Wayne Gretzky is the greatest player of all time, and he could really do it all.
Sure, he wasn’t the best at defending, but he did kill penalties. But offensively, nobody has ever been better. Gretzky is the top scorer, assisters, and point producer in NHL history and the only player ever to have his number retired league-wide.
When Gretzky retired, he had 60 records to his name, and at one time, years after his retirement, it went up to 61, as Mario Lemieux’s point-per-game dropped some after his comeback.
Gretzky’s best-ever season came in the 1985-86 season. He scored a whopping 215 points in 80 games for the Edmonton Oilers, but this was during a time when more goals were scored.
Connor McDavid, widely considered the best player in the world, has reached 153 points at best.
But nowadays, teams score way fewer goals per game, making many of Gretzky’s records nearly unbeatable.
Gretzky was respected by everyone and was a huge fan favorite all across the league.
Everybody knew they were witnessing greatness every time he stepped onto the ice. But if there was one thing Gretzky lacked, it was the ability and will to block shots.
Gretzky played in plenty of penalty kills but simply refused to get in the way of the puck.
”They used to say to me, ’Do you ever block a shot?’ And I said, ’Why would I? That’s why they pay the goalie,’” Gretzky said on the This Past Weekend podcast with comedian Theo Von.
”That’s not my job. I don’t ask him to score goals. He doesn’t need to ask me to block shots,” Gretzky said, laughing.
Gretzky even said he had some tricks to get out of the way.
”I kind of faked that you’re in the lane, but the guy had a lot of room to shoot around you,” The Great One said.
