Whether you watch hockey or not, you’ve probably heard of Wayne Gretzky. Gretzky is considered as the greatest hockey player of all time. He’s also debatable as the greatest athlete of all time. Even though Gretzky is one of the most decorated athletes, many people still don’t know his story. This is the story of Wayne Gretzky, “The Great One.”
When the Edmonton Oilers joined the NHL, they had Wayne Gretzky signed to a “personal services” contract. They were able to keep him as a part of their team so Gretzky didn’t have to join the NHL draft. In his first year in the NHL, Gretzky scored 137 points in 79 games. Gretzky won the Hart (MVP) Trophy his first year in the league and went on to win the next 7 in a row. By the time Gretzky was 27, he had 8 Hart trophies, 4 Stanley Cups, 2 Conn Smythe (Finals MVP) trophies, and had 1,669 points in 696 games. Gretzky had never had a season where he had fewer than 137 points and had four seasons where he scored over 200 points. At the end of the 1987-88 season, the Oilers’ owner couldn’t afford the team so to make some more money Gretzky was traded to the Los Angeles Kings for Jimmy Carson, Martin Gelinas, $15 million in cash, and three first-round picks in 1989, 1991 and 1993.
In Gretzky’s first year with the Kings, he scored 168 points in 78 games. Gretzky won the Hart Trophy for the ninth time, so in his ten seasons in the league, he had won the Hart Trophy in 9 of them. On March 9th, 1992, Wayne Gretzky assisted Tony Granato in the first period to break Gordie Howe’s all-time point record. Even though Gretzky gave the Kings three amazing seasons, they sadly weren’t able to win the Stanley Cup. In the 92-93 season Gretzky had a down year only getting 65 points, but that was because he only played 45 games. The next year he went back to his old ways and scored 130 points in 81 games. Sadly, that was his last 100+ point game, and he only played two more seasons for the Kings. He then played one season for the St. Louis Blues where he scored 21 points in 18 games. He ended his career with the New York Rangers where he played for 3 seasons and got a total of 249 points.
Here are some of the insane records that Gretzky still holds to this day:
- Most Hart trophies (9): 4 more than second place
- Most goals in a season (92), and he also holds second place with 87 goals.
- Most Assists (1,963): 714 assists more than second place
- Most goals (894): 58 more than Alex Ovechkin who is slowly catching up but might retire before beating Gretzky’s record.
- Most points (2,857): 936 points ahead of number 2
- Most hat tricks (50): 10 more than Mario Lemieux
- Most Multi-point games (824): 284 games more than second place
- Most Multi-Assist games (575): 293 games more than second place
- Most Multi-Goal games (189): 21 more games than second place
- 50 goals in 39 games
Gretzky’s dominance over hockey is the biggest dominance any other G.O.A.T. has in their sport. That’s why many consider Gretzky to be the Greatest Athlete Of All Time.
