where Wayne first met Mr Howe and it was that year or the one after. That was year while playing for Nadrofsky Steelers he scored all those goals playing one age group above his age. His father never uttered a bad word about anyone. Gave and gave and gave to the community of brantford Ontario. Even after his close call with a blood clot. There he was out coaching a bantam team with a helmet on. Couldn’t speak yet. The man was beauty. I mean anyone in the world could walk up knock on his door and tour his basement full of moments photos jerseys you name of Wayne’s career. Brantford sure is missing him these days
What is most impressive is the way he did this before our growing era of TV timeouts, where coaches use those extra timeouts to boost ice time for star players.
Each year, NHL teams conduct individual strength tests for their players. Despite his legendary status, Gretzky was never known for his physical dominance and consistently ranked at the bottom of these tests compared to his teammates and other players in the league. Interestingly enough-his physical ability made him one of the weakest performers across various strength testing metrics.
He was normally at the bottom of those strength tests. There was one test though that made up for it all, the stamina testing. The people testing him thought the machine was broken. It was the one test each year that he was first in.
hey great vid’ about the gr8 one but there is a small mistake in the table and the calc at 0:47 the 2nd one in points is Jagr, the tab is sort by assists and not points. the calc is unfo wrong either. with your numbers it must be -37% not -33%. but the -33% are correct when you do the division with Jagrs points 1921. other than that gr8 work. thx for making the clip
Gotta give a shoutout to Mario Lemieux. If not for cancer, injuries, and playing just a few years later, his stats would have been just as impressive. He was putting up prime Gretzky-type numbers a decade later when defense in the NHL was a lot stronger and was on pace to match Gretzky's single-season records before he had to take a quarter of the season off to beat cancer (he still won the scoring title). Then, immediately back injuries cost him almost two full years, he comes back and wins two more scoring titles in incredible pain, and then retires at age of 31 for three years. Buys the team to save it from bankruptcy, and plays for a few more years as the only self-employed NHL player in history. Gretzky might have been the greatest hockey player ever, but Lemieux was, by far, the most talented to ever step on the ice.
That's the tough thing about ranking hockey players. There's different eras. You had 'Cyclone' Taylor, Howie Morenz and Eddie Shore. Then you had 'Rocket' Richard and Gordie Howe. Then you had "The Bobbys', Hull and Orr, and in the 1980's you had Gretzky and Lemieux, and so forth. And I'm missing many other great NHL stars in this comment due to brevity.
My 2nd favorite stat(right after taking away all his goals he'd still be points leader) is that hes the fastest to 1000 points at 424 games, he's technically also the 2nd fastest at 434 games from 1000 to 2000 points
He played a ton of ice time. He was amazingly athletically gifted but as an endurance athlete, so he could spend a ton of time out on the ice. That's not as flashy as watching Connor McDavid or Sergei Fedorov skate up & down the ice with their jersey's flowing - but he's still athletically a remarkable specimen. Today we'd call that a high aerobic capacity or Zone 1/2 endurance rather than sprinter
Stan Lee didn't really draw. He wrote comic books and is famous for co-creating a number of famous superheroes. That being said, the reason we're so familiar with him is that he was a big advocate and promoter of comic books as a medium. You can think of him as a mascot of for superhero comics.
Here’s some context: #2 All Time in NHL Career Points-Jaromir Jagr-played until he was _46_ years old-he had 1921 points - in 1733 games. Gordie Howe played until he was _51_ - He had 1850 points - 1767 games. Wayne Gretzky would still have the Record for most Points-if he had retired after _830 games_ - when he was _29 years old._
There is a sportsman who matches or exceeds Gretsky in dominating his sport. Check out lifetime batting averages in cricket. The greatest players of your era usually average high 50s. The greatest of any era average low 60s. Don Bradman averaged 99.94.
I mean this concept is confusing. Why would someone who doesn’t watch hockey be a good source to tell another person who doesn’t watch hockey why the perceived best player is indeed the best? It stands to reason the concept would lend itself to a less than effective case. Case in point: covert art with Wayne wearing the ole rangers tarp. Wouldn’t it make sense for a Flames fan to make this if you wanted to add an interesting element or a die hard fan’s guide for a casual ?
Crazy how, on that same list, is Mario Lemieux, who averaged 1.88 PPG; almost as high as Gretzky, but with vastly less points. His “What If” is one of my favorites in sports. He very well could have been right up there in the GOAT conversation, but the fact that we don’t know for sure means that it goes to Gretzky
Fastest 1000 points NHL ALL TIME? 1. Wayne's' first 1000 (424 games) 2. Wayne's second 1000 (433 games) 3. Mario Lemieux (513 games) 4. Mike Bossy (656 games)
Having come from brantford and being Wayne’s age and payed a lot of hockey I can tell you he was a great great hockey player. But I will say this. He had a great great mentor. His father was actually the great one.
I think Gretzky is the goat however look the size of the pads and the ability of the goalies back then. It just wasn’t up to modern standards. That’s why scoring has fallen significantly since those days. If Gretzky played from 1999-2019 he would’ve still broken the points record but not to the extent that he did. Also while in Edmonton (his best seasons) he had 6 hall of famers on the team with him including Paul Coffey and Mark Messier on the SECOND LINE. That obviously leads to more points when you are apart of the greatest team to ever step on the ice. There’s a reason messier and co won a cup after Wayne was traded to the Kings. Gretzky is the greatest hockey player of all time but Alex Ovechkin is the greatest scorer of all time whether he breaks Gretzkys scoring record or not given the modern challenges.
At the beginning, the voice says he doesn't watch hockey, or know anything about it. He is right! Maybe he should do a video about gardening. Just no more hockey! The voice says there was nothing exceptional about Gretzky. Everything about Wayne Gretzky was exceptional!
