I've been reading a lot of threads about Gretzky, which compells me to post this. People saying he was just a product of his time and the watered down NHL and expansion and his great teammates and the "No Hit Gretzky Rule" conspiracies and the....you name it. So here it goes:
What so many people are missing (the people who say Crosby and Ovi and Malken, etc would score just as many points as him if they played then) is WHY Gretzky was so far ahead, and HOW he did it. The answer is so simple that no one would ever be able to figure it out just watching on TV in real time (without slow motion or replay). It was an ability to simplify the game to the extent that the past, present, and future were all one pattern, and each moment within the game was just a part of the overall pattern. Gretzky would not react just to the present moment (or better put, he was, but the present moment was not just the present moment to him). He was reacting to ALL future possibilities within each moment, to the overall pattern, if that makes any sense.
Ok, ready to finally understand how Gretzky had more assists than anyone else had points? It doesn't seem that amazing unless you really understand it (we all "know" it's because of his vision and hockey sense, but what does that really mean?), so here it is. Gretzky had 5 assists this game, but his most amazing assist does not look the most spectacular, not at all. He has far more beautiful assists (to the eye) during this game in fact. But watch what he does at 1:36:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPMhXNuzcSo&feature=related
Looks like a boring play, right? What's so special, right? You see, if you watched Gretzky on TV, you never really knew what he was doing. So let's break it down: He knew Gilmour was about to get out of the penalty box (on the opposite side of the ice, away from the camera), so instead of dumping the puck into the zone during the penalty kill on a routine 2 on 2 -- LIKE EVERYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD WOULD DO -- he did something we call "genius". They say the most simple things are derived from genius, right? Well, this is an example of that. Instead of dumping the puck into the zone, Gretzky peels back toward the boards and drops the puck for Rochefort, who was trailing the play. Now because Gilmour was about to leave the penalty box (timing was something Gretzky was innately in tune with, and in fact used to count down seconds of the game and penalty time in his head while playing), Gretzky knew Gilmour would have a free shot being the extra player on the ice. Now that 2 on 2 is a 3 on 2 because of something so simple it doesn't even look like anything special in the moment. That moment in which he dropped the puck and created a 3 on 2 looked absolutely normal, because Gretzky caused it to be "normal". But how many players in the world would have decided not to dump that puck in at that moment??? The answer is NO ONE. No one, except for Gretzky. That's why he finished his career with more assists than anyone else has points. Gretzky was able to read the play several steps ahead, all in the present moment, because the future was simply an aspect of the present to him. And he didn't even have to think about it! His brain was simply able to read it and react to it as though he were a part of it -- the cause, as well as the effect.
So yes, Ovi and Lemieux and others may have LOOKED more spectacular, because all we see are the physical plays they make. With Gretzky, hardly anyone actually GOT it (nor did the players he played against, and exploited that). Gretzky simply "normalized" the patterns of the game to his liking. Looked boring, but no one else in history has been able to do it. And he did it every shift, every game, every season, every series, for his entire career. Go figure.
That's why Gretzky in his prime would win the scoring title today, and would dominate while doing so. I can't imagine what he'd do with no two line pass. He'd have a field day.