Is Wayne Gretzky Truly "The Great One"?

There is one common argument that comes up, regardless of what sport you are talking about—who is the all-time best?

Naturally, when this type of argument comes about there are cases to be made for each and every player involved in the discussions. It seems as if each argument ends up in a stalemate with the impossible task of comparing stars from different generations.

So to help knock out one of these arguments, I’m going to take a look at Wayne Gretzky and compare some of his stats to other players' in an attempt to see if he truly was the greatest player to ever play the game of hockey, or if his success was just a result of the generation that he played in.

Gretzky’s highest point output was in 1985-86, when he scored 215 points in only 80 games, as the National Hockey League (NHL) hadn’t yet expanded their schedule to the full 82 games. To put into comparison how remarkable that point total is, Alexander Ovechkin won the scoring race this year with 112 points, which is an average of 1.36 Points Per Game (PPG). During Gretzky’s record-setting season, he had 168 assists alone.

The 200-point plateau has only been hit three other times, and of course all by Gretz himself—in 1981-82 (212 in 80), 1983-84 (205 in 74), and 1984-85 (208 in 80).

In the NHL’s inaugural season in 1917-18, the schedule was only 22 games long. The Montreal Canadiens' Joe Malone led the league in scoring with 44 points, which is an average of 2.18 PPG. However, if he were to play a full 80-game schedule, that would only have sat Malone with 174 points.

Good? Damn Good! Gretzky Good? No.

Then in 1929-30, with the schedule now doubled to 44 games, Boston Bruins’ Ralph “Cooney” Weiland led the NHL with 73 points. Despite the increase of games, Cooney`s 1.66 PPG was still lower than Malone’s, and would have only been 133 points over a 80-game schedule.

In 1943-44, another Bruin, Herb Cain, notched up an impressive 82 points in a 50-game schedule. Cain earned 1.64 PPG—which would still only be 131 over 80 games. Still not even close. NEXT.

Gordie Howe is often called the greatest player to ever play the game, but his highest output was in 1952-53 when he scored 1.36 PPG—95 points in 70 games, which would translate to 109 points in an 80-game season.

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