There are 2 factors that makes Wayne Gretzky stand out from the other legends and it has to do with Gretzkys size, and his genius vision on the ice to dodge injury for most of his career. This was a gift most other greats did not have like Bobby Orr, Mike Bossy, Mario Lemiuex, etc with their careers cut short, but Gretzky under normal circumstances should have been tossed around like a tennis ball in the rink, but his visual instinct kept him from major injuries. This in itself sets him apart and most other greats and many others just did not have that prowess. #2, I never thought it was fair to compare players that play an entire 80 games or close to 80 games and players that only play half or more than half a season. Most players including Gretzky slow down and get fatigued usually in the last half of the season and their PPG reduces a bit. i never thought it was fair to compare players that play only 2/3 a season like Lemieux and then get injured their body was not in full fatigue factor like Gretzky was and had Gretzky played the exact same amount of games as Lemieux during a season his PPG total would be significantly higher. The fatigue factor makes a huge difference on points total and Lemieux's career stats took advantage of that.
Bobby Orr, was the best! Gretzky was a protected player!! Not to mention he had Messier, Kurri, Lowe, Anderson etc all on the same team helping him!! Not to take away from his talent, but if Bobby was protected, he wouldn't have gotten hurt so early. Bobby Orr all the way
In 70-71, didn't Boston have the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th, 8th and 11th top scorers in the league? Guess we conveniently leave that part out? But yes, Gretzky did have Lowe on his team.
Gretzky 1.92 pts per game. Lemieux 1.88, yet had a shorter career and numerous health issues (including cancer). Gretzky was remarkable but for me it’s McDavid, Orr, Lemieux and Gretzky in that order.
Gretzky is the GOAT of GOATs. He's further above other elite hockey players than Jordan or LeBron are above elite basketball players. As a Penguins fan, I do have to mention Mario Lemieux. He battled injuries and retired for 4-5 years due to Hodgkin's Lymphoma. When he retired, his career average was two points per game, a little higher than Gretzky's. After he came back, played a few more years, and retired for good, it was a little below Gretzky's, so Gretzky moved from 2nd to 1st on that list while retired! Lemieux is really the only player who's statistically in Gretzky's stratosphere. He played about 500 fewer games in his career than Gretzky did, and I think if he had been healthier, he would have passed Gretzky for career goals, but not for assists or total points.
And anyone whos played hockey will tell u its not that unheard of for good players to play with leagues above their age group. Every city with hockey allows kids to do that. Just most are only 1-2 years up wayne got 4 years up cause he was in a small town. If he was ina bit city he would have played 2 years up
Number 66 was one of a kind to stand 6 foot 4 and about 230 lbs and dominate the way he did was incredible he had hands a shot great playmaker and crazy think is crosby has played more games than 66 lemieux never made it to 1000 games could only imagine if he played as much as gretzky hed be close to gretzkys points
Gretzky scored 500 more points by the end of his age 31 season than Lemieux did his whole career. And durability is a factor. But the fact is given the fall off we saw in Lemieux when he returned (particularly the last 3 years or so) he never would’ve been close to Wayne’s final total (closer than anyone else maybe, but still a solid 600 or so below.) I could play this game the other way, though. Imagine if Wayne only played as many games as Mario… Wayne would still be the all time leading scorer (starting from the beginning of his career, Wayne could retire after his age 30 season and would have played exactly the same number of games Mario did- 915 games to be precise- and he had 2142 career points at that point compared to Mario’s total of 1723.)
I don't want to make it seem like I'm diminishing Gretzky's accomplishments, but he also played in an era where defensive systems weren't anywhere as developed as they are now, and most players wouldn't play him as physically as they would others. Mario Lemieux I think was just as good in a scoring sense, if not better (not as good at assists, though), but his lymphoma and back issues kept him from racking up stats like Gretzky. I think McDavid is more talented, but the way the game is played is different now, plus McDavid needs another decade plus at his level and getting his name on the Cup a time or two before he's fully in the argument. Bedard... could make it to that kind of level, but similar was said about Crosby and he's still rated by most behind the "top 2" mentioned above.
After some reflection, I kind of feel bad about how the above could be perceived as criticism 😅where I was mainly intending to give context. And while I still think Mario was a better scorer and McDavid _could_ be more talented (yet to be seen, give it another decade like I said), Gretzky is still the greatest legend of the game due to how far he was ahead of his peers at the time, the way he changed the style with which the game was played, and the HUGE impact he had on the sport as a whole. If you were asked to point out a single person who had the greatest influence on the sport of hockey in the US as a whole, you'd have to point to 99 and his time with the LA Kings. He introduced a ton of people to the sport, and was probably the biggest catalyst for the growth of the popularity of hockey in "non traditional" markets. He is to hockey what Michael Jordan is to basketball. Similar to MJ, you'll see arguments as to whether players before (Chamberlain) or after (Kobe, LeBron) were better, but I don't think anyone could argue about the impact MJ made on the game in the public consciousness and the stats he put up were tremendous. Same with # 99.
Stan Lee didn't draw any comic books. He was the writer. Jack Kirby was the main artist. Steve Ditko did Spider-man, though -- follow by John Romita Sr.
Wayne Gretzky is basically a modern forward playing in an era before goaltending, defense, and forwards had evolved. Basically he was playing like Gretzky before people learned to play like/against Gretzky
Someone must have commented this already but if you take away all of Gretzky's career goals, he'd still be the NHL's all time leading scorer with his 1963 assists being 42 points ahead of Jagr's goal and assist total of 1921. This is the most impressive stat in my opinion. He still leads the NHL in goals all time as well even though he wasn't even a pure goal scorer. The greatest playmaker ever just happens to have the most goals too. It requires the most exceptional pure goal scorer in NHL history (Ovechkin) to have an almost flawless career of scoring roughly 50 goals a year for over 20 years to come even close to Gretzky. He might actually surpass it (which I personally hope he won't) but all these things sum up why Wayne is the best. There is only one player in NHL history who can compete with and probably is as good as Wayne and his name is Mario Lemieux. No one else.
