I think you missed my point, however. I said that records like 92 goals and 215 points can and might be beaten. But 163 assists will not.
Why? Because (a) 92 goals and (b) 163 assists are not comparable records. You might think they are because they're both Gretzky's highest respective totals, but they're not. 163 assists is on a completely different level.
Gretzky's 92 goals would have been matched by Gretzky himself in 1984 if not for injury. Brett Hull scored 86. Mario 85, and who knows about in 1993? Adjust scoring levels in 2008 and maybe Ovechkin is up around 80-85 or whatever. People have come close.
Even 215 points is theoretically approachable. Gretzky's 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, and 1986 (even 1987 before the last four games of the season and 1988 without injury) are all comparable. Lemieux's 1989 and 1993 likewise.
163 assists is different. Unlike the 92 goals or the 215 points (or 2.77PPG in 1984), Gretzky himself never once came close to that total. It was a total one-off.
To put it in perspective: Mario Lemieux -- arguably the most talented offensive player in the 125+ year history of the sport -- managed once to reach 114 assists, and never higher. That is, the most individually-talented player's greatest assists' season was short of Gretzky's total by about 50 assists. And that's by far the best he ever did.
So, this particular record is on a completely different level.
The best "assists season" since Gretzky fell out of the scoring race twenty years ago is Joe Thornton in 2006, when he had 96 assists. The most assists since Gretzky's prime ended in 1991 is Adam Oates with 97 for Boston in 1993. So, the best raw numbers we've seen in terms of assists in the past quarter-century are about 65 assists short of the record.
The 2005-06 season when Thornton had his big year was around 'average' in terms of historical scoring levels. By contrast, 1993 was sort-of a higher-than-usual scoring season for elite players. Gretzky's biggest season here (1986) "adjusts" (by historical League average scoring levels) to around 130 assists, and Thornton, as mentioned, stays around the same (96-ish).
In other words, the best playmaking season since (Gretzky) 27 years ago falls nearly 35 assists short of the record. (I believe Thornton's 2006 season is actually the highest 'adjusted' assists season in modern history, comparable with Lemieux's and Orr's best.)
So, in the history of the League, 35 assists short in "adjusted" levels and 50 short in raw numbers is the very-best anyone has managed in 110 years.
Kiss that one goodbye!
