Wayne Gretzky

Eye of Ra

Grandmaster General of the International boards
Nov 15, 2008
18,167
4,587
Malmö, Sweden
How good was Gretzky when he played for you guys?

Looking at the stats he had 90 points 2 season in row and the last season he had 60 points. Thats not bad at all, better stats than someone like Brassard for exemple.

Everyone know about his skills, but did he play with any grit and physicality at all for you guys?

1784069.jpg
 

SA16

Sixstring
Aug 25, 2006
13,360
12,700
Long Island
Well he led the team in points all three years and led the league in assists each of his first two years so pretty good. Grit and physicality was never his game so no, of course not.
 

RonnieJamesDO

Registered User
Jul 20, 2016
5
0
Stenchburg
How good was Gretzky when he played for you guys?

Looking at the stats he had 90 points 2 season in row and the last season he had 60 points. Thats not bad at all, better stats than someone like Brassard for exemple.

Everyone know about his skills, but did he play with any grit and physicality at all for you guys?

1784069.jpg

He was never a physical player, but was our scoring leader for a time and excellent on the power play.
 

Player big P

no more striptease no more flashes
Feb 4, 2010
3,673
835
Prague
How good was Gretzky when he played for you guys?

Looking at the stats he had 90 points 2 season in row and the last season he had 60 points. Thats not bad at all, better stats than someone like Brassard for exemple.

Everyone know about his skills, but did he play with any grit and physicality at all for you guys?

1784069.jpg

A little, maybe
 

KreiderHouseRules*

Guest
He was still great for us, especially in 96-97 playoffs he had 2 hat tricks (one incredibly memorable one against Florida and one against Philly). I also remember the game-winning goal he set up Robitaille for when Gretzky was in his office for like 10 seconds and waited for Robitaille to go all the back up near the blue line and come back and one-time a perfect pass home to win the game.

His vision, hockey IQ, and ability to anticipate where the puck was going to end up was second to none. I still haven't never seen anyone with that level of hockey IQ and amazing intuitive vision. He was truly a masterful player. I'm so grateful I had the privilege of watching him play.
 

Crease

Chief Justice of the HFNYR Court
Jul 12, 2004
24,104
25,569
Good enough to be one of the best 10 centers in franchise history.
 

ltsthinaz

Registered User
Dec 20, 2011
977
46
Kingman, Arizona
I remember the first time I saw him play at MSG for the Oilers early in his career. Nothing much had happened, Rangers led 3-0 in the middle of the second period. I thought "what's all the fuss about this Gretzky?". Ten minutes three goals and two assists later, I knew.

For the Rangers, he was certainly well past his prime, but he was still a great player.
 

KreiderHouseRules*

Guest
Never got so see Gretzky live considering I was born in '95 but man I feel blessed at the fact that he was a even a Ranger. Would've been cool to see

I recommend YouTube searching "Gretzky Robitaille Montreal" or "Gretzky hat trick Florida."

Nobody knew how to dismantle a defense with quick smart "tape to tape" passes and an incredible sense for anticipation like The Great One.

He was just so hockey-smart. He rarely got hit throughout his career and was able to dominate physical teams because he would just outsmart people. Once Gretzky got the puck, he would find a way to make a play almost every time.

Nobody aside from Lemiux even closes close in terms of sheer hockey sense and brilliant vision and understanding of how plays develop.

That Zuccarello backhand, no look, spinning pass/assist that goes through two defenders legs before it lands on the tape of Carcillo at the net to tap it into an open net against Philly in the playoffs a few years ago... That's something Gretzky did with regularity. Just think about how insane that is. I don't care it they make the nets the size of soccer nets, I think most of his records untouchable. Career points will never be broken.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Revel

Dark Sky Enthusiast
Oct 20, 2015
6,189
243
Dunning–Krugerville
Gretzky vs Montreal when Robitaille scored was amazing (as people have already said), and Gretzky had assists on the other 2 goals as well....from his "office":



Gretzky's 50th Hat Trick (vs the Canucks) is also pretty slick:

 

Baby Punisher

Registered User
Sponsor
Mar 30, 2012
7,434
1,663
Staten Island, NY
He was unreal in '97.