One thing about Gretzky that will always blow me away is that even if he never scored a single goal in his career, he’d still have the most points in NHL history from assists alone. No one has even came close to him in all these years-it’s astonishing.
Another way I like to put it-
Consider the HR record in MLB baseball. In order for someone to break that record by the same margin Gretzky has over the 2nd all time leading scorer in the NHL, they’d have to hit around 1300 home runs.
Connor McDavid is on-pace to have over 100 assists for the first time in his career. The last time someone did it? Wayne Gretzky's 11th consecutive season of over 100 assists.
@@suburbanindieYup. There's only been 3 players to record 100 assists. Lemieux did it once, Bobby Orr did it once, and Gretzky did it 11 times 😂
@@nateo7045 IN A ROW
@@nateo7045 Greatest playmaker in ANY sport
In 85-86 the Oilers led the league in scoring, Calgary was second. Wayne outscored Calgary's top three scorers combined by 4 points.
I have a hobby of tracking down amazing Gretzky facts and stats. That is one I have never heard! Amazing!
@@kentmartin9289 He's also the only player in history to have double digit goal totals for even strength, powerplay, shorthanded and game winning goals in a single season.
@@dannycarlow8204 I hadn't heard that one either. Looks like that was 1983-84. Thanks!
212 points in one year. insane
@@evelk5233 and those 212 points were only good enough for his 3rd highest points per game for a season. 205 points in 74 games and 215 in 80 games both topped his 212 in 80 games.
What set Gretzky apart was his unparalleled vision of the ice. His observation, perception and forecasting skills were out of this world.
yes. they admitted they didnt watch hockey, so they wouldnt know.
He sure made it look easy & made everyone around him better. He may not have the flashy highlights or display of skills like a McDavid, but he was so far ahead of everybody else with his hockey IQ that he didn't need to be flashy, though he still had his moments.
Gretzky couldn't carry Bobby Orr's jock!
@@karlschneider9479Someone's still sore about the 88 and 90 finals, I see.
He had unparalleled vision. Messi in soccer and Jokic in the NBA are similar, heads always scanning before and after they receive the ball/puck. Gretzky always had plan A through plan Zed on every play.
My favorite Gretzky stat: he's "one half" of the highest scoring pair of brothers in NHL history - 2,861 points. Wayne, with 2,857, and his brother Brent, with 4.
The next closest pair are the Sedin twins who tallied 2,111 points - Henrik with 1,070 and Daniel with 1,041.
All six Sutter brothers combined scored 2,934 points - 73 more than the Greztky brothers - but it took them 4,994 games versus Wayne's 1,487. Wayne scored more points than any five of the six Sutters combined.
Absolutely insane
Like any Gretzky stat , mind = blown.
This might be my favourite Gretz-stat yet.
If you add career regular season and playoff points, the Gretzky's outscore the Sutters (and everybody else of course) 3243 for the Gretzkys, and 3211 for the Sutters.
That's like the player who said he'll never forget tonight's game where he and Michael Jordan scored 70 points.
Jordan scored 69 of them. You know Brent could've had 0 points in his 13 NHL games and they're still 1st by miles.
He has so many assists, he’d still be the all time points leader without even scoring one goal.
And done at a time without scoring the second assist.
@@magnustheman524secondary assists are counted since the 40s
@@magnustheman524
And there are videos on UA-cam that show Gretzky getting assists on goals he wasn’t even on the ice for.
I saw Gretzky at the airport in Toronto and everyone there wanted his autograph. No one had a pen or paper for him to sign. He told someone in the crowd to run to a restaurant and ask for a pen and napkins to sign. He waited until they returned and signed autographs for every single person there. This was during the playoffs, I'm sure he had a million other things on his mind but he made time for everyone wanting an autograph.
Nigel richards is pretty outstanding, possibly gretzky tier. Hes known for memorizing the french scrabble dictionary in 5 weeks, while not speaking french. Whats more outstanding in my mind is his endgame accuracy. At the end of a scrabble game theres no more hidden information, you can know exactly what tiles your opponent has, so it's vastly simpler and computers can calculate the exact best line of play. The top 10 not counting nigel have an endgame best play accuracy from 50-70%. Nigel has an endgame accuracy of 99%. That might seem like it's about twice as good, but looking at it another way it's making 1/30th the errors that the next best player makes.
👍
Yeah, but could Nigel do it on ice? That's the big question.
Yeah, Nigel and Wayne are on another level
Nigel sounds like the perfect name for the greatest scrabble player of all time. lol
That’s pretty damn good.
And, he seems like the kindest, humble person.
He only married Janet Jones because they were the same dress size😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
@@rayxtwo😂 you’re wrong for that one
Yes--off the ice, he is/was. ON the ice...very competitive. No one ever out-competed Wayne Gretzky.
He was equally awesome off the ice as an ambassador for the game. I'm a firm believer that he helped grow the league during his career, the man helped bringing hockey to the desert & to many markets without frozen ponds.
Exactly, the Sharks, Ducks, Coyotes, Stars, Panthers, and Lightning owe Gretzky. Especially with Gretzky's time with the Los Angeles Kings
@@de132 Yeah, the most heartbreaking trade in NHL history ended up being the best thing for the league. Not sure, & doubt, the same thing happens if he would've went to Vancouver.
People who "don't watch hockey" should give it a shot. You don't know what you're missing! And there are so many new and exciting players. Crazy skills, and never a dull moment.
Not only was Wayne great at hockey it seems like Walter his father taught Wayne how to be great at life
Your thumbnail showing him in a Rags uniform and not an Oilers uniform is a major fail.
Nah, that pic is iconic
No. He's in the right jersey.
Showing a clip of him on garbage late night TV is a bigger fail.
You are correct.......
He should have used the Stl Blues away jersey
Lol
JK
That thing is an abomination
Right!
The thing I love most about Wayne Gretzky is that he's average in every way. Like me, he's 5 foot 11. Kinda skinny. Bobby Orr had amazingly powerful legs. Bobby Hull had arms like a body builder's legs. Mario was huge but incredibly agile. Wayne didn't stand out in any way--except between the ears. He loved the game and made it his own.
He made up for his height and relative lack of bulk by having 6'4"+ enforcers on every team he played with. You don't need to be a big guy if you have a bunch of much bigger guys who'll beat the crap out of anyone who dares to touch you. If Gretzky were playing in today's game, he wouldn't come close to the epic numbers he was able to put in back in the day.
perhaps those ears were the sonar that led him to such on-ice awareness resulting in such numbers
@@hux2000 He was the smartest player on the ice. Wayne would figure out a way to be the greatest during any era he found himself playing in.
Yes, he benefitted from Dave Semenko and others watching his back. But that cost him too. Cement-hands Semenko wasn't a skilled enough player to pad Gretzky's numbers like a more talented guy would have.
The guy was so good they had to change the rules to make things more challenging.
He had another famous nickname--Whine Gretzky. Not my favourite part of the package, but we could read his lips. ;-)
@@Raraoolala 😆😆😆🏒🏒🏒👃👃👃(nose too)
@@hux2000 He was also next to impossible to hit (as in body-check). I remember Gary Suter putting him out for months after nailing him head first into the boards.
As a hockey fan, I would usually describe Gretzky’s advantage as being that he thought the game much faster than anyone else.
Or, as I often put it, “Gretzky knows where the puck is going before the puck does.”
Your post reminded me of something I read in Gretzky's biographical book long ago.
I believe he said his dad told him to go where the puck is going not where it currently is. If you made your statement without ever hearing that quote from his dad you are very perceptive, that's exactly what he was trying to do.
This is exactly what my father said about Gretzky too...
Not only did he know where the puck would be...he would know where all the other players were...down to the position of their skates and body parts...BEFORE they got there.
It was astonishing to watch.
The puck don't have no say.
This thought-filled pick is a confusing thing.
The puck knows where it is by knowing where it isn't
What people forget is that Gretzky, who used to 'Rocker' his blades, had the shortest turning radius of any player in NHL history... This, in conjunction with his peerless vision, and anticipatory abilities to see plays develop, to know where the puck, the opposition and his team mates would be, before they did, set him head and shoulders above everyone else.
People talk about great skaters, and Sergei Fedorov's, who could play both forward and D, name usually gets mentioned. Team CCCP gave a very young Fedorov the job of trying to shadow Gretzky one time, figuring Sergei (kinda like Bob Gainey for team Canada, but in reverse) would be Red Army's secret weapon, only it didn't work out well for the Russians... and that's putting it mildly.
I don't remember if it was team Canada vs CCCP, or Red Army vs the Oilers. (The latter most likely)... But Gretzky, the puck carrier, came at Sergei just outside the Russian blue... Then circled back with the puck... then came at him again... dipsy doodling this way and that... until Sergei fell flat on his butt... There came a stoppage in play... and Sergei got up, shrugged his shoulders, and skated toward the Russian bench with an exasperated, hang-dog look, as if to say... Forget it, I can't cover this guy. I quit. Let somebody else play the fool...
Don't recall if it was the same game (more likely team Canada vs CCCP)_ ... but Mark Messier caught a Russian, think it was Sergei Makarov with a flying elbow... knocked him silly and cut him up pretty good... Nowadays, that would have been five plus game misconduct... But Messier mighta just got a double minor... One thing I recall clearly, is that Team CCCP wasn't the same after that hit... They wilted and lost (not unlike Red Army vs Flyers/Broad Street Bullies in 76)...
Ah yes, 'Those were the days my friends' ...
You have an awesome focus on early 80s hockey!!! Cheers my friend
agreed, cool to hear this info from someone who was there
“had the shortest turning radius of any player in nhl history”
Didn’t bother reading anything else you said cuz this alone is total bullshit that you just pulled out of your ass.
By the way if you respond to this, just provide a source… that’s literally all you have to do (though it will be tough since you don’t have one). If you respond without a source I’m just gonna take it as an admission that you’re lying
“Has the shortest turning radius of any player in NHL history”
Didn’t even bother reading anything else because this alone is total bs that you made up on the spot.
If you want to defend yourself, just provide a source (we both know you can’t).
@@chocomilkfps1264 First off, I mentioned a specific detail which helped give Gretzky such an abnormally small turning radius.. Second, I mentioned an incident involving Sergei Fedorov, widely recognized as one of the greatest skaters ever but woefully inept at shadowing Gretzky, lending credence to this... Thirdly, It's called the eye test, Junior... Ergo, if you want to know the source, I"M IT!
Great skating, dynamic skating isn't all about speed... Gretzky was a dynamic skater, with yes, an abnormally small turning radius allowing him to turn on a dime, circle back with the puck, and leave defenders clutching at air... Orr was like that too, in a way, but he'd get guys going the wrong way with a subtle shake of the hips... Had you actually watched Orr or Gretzky play in their prime you'd take much of what I'm saying as a given...
Admittedly, a lot of what gets written, like saying 'Bobby Hull was the fastest skater ever', or 'Bobby Orr the most dynamic skater ever', is subjective... But again, there's anecdotal evidence lending credence to this... Like the story, attested to by Habs players, about Orr catching Ivan Cournoyer (nicknamed 'The Roadrunner') from behind, again attesting to the fact that Orr was very fast in his own right...
I saw Orr play from his Jr days as an Oshawa General on up (I lived in Oshawa, for a time, as a kid and attended Generals' games regularly)... I was also there , in the Hammer, at Copp's Coliseum, when Gretzky passed to Super Mario and he scored to win game 3 of the 1987 Canada Cup 6-5...
Gordie Howe and the Detroit Red Wings used to come to the old Hamilton Forum, which they used to call 'The Barn' once a year to play the Junior Wings (their OHA affiliate) in exhibition. Hells bells, my mother's cousin coached the junior Red Wings in 1973...
Unlike you Whippersnapper, I actually saw a lot of the all time greats play...
The difference in NHL point leaders is wild. the gap between 1 and 2 is BIGGER than the gap from 2 to 50 (gap from gretz to jagr is 936, jagr#2 to Vincent Damphousse #50 is 716 points)
The gap from #2 Jagr to #103 Dave Keon is 935 points. Keon will be #104 in the first or second week of next season when McDavid overtakes him.
Also, the list you showed Is not in order. Jagr is 2nd in career points
Also didn't show games. If Lemieux didn't get Hodgkin lymphoma in his prime playing alongside Jagr and Francis, who knows whether he'd outscore Gretzky.
@@reubensandwich9249 to finish first, first you have to finish
@@reubensandwich9249 lemieux is the best pure scorer to ever play the game. Take away his cancer and back issues, he would beat Gretzky in goals but he wasn’t on the same level as a playmaker (assists).
@@reubensandwich9249 this and if Jagr didn't play in the KHL for three seasons are one of my biggest NHL what ifs
Stan Lee was a writer, not a cartoonist. All of the characters he's famous for are actually co-creations with a number of artists (though mainly Jack Kirby), or created by other people entirely (Captain America).
most were co-creations. the marvel way of doing comic books was to write some ideas and give a bit guidance to the penciller, and then the writer would only fill in the word ballons after the artists were done.
Elite athletes enter a "zone" where time moves slower.
Gretzky was the athlete for whom time moved the slowest.
Knowing in advance where all 12 players would be in 5 seconds,
making opponents look foolish, and teammates look brilliant.
Gretsky and Don Bradman are lightyears ahead of their nearest competitors in their respective sports.
As an Australian I was going to mention Don Bradman. I know little about ice hockey but I wager you would probably have to multiply Gretzky by 2 to get a Don Bradman. His test batting average is 99.94. Only 5 other players in history have averaged over 60, with the next best being 62.15. All in an era of limited protective equipment and uncovered pitches. Statistically the greatest athlete of any sport ever.
@@ozytradbowhunter sports with tiny talent pools had outliers like that a century ago
Gretzky showed the power of pure offence in hockey. His ability to score goals, and more importantly, to set up his teammates to score goals, is unmatched. It's like he could generate offence at will. A singular talent.
The two things I felt gave Wayne such and advantage. First, there was no "weak side" when it came to his skating. He was just as comfortable on his weak side as his strong side. Second, his father trained him about the big picture on the rink, and Wayne had an understanding of where the puck, teammates, and opponents, are going to, not just where they are now.
Stan Lee didn't draw the comics. Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and others were the artists. Stan provided the dialogue and some of the story direction.
To truly highlight how absurdly dominate he was, here are some stats:
-If Wayne was never credited with a goal, he would STILL be the all-time points leader solely on assists
-Wayne Gretzky was the fastest player to score 1000 points in the NHL. The second fastest is….Wayne Gretzky.
Came here to say this. This is by far the most incredible statistic maybe in all of sports. Surprised he didn’t mention it
He elevated the play of everyone around him. Great vision for how a play could develop. Will never be another like him.
Was lucky to watch him in person for four seasons as a Ranger. You did a great job summing it up
He wasn't exceptional to watch either at the start or end of his career in terms of hot dogging but the guy did everything right. Bobby Orr is a better player but Gretzky made it work like no one else
Watched both play and I'm willing to concede Bobby Orr was better at defense, but that's where I draw the line. Well in addition to that Orr could also control the tempo of play better than anyone too. Gretzky's only real rival for hockey GOAT is Mario Lemieux.
Jordan said Gretzky stats looked like typos
It looks so much better without all the damn ads on the boards...... I wouldn't even mind the digital ones on TV if they would go back to all white in the Arenas.
Stan Lee did not draw comic books
Gretsky is the Einstein of hockey. They are so far above everyone else that everything that comes after them builds off of their work.
I met him in an elevator going down to the lobby one morning in Toronto. He was with another player and his son. I believe he was coaching Phoenix Coyotes at the time and they may have been in town to play vs the Maple Leafs. I didn't say a word and enjoyed a quiet moment with a Legend.
All the assists and goals are just from the regular season. With playoff games included he is well over 3k points and 1k goals, amazing
You would have to get 100 points every season for 28 seasons and you would till be 57 short.
You would have to score 50 goals every season for 17 seasons and you would still be 44 short. Ovechkin getting close!
Mind blowing...
Any chance you can share (or someone recognizes) the piano piece played in the background? Thanks!
Great vid dude!! Very well done. Keep going!
His hockey IQ was through the roof and in particular, his anticipation of where the puck would be rather than where it was. He also represents a quantum leap in a center setting up in the offensive zone and involving his teammates in scoring opportunities. His goal scoring has more to do with his ability to anticipate than anything else, though his stick handling and skating were enough to create open shots for him.
It was awesome being a kid in the 80s, watching Gretzky tear up the ice!
It was a great time for sports:
- Gretzky in hockey
- Tyson in boxing
- Jordan in basketball
Arguably 3 of the best to ever compete in their respective sports, and all 3 were active at the same time! You could also add Maradonna for soccer, but he was 2nd best behind Pele.
Wayne Gretzky est le GOAT sans aucun doute. Suivi de près par Mario Lemieux. Et Mike Bossy est le #1 buts/match. Wayne Gretzky pouvait tout faire sur la glace, vision périphérique incroyable, sens inné et lecture du jeu unique. Le nombre d’assistances 1,963 est un record inatteignable, comme celui de Henri « the Pocket Rocket » Richard qui a gagné la Coupe Stanley comme joueur 11 fois!
OOF, the video dies on the vine the moment the creator says, “Stan Lee was alright at drawing comics”. If the intro can’t get the lead-in examples right, why endure another second of it?
Stan Lee hardly even wrote comics haha 😂
A lot of Stan Lee's fame and success is from Jack Kirby
It’s kinda wild that guys like Wayne Gretzky, LeBron James, and Jerry Rice are just going to hold their records forever because they came into the NHL, NBA, and NFL and were dominate for 15+ years.
great video. - FYI your chart of all-time points leaders isn't sorted properly. Jaromir jagr is 2nd with 1921 pts.
The record for most records is insane.
And for those of us who did watch hockey, and were around back then remember how much fun it was watching Gretzky play. I grew up in Pittsburgh, and it is just so unfortunate that Gretzky and Mario Lemieux very rarely got to play against each other. (We got to see how awesome they were as teammates in the Canada's Cup.) Part of that was the amount of time Lemieux lost due to injuries/illness. The other part was the fact that the Oilers and Pens were in opposite conferences, and for the bulk of Mario's early career, he played on a team that was too pathetic to even hope to face Edmonton in the Stanley Cup Finals.
Gretzky and Lemieux were the two best players of all time that weren't named Bobby Orr.
Mario Lemieux would be right there at the top with Gretzky if it wasn't for the cancer. Most people don't realize that Mario was averaged above 2 points per game like Gretzky, but he lost how many of those prime years to cancer. it honestly would be Gretzky, then about 50 points back, Mario, then the 800 points back everyone else.
@@MichFedorchak Mario was too reliant on the power play for his points no matter if he was healthy or not or who his teammates were. If he didn't get a ton of pp, he couldn't hit big numbers.
Remember when Gretz was playing minor hockey in the MTHL in the early 70s ... scoring so many times on a shift coaches had to sit him!
If you ever see some old footage of Wayne wearing and old sweater with a N on it back when he was 10 he was wearing number 9. We also had some great men of sports dinners in brantford and that’s where Wayne first met Mr Howe and it was that year or the one after. That was year while playing for Nadrofsky Steelers he scored all those goals playing one age group above his age.
His father never uttered a bad word about anyone. Gave and gave and gave to the community of brantford Ontario. Even after his close call with a blood clot. There he was out coaching a bantam team with a helmet on. Couldn’t speak yet. The man was beauty. I mean anyone in the world could walk up knock on his door and tour his basement full of moments photos jerseys you name of Wayne’s career. Brantford sure is missing him these days
He just makes the game look so easy it’s crazy
What is most impressive is the way he did this before our growing era of TV timeouts, where coaches use those extra timeouts to boost ice time for star players.
Wayne was a playmaker. Simply the greatest ever. He not only scored, but he made his teammates better.
Wait til you see what Don Bradman did in test cricket
Best sporstmen ever
Was literally coming to say the same thing. Most likely the best sportsperson ever.
The better star players makes those around them better. Not just themselves.
In 1981/82, Gretzky had 23 games in the regular season in which he scored 4 or more points!
Don Bradman the cricketer statistically a better batter than Gretzky was an ice hockey player?
Yes
Each year, NHL teams conduct individual strength tests for their players. Despite his legendary status, Gretzky was never known for his physical dominance and consistently ranked at the bottom of these tests compared to his teammates and other players in the league. Interestingly enough-his physical ability made him one of the weakest performers across various strength testing metrics.
He was normally at the bottom of those strength tests. There was one test though that made up for it all, the stamina testing. The people testing him thought the machine was broken. It was the one test each year that he was first in.
@@dannycarlow8204 yes absolutely 💯% true! Thanks for pointing that out.
@@dannycarlow8204 that's so awesome. What a dood.
hey great vid’ about the gr8 one but there is a small mistake in the table and the calc at 0:47 the 2nd one in points is Jagr, the tab is sort by assists and not points. the calc is unfo wrong either. with your numbers it must be -37% not -33%. but the -33% are correct when you do the division with Jagrs points 1921. other than that gr8 work. thx for making the clip
Teddy's Bar and grill. Those guys were so normal it was crazy. Bye the way Mark, you almost rear-ended me coming from below the coliseum.
I like how he’s the oilers all time leading scorer with something like 1650 points (good for top 10 or so all time) in less than half his whole career
Gotta give a shoutout to Mario Lemieux. If not for cancer, injuries, and playing just a few years later, his stats would have been just as impressive. He was putting up prime Gretzky-type numbers a decade later when defense in the NHL was a lot stronger and was on pace to match Gretzky's single-season records before he had to take a quarter of the season off to beat cancer (he still won the scoring title). Then, immediately back injuries cost him almost two full years, he comes back and wins two more scoring titles in incredible pain, and then retires at age of 31 for three years. Buys the team to save it from bankruptcy, and plays for a few more years as the only self-employed NHL player in history.
Gretzky might have been the greatest hockey player ever, but Lemieux was, by far, the most talented to ever step on the ice.
That's the tough thing about ranking hockey players. There's different eras. You had 'Cyclone' Taylor, Howie Morenz and Eddie Shore. Then you had 'Rocket' Richard and Gordie Howe. Then you had "The Bobbys', Hull and Orr, and in the 1980's you had Gretzky and Lemieux, and so forth. And I'm missing many other great NHL stars in this comment due to brevity.
Greatest sporting IQ of all time ...unbelievable.
is Lionel Messi
The uncredited music is Chopin's "Winter Wind" etude, Op. 25 No. 11.
He had a crazy accurate slap shot
Nice, from a non hockey fan. Good work. Some more specific records he holds would've been I formative
Not kidding…I had no idea Wayne Gretzky was. I was looking up something of Paulina Gretzky.
Gretzky completely changed the sport on ice and off - his impact was enormous. This is why he is the greatest sports person ever.
My 2nd favorite stat(right after taking away all his goals he'd still be points leader) is that hes the fastest to 1000 points at 424 games, he's technically also the 2nd fastest at 434 games from 1000 to 2000 points
He played a ton of ice time. He was amazingly athletically gifted but as an endurance athlete, so he could spend a ton of time out on the ice. That's not as flashy as watching Connor McDavid or Sergei Fedorov skate up & down the ice with their jersey's flowing - but he's still athletically a remarkable specimen. Today we'd call that a high aerobic capacity or Zone 1/2 endurance rather than sprinter
He could play any sport--an all-round athlete. I'm so glad he chose hockey!
thank you. as a european, i needed this.
Stan Lee didn't really draw. He wrote comic books and is famous for co-creating a number of famous superheroes. That being said, the reason we're so familiar with him is that he was a big advocate and promoter of comic books as a medium. You can think of him as a mascot of for superhero comics.
Here’s some context:
#2 All Time in NHL Career Points-Jaromir Jagr-played until he was _46_ years old-he had 1921 points - in 1733 games.
Gordie Howe played until he was _51_ - He had 1850 points - 1767 games.
Wayne Gretzky would still have the Record for most Points-if he had retired after _830 games_ - when he was _29 years old._
There is a sportsman who matches or exceeds Gretsky in dominating his sport. Check out lifetime batting averages in cricket. The greatest players of your era usually average high 50s. The greatest of any era average low 60s. Don Bradman averaged 99.94.
Will you do an uodate when Ovechkin overtakes him?
I mean this concept is confusing. Why would someone who doesn’t watch hockey be a good source to tell another person who doesn’t watch hockey why the perceived best player is indeed the best? It stands to reason the concept would lend itself to a less than effective case.
Case in point: covert art with Wayne wearing the ole rangers tarp.
Wouldn’t it make sense for a Flames fan to make this if you wanted to add an interesting element or a die hard fan’s guide for a casual ?
Jagr - 1921 points isn't that 2nd best? love your height comparison.. data relativity !!! nice video 😎😎
Crazy how, on that same list, is Mario Lemieux, who averaged 1.88 PPG; almost as high as Gretzky, but with vastly less points. His “What If” is one of my favorites in sports. He very well could have been right up there in the GOAT conversation, but the fact that we don’t know for sure means that it goes to Gretzky
Gretzky and Don Bradman are the two biggest outliers in sports. The two of them are so far beyond everyone else it's not fair.
Fastest 1000 points NHL ALL TIME?
1. Wayne's' first 1000 (424 games)
2. Wayne's second 1000 (433 games)
3. Mario Lemieux (513 games)
4. Mike Bossy (656 games)
This is nuts. Prime Lemieux was dominant, but The Great One is... well he's The Great One
He is the great one!
Pure and simple!
Having come from brantford and being Wayne’s age and payed a lot of hockey I can tell you he was a great great hockey player. But I will say this. He had a great great mentor. His father was actually the great one.
he also got a chance to play with gordie howe in the wha. I'll bet he learned a thing or two in that season.
Very true.
I think Gretzky is the goat however look the size of the pads and the ability of the goalies back then. It just wasn’t up to modern standards. That’s why scoring has fallen significantly since those days. If Gretzky played from 1999-2019 he would’ve still broken the points record but not to the extent that he did. Also while in Edmonton (his best seasons) he had 6 hall of famers on the team with him including Paul Coffey and Mark Messier on the SECOND LINE. That obviously leads to more points when you are apart of the greatest team to ever step on the ice. There’s a reason messier and co won a cup after Wayne was traded to the Kings. Gretzky is the greatest hockey player of all time but Alex Ovechkin is the greatest scorer of all time whether he breaks Gretzkys scoring record or not given the modern challenges.
At the beginning, the voice says he doesn't watch hockey, or know anything about it.
He is right! Maybe he should do a video about gardening. Just no more hockey!
The voice says there was nothing exceptional about Gretzky.
Everything about Wayne Gretzky was exceptional!
There are 2 factors that makes Wayne Gretzky stand out from the other legends and it has to do with Gretzkys size, and his genius vision on the ice to dodge injury for most of his career. This was a gift most other greats did not have like Bobby Orr, Mike Bossy, Mario Lemiuex, etc with their careers cut short, but Gretzky under normal circumstances should have been tossed around like a tennis ball in the rink, but his visual instinct kept him from major injuries. This in itself sets him apart and most other greats and many others just did not have that prowess. #2, I never thought it was fair to compare players that play an entire 80 games or close to 80 games and players that only play half or more than half a season. Most players including Gretzky slow down and get fatigued usually in the last half of the season and their PPG reduces a bit. i never thought it was fair to compare players that play only 2/3 a season like Lemieux and then get injured their body was not in full fatigue factor like Gretzky was and had Gretzky played the exact same amount of games as Lemieux during a season his PPG total would be significantly higher. The fatigue factor makes a huge difference on points total and Lemieux's career stats took advantage of that.
Bobby Orr, was the best! Gretzky was a protected player!! Not to mention he had Messier, Kurri, Lowe, Anderson etc all on the same team helping him!! Not to take away from his talent, but if Bobby was protected, he wouldn't have gotten hurt so early. Bobby Orr all the way
Plus Paul Coffee, who i think may still lead all defenseman in points.
In 70-71, didn't Boston have the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th, 8th and 11th top scorers in the league? Guess we conveniently leave that part out? But yes, Gretzky did have Lowe on his team.
Gretzky is like the real life hockey version of the old Chuck Norris memes.
Gretsky in his "office" (behind the net) creating plays changed the game.
Gretzky 1.92 pts per game. Lemieux 1.88, yet had a shorter career and numerous health issues (including cancer). Gretzky was remarkable but for me it’s McDavid, Orr, Lemieux and Gretzky in that order.
Your points list is wrong. Jaromir jagr is second with 1921 points. He's on the list too but you didn't see him 😮
it appears that that list was assists instead of points.
Gretzky is the GOAT of GOATs. He's further above other elite hockey players than Jordan or LeBron are above elite basketball players.
As a Penguins fan, I do have to mention Mario Lemieux. He battled injuries and retired for 4-5 years due to Hodgkin's Lymphoma. When he retired, his career average was two points per game, a little higher than Gretzky's. After he came back, played a few more years, and retired for good, it was a little below Gretzky's, so Gretzky moved from 2nd to 1st on that list while retired! Lemieux is really the only player who's statistically in Gretzky's stratosphere. He played about 500 fewer games in his career than Gretzky did, and I think if he had been healthier, he would have passed Gretzky for career goals, but not for assists or total points.
And anyone whos played hockey will tell u its not that unheard of for good players to play with leagues above their age group. Every city with hockey allows kids to do that. Just most are only 1-2 years up wayne got 4 years up cause he was in a small town. If he was ina bit city he would have played 2 years up
Do these records include his WHA stats?
No, but if you look at his page on Hockey Reference, it'll include his WHA stats but keep them separated from the NHL numbers.
Number 66 was one of a kind to stand 6 foot 4 and about 230 lbs and dominate the way he did was incredible he had hands a shot great playmaker and crazy think is crosby has played more games than 66 lemieux never made it to 1000 games could only imagine if he played as much as gretzky hed be close to gretzkys points
Gretzky scored 500 more points by the end of his age 31 season than Lemieux did his whole career.
And durability is a factor.
But the fact is given the fall off we saw in Lemieux when he returned (particularly the last 3 years or so) he never would’ve been close to Wayne’s final total (closer than anyone else maybe, but still a solid 600 or so below.)
I could play this game the other way, though. Imagine if Wayne only played as many games as Mario… Wayne would still be the all time leading scorer (starting from the beginning of his career, Wayne could retire after his age 30 season and would have played exactly the same number of games Mario did- 915 games to be precise- and he had 2142 career points at that point compared to Mario’s total of 1723.)
Wayne sees 👀 play developing, before its fully developed ...you can see he knows play outcome, as play is in infancy
He could see into the future, like a chess grandmaster thinking 10 moves ahead
One cannot simply just list Gretzky stats without long pauses and explanations. It really is ridiculous.
Goat of goats!
I don't want to make it seem like I'm diminishing Gretzky's accomplishments, but he also played in an era where defensive systems weren't anywhere as developed as they are now, and most players wouldn't play him as physically as they would others. Mario Lemieux I think was just as good in a scoring sense, if not better (not as good at assists, though), but his lymphoma and back issues kept him from racking up stats like Gretzky. I think McDavid is more talented, but the way the game is played is different now, plus McDavid needs another decade plus at his level and getting his name on the Cup a time or two before he's fully in the argument. Bedard... could make it to that kind of level, but similar was said about Crosby and he's still rated by most behind the "top 2" mentioned above.
After some reflection, I kind of feel bad about how the above could be perceived as criticism 😅where I was mainly intending to give context. And while I still think Mario was a better scorer and McDavid _could_ be more talented (yet to be seen, give it another decade like I said), Gretzky is still the greatest legend of the game due to how far he was ahead of his peers at the time, the way he changed the style with which the game was played, and the HUGE impact he had on the sport as a whole. If you were asked to point out a single person who had the greatest influence on the sport of hockey in the US as a whole, you'd have to point to 99 and his time with the LA Kings. He introduced a ton of people to the sport, and was probably the biggest catalyst for the growth of the popularity of hockey in "non traditional" markets. He is to hockey what Michael Jordan is to basketball. Similar to MJ, you'll see arguments as to whether players before (Chamberlain) or after (Kobe, LeBron) were better, but I don't think anyone could argue about the impact MJ made on the game in the public consciousness and the stats he put up were tremendous. Same with # 99.
Stan Lee didn't draw any comic books. He was the writer. Jack Kirby was the main artist. Steve Ditko did Spider-man, though -- follow by John Romita Sr.
Bro said Isacc Newton was alright at doing physics. Cute 😂😂
Wayne Gretzky is basically a modern forward playing in an era before goaltending, defense, and forwards had evolved.
Basically he was playing like Gretzky before people learned to play like/against Gretzky
Someone must have commented this already but if you take away all of Gretzky's career goals, he'd still be the NHL's all time leading scorer with his 1963 assists being 42 points ahead of Jagr's goal and assist total of 1921. This is the most impressive stat in my opinion.
He still leads the NHL in goals all time as well even though he wasn't even a pure goal scorer. The greatest playmaker ever just happens to have the most goals too. It requires the most exceptional pure goal scorer in NHL history (Ovechkin) to have an almost flawless career of scoring roughly 50 goals a year for over 20 years to come even close to Gretzky. He might actually surpass it (which I personally hope he won't) but all these things sum up why Wayne is the best. There is only one player in NHL history who can compete with and probably is as good as Wayne and his name is Mario Lemieux. No one else.
My only claim to fame in life so far is that we were both from the same hometown of Brantford Ontario
Wayne the wilt Chamberlain of NHL
His PPG was nearly double everyone else…except Mario… Who if memory serves, had a 2+ PPG career average the first time he retired due to cancer.