Edmonton Oilers’ Wayne Gretzky won his seventh straight Hart Trophy and his sixth straight Art Ross Trophy. This season saw Gretzky score 52 goals, and set records of 163 assists and 215 points. This was the fourth time in five years that Gretzky reached the 200 point plateau; no other player would reach the 200 point mark, although Mario Lemieux would garner 199 points in 76 games in 1989.
Gretzky picked up a first period assist to move ahead of Gordie Howe as the NHL’s all time leader in career assists. Howe had 1,049 assists in 26 years, Gretzky 1,050 in 9 years. Oilers beat the Kings 5-3.
Gretzky played 1,487 games, scored 894 goals, had 1,963 assists, 2,857 points, 91 game-winning goals, 9 Hart Memorial Trophies, 5 Lady Byng Memorial Trophies, 18 All-Star Games, and is a 4-time Stanley Cup Champion.
Gretzky played 20 seasons in the NHL for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed “The Great One”, he has been called “the greatest hockey player ever” by many sportswriters, players, and the NHL itself. He is the leading point-scorer in NHL history, with more assists than any other player has points, and is the only NHL player to total over 200 points in one season – a feat he accomplished four times. In addition, he tallied over 100 points in 16 professional seasons, 14 of them consecutive. At the time of his retirement in 1999, he held 40 regular-season records, 15 playoff records, and six All-Star records. In addition to being its greatest scorer, Gretzky was the most gentlemanly superstar in the modern history of the NHL. He won the Lady Byng Trophy for sportsmanship and performance five times, and he often spoke out against fighting in hockey.
Edmonton Oilers Wayne Gretzky scored his 70th goal of the season and added pair of assists in a 5-3 Oilers win over the Washington Capitals to tie an NHL record with his 153rd point of the season.
During the 1981–82 season, he surpassed a record that had stood for 35 years: 50 goals in 50 games. Set by Maurice “Rocket” Richard during the 1944–45 NHL season and tied by Mike Bossy during the 1980–81 NHL season, Gretzky accomplished the feat in only 39 games. His 50th goal of the season came on December 30, 1981 in the final seconds of a 7–5 win against the Philadelphia Flyers and was his fifth of the game.Later that season, Gretzky broke Esposito’s record for most goals in a season (76) on February 24, 1982, scoring three goals to help beat the Buffalo Sabres 6–3. He ended the 1981–82 season with records of 92 goals, 120 assists, and 212 points in 80 games, becoming the only player in NHL history to break the two hundred-point mark. That year, Gretzky became the first hockey player and first Canadian to be named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year. He was also named 1982 “Sportsman of the Year” by Sports Illustrated. The Canadian Press also named Gretzky Newsmaker of the Year in 1982.
Gretzky ended the season scoring 73 goals. Hi 50th goal came on January 26, 1985, (his 24th birthday,) on the first of three goals he scored in a 6-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was the third time Gretzky scored 50 goals in 50 games, and the third time his 50/50 goal was part of a hat trick.
That season Gretzky once again won the Art Ross Trophy by reaching the 200 plateau for the third time in four years. He also set a new record for assists in a season with 135 and won his sixth straight Hart Trophy.
The NHL officially defines “50 goals in 50 games” to mean that a player scores 50 goals in the team’s first 50 games of the season. This feat has been officially achieved eight times by five different players:
Maurice Richard:
- 1944–45: 50 in 50 games (50 in 50)
Mike Bossy:
- 1980–81: 50 in 50 games (50 in 50)
Wayne Gretzky:
- 1981–82: 61 in 50 games (50 in 39)
- 1983–84: 61 in 50 games (50 in 42)
- 1984–85: 53 in 50 games (50 in 49)
Mario Lemieux:
- 1988-89: 54 in 50 games (50 in 46)
Brett Hull
- 1990–91: 52 in 50 games (50 in 49)
- 1991–92: 50 in 50 games (50 in 50)
“Nobody’s a natural. You work hard to get good and then work to get better. It’s hard to stay on top.” - Paul Coffey
At the age of 23, Gretzky would become the youngest player in NHL history to reach that mark. He became only the 18th player in the National Hockey League (NHL) to score more than 1,000 points. He did it in his 424th career game. The previous record was held by Guy Lafleur who did it in 720 games.
Photo via TheStar: Philadelphia’s Bill Barber makes the desperate dive as Wayne Gretzky is fires the puck from the blue line into an empty net for his 50th goal of the season in Edmonton on Dec. 30, 1981. His five-goal night pushed him to the magic mark in just 39 games.
Scoring 50 goals in one season is one of the most celebrated individual achievements in the National Hockey League (NHL). The feat was first accomplished in 1944–45 by Maurice Richard. Bernie Geoffrion became the second player to reach the milestone 16 years later in 1960–61. Fifty-goal seasons increased in frequency during 1970s and 1980s as offense increased across the league. By 1980, it had been reached 24 times in NHL history; the plateau was reached 76 times in the 1980s alone.
Wayne Gretzky scored his 50th goal in his 39th game in 1981–82, the fastest any player has done so. He also shares the record for most 50-goal seasons with Mike Bossy, each having reached the milestone nine times in their careers. A record fourteen players exceeded 50 goals in 1992–93, after which offence declined across the league, and with it the number of players to reach the total. For the first time in 29 years, no player scored 50 goals in 1998–99. The mark has been reached 186 times in NHL history by 90 players. Two players, Steven Stamkos (60) and Evgeni Malkin (50), reached the 50-goal plateau in 2011–12.
During that span, Gretzky scored 61 goals and had 92 assists for a total of 153 points (exactly 3 points per game).
“The Great One” holds 40 regular season records,15 playoff records, and five All-Star records to make a grand total of 60 NHL records credited to his name.
Upon his retirement, Gretzky owned 61 records; two of them have since been broken, and he has gained another one.
His then-record 15 regular season overtime assists has been broken three times and is currently held by Mark Messier with 18.
He also held the All-Star assist record with 12, but that has been broken as well and is held by Joe Sakic with 16.
Gretzky finished his career with a 1.921 points per game average. Only Mario Lemieux had a better points per game average at that time.
Lemieux came out of retirement in 2000, and his points per game average has dropped to 1.883 before he retired again in the middle of the 2005–2006 season.
However, one of Gretzky’s more impressive feats was his 51-game point scoring streak from Oct. 5, 1983, to Jan. 28, 1984.
via: bleacherreport.com
“Nobody’s a natural. You work hard to get good and then work to get better.” - Paul Coffey
“Somebody will always break your records. It is how you live that counts.” - Earl Campbell
“Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.” - Wayne Gretzky