The Rangers regular season in 97' was much like this past one. Up and down but good enough to make the playoffs. I recall telling people we had a great shot at winning the first round against Florida because the Rangers had the ability to slow a fast team down with their style of play. Which is exactly what they did. Gretzky went Gretzky and Richter stood on his head. It was such a great run. Injuries ruined our momentum. The 4th line of Berg Flatly and Eastwood was a solid shut down trio and one by one they all got injured.
 

nyrage

Registered User
Aug 2, 2005
2,084
1,901
Houston, TX
It was a thrill for me to see #99 play for us. Not only was he the Great One, but he was a great ambassador for the game. Just total class.

That last game was so emotional.
 
Last edited:

Roo Returns

Skjeikspeare No More
Mar 4, 2010
9,272
4,806
Westchester, NY
Rangers sleptwalk through most of the 96-97 season. They also made the infamous Nemchinov/Noonan for Tikannen/Russ Courtnal deal at deadline which is funny because it did help for that run, but killed them on face-offs.

Gretzky by that point was much more of a playmaker. He was also playing on a line with Sundstrom and Robitaille or Bill Berg which was funny because none of those guys were scorers (well, Robitaille was but in the Eastern Conference he just wasn't as effective).

Gretz was unreal those playoffs. He kept the Rangers in the Philly series.

So many injuries; Kovalev was out for the season with an ACL tear, anyone who was watching remembers Paul Laus who was a very dirty player slew footing Bill Berg and breaking his leg, John MaClean breaking Sundstrom's wrist in round 2, and Leech playing the Flyers series with a frozen wrist. It's a shame because a Rangers/Red Wings finals would have been more entertaining than the Flyers/Wings but when the 3rd line was Dallas Eakins/Adam Graves/Luc Robitaille, you're in trouble.
 

Inferno

Registered User
Nov 27, 2005
29,681
7,949
Atlanta, GA
its funny i actually have a folder dedicated to Wayne Gretzky on my computer. Here's one of the documents i had in there..zero idea where i got it from, but i did not put this all together, and i dont know how accurate it is today, but id wager pretty damn accurate still...


Stats and Facts
Gretzky is the youngest player to score 50 goals.
Marcel Dionne's best single season point total in his career was 137 points. Gretzky matched that in his first year. In fact, Gretzky didn't have fewer than 137 points in a season until over 10 years later in 1991-92 when he had 121.
He was not considered a rookie in his first year, but he still holds the record for most points (137) in a season by a first-year player (second is Teemu Selänne with 132) and most assists (86). He also has the most points (8) and assists (7) in one game by a first-year player.
Bobby Orr is one of the greatest players in NHL history. In Gretzky's second season, he broke Orr's record for most assists in one season (102) with 109. Gretzky did not have fewer than 102 assists until the 1991-92 season.
In his second season, he broke the NHL record for most points (152) held by superstar Phil Esposito with 164. In doing so, he also became the first player to average more than two points a game in the modern NHL. Mario Lemieux is the only other player in the NHL to do that.
In his third season, Gretzky did what many thought was impossible. First, he scored 50 goals in 39 games. Next, he broke Esposito’s record for most goals in a season (76). Then, he hit the 200-point plateau. He finished the season setting new records with 212 points, 92 goals, and 120 assists.
After scoring 212 points the year before, he had what many people called a "disappointing" season in 1982-83 with only 196 points. Even though he had a "disappointing" season, he still set a new record for assists with 125.
Gretzky is the only player to reach 200 points in a season. He did it four times in 5 years between 1981-82 and 1985-86.
In 1983-84, Gretzky set a record with a 51-game point scoring streak. During that streak, he had 61 goals and 92 assists for 153 points. That is exactly three points a game, which is amazing considering that he had a separated shoulder for much of that streak. After that streak ended, he took 6 games off to rest his shoulder.
Gretzky has scored the magical 50 goals in 50 games or less three times in his career, more than anyone else. Brett Hull did it twice.
Considering that only one player besides Gretzky has ever averaged two points a game in a season, what he did in 1985-86 is truly astounding. He averaged over 2 assists a game that season. He had 163 assists in 80 games and still managed to score 52 goals.
In 1989, he broke Gordie Howe's record for most points in a career. It took Howe 26 years to get 1850 points. It took Gretzky only 10. Gretzky averaged over 180 points a season for those 10 years. His average was better than anyone else's best (except for Mario Lemieux, who achieved over 180 points once in his career).
Only two players besides Gretzky have ever had 100 assists in an NHL season. Mario Lemieux did it once with 114. Bobby Orr also did it once with 102. Gretzky did it 11 times consecutively. During that streak, his best season (1985-86) he had 163 assists and his worst season (1989-90) he had 102. He holds the top eight spots in the record books for most assists in a season.
He had 1669 points in 696 games while playing in Edmonton.
Wayne Gretzky scored more goals than anyone else in hockey history. Ignoring all of Gretzky's goals, however, he still would have won the Art Ross Trophy for leading scorer four times and still would have more career points than anyone else. His 1963 career assists are more than Gordie Howe's 1850 and Mark Messier's 1887 points.
Gretzky played a total of 1788 professional regular season and playoff games in the NHL and WHA, amassing 1072 goals and 2297 assists for a total of 3369 points. Gordie Howe is second in all three categories with 1071 goals, 1518 assists, and 2589 points.
Gretzky's career points total of 3239 (2857+382) for regular and playoff games combined is slightly higher than that of all 6 Sutter brothers combined (3209, 2934+275).

Awards
He won nine Hart Trophies, the NHL's most valuable player award, and eight of these were awarded in consecutive years from 1980-1987. In fact, Gretzky holds the record for most MVP awards of any player in American professional sports.

Hart Memorial Trophy (most valuable player) -1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989
Art Ross Trophy (scoring champion) -1981, 1982 ,1983 ,1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1994
Conn Smythe Trophy (playoff most valuable player) - 1985, 1988
Lester B. Pearson Award (outstanding player, voted by the players) -1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy (most gentlemanly player) -1980, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1999
NHL Plus/Minus Award (best plus-minus rating) -1982, 1984, 1985, 1987
Chrysler-Dodge/NHL Performer of the Year -1985, 1986, 1987
Lester Patrick Trophy (outstanding service to hockey in the United States) -1994
NHL All-Star Game MVP-1983, 1989, 1999
NHL First All-Star Team-1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1991
NHL Second All-Star Team-1980, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1994, 1997, 1998
 

Inferno

Registered User
Nov 27, 2005
29,681
7,949
Atlanta, GA
there are a ton of really great documentaries on TGO on Youtube, the ESPN one and "the life and times" are also great ones. ive got a bunch saved on my computer.

Wayne Gretzky is the only hockey player whose jersey i own...every other jersey i have has my name on the back...im usually not interested in wearing other peoples jerseys...but him....man...what a player.

also, im not sure why anyone would ever use the word "physical" to describe or talk about his game...it just doesnt make sense to me...have you not seen this commercial?

 

Graves94

Registered User
Nov 26, 2010
1,265
378
Montreal
It was a thrill for me to see #99 play for us. Not only was he the Great One, but he was a great ambassador for the game. Just total class.

That last game was so emotional.

100% Agree with this!

We all know his scoring records, stats, awards, etc...but the one thing that I truly admire and appreciate to this day, is how he carried himself on and off the ice!

To this day, true class and respect for the game!!
 

NickyFotiu

NYR 2024 Cup Champs!
Sep 29, 2011
14,651
6,286
I loved having Wayne as a NY Ranger. I wish he came too us straight from Edmonton (at age 27 instead of 36) but Gulf and Western vetoed the trade that Espo had worked out for him. Watching Wayne in our jersey was a pleasure. He was the epitome of hockey class. The only downside is I knew his back was killing him so he was playing great in spite of how bad his body felt at that time. It reminds me of the Canada Cup where Bobby Orr was the best player in the tournament basically playing on one knee. You just wonder how great they could have been if healthy.
 

eco's bones

Registered User
Jul 21, 2005
26,106
12,485
Elmira NY
I remember Gretzky playing with Niklas Sundstrom a lot and Nicklas was a good player and very good defensively but he was kind of like Jesper Fast when it came to offense---he couldn't get the puck on net. Wayne would be setting him up all the time and Nicklas was muffing shots or his timing would be all off and he'd miss it completely or he wouldn't see the play happening.

Better wingers and Gretzky would have put up even more points.

On the subject of grit and physicality---that wasn't something that Gretzky ever did. He did do his share of whining about calls etc.
 

EEDAWGZ

Registered User
Feb 14, 2010
1,026
55
Queens,NY
Can anyone find the video when Gretz made the sickest assist of all time vs Nashville, when he banked the puck of the side of the net directly to the slot on purpose, I think he set up Kevin Stevens
 

Draft Guru

Registered User
Feb 27, 2002
8,096
1,707
Long Island
Can anyone find the video when Gretz made the sickest assist of all time vs Nashville, when he banked the puck of the side of the net directly to the slot on purpose, I think he set up Kevin Stevens

I'm pretty sure he did this multiple times, one vivid memory for sure is setting up Sundstrom this way against the Devils.
 

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad