As NBA scoring mark goes down, Golden Knights see Gretzky’s 2,857 mark as safe
The NBA scoring record seemed impossible to break when Kareem Abdul-jabbar retired in 1989 with 38,387 career points.
It was a record that lasted more than three decades until Lebron James surpassed the legend on Feb. