7 NHL Records Not Held by Wayne Gretzky That Will Never Be Broken

When Wayne Gretzky retired in 1999, he held (or shared) 61 NHL records, many of which will not be broken until The Next One comes along, if ever. But what are seven hockey records not held by Gretzky that we'll never see disappear from the record books, no matter what kind of player comes along? Let's take a look.

Fewest Wins in a Season

Fewest wins in a season is definitely a record most teams are embarrassed about when it comes to seeing the Top 10 list. But no one is worse than the 1974-1975 Washington Capitals with only eight wins to their name. That definitely makes things look better when your favorite team has a bad year.

By the way, to get on the top 10 list, a team must win only 13 games all season.

Most Losses in a Season by a Goaltender

This is one of those records that may stay on the books just by default due to the nature of goal tending these days. With the talent level of goalies and the chance for a team to swap out one goalie for another if their leader isn't performing night after night, a goalie losing 48 games (the record right now) in one season probably will never happen again.

There is only one goalie on the list from the 2000s (Marc Denis in 2002-03 and 2003-04), after that you have to go all the way back to 1993 to find another goalie with a horrible record. There have been some goalies in recent years to have bad seasons but they all sit in the low 30s bracket, no way near almost 50 losing games.

Most Shut Outs in a Season by a Goalie

Considering that the top 10 on this record's list are mostly from the 1920s with only two goalies slipping on the list since then, I think this record is safe. The most shut outs in a season by a goalie sits at 22 by George Hainsworth in 1928-29 with the Montreal Canadiens followed by Alec Connell at 15 with the original Ottawa Senators. Connell's second place stat shows exactly why this record is safe.

In recent times, Martin Brodeur has had 12 shut outs in a season (2006-07), but it's going to take a wonder goalie to get past the 15 mark, let alone past 22.

Fewest Losses in a Season

While the Washington Capitals are on this list with only 15 losses in 2009-10, they needed to cut that down by half to break this record.

The Montreal Canadiens own the top four spots on the fewest losses in season (regular season only) list with eight being their lowest count, followed by two 10 loss seasons, and one 11 loss season, all in the 1970s.

Losing less than a 10th of the games you play (the regular season is 82 games right now, this record is for 70 or more game seasons) is an extremely difficult task for a team. It will take an almost perfect team to beat the record, something that is next to impossible to put together.

Most Goals in a Season for a Rookie

Teemu Selanne was a rookie with nothing to lose and a whole lot to gain when he tallied up 76 goals during his rookie season in 1992-93 (also tying with Alexander Mogilny for the League lead). The only rookie since then to even break 50 goals was Alex Ovechkin with 52 during his rookie season.

Unfortunately Selanne didn't live up to that Rookie season, taking four seasons to get back to the 50 goal mark in 1996-97 with 51.

Most Consecutive Complete Games by a Goalie

There's nothing like a dependable goalie and Glenn Hall was that sort of man, playing 502 consecutive full games for the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks from 1955 to November 7, 1962 when he was taken out of the game in the first period due to an injury.

How many goalies play a complete season without being pulled or having a few nights off per season these days, let alone playing like that for multiple consecutive seasons? Glenn Hall really was an iron man.

Best Plus-Minus Total

It is time for another hockey great to enter the record picture with Bobby Orr. Not only did Orr transform the defenseman position in hockey, he also has the best plus-minus total with plus-124 in 1970-71. The only other player to come close to that was Larry Robinson in 1976-71 with a plus-120.

Other than those two players, no one has been over plus-98 and no one has went over a plus-60 in the last 20 years (Zdeno Chara was a plus-33 last season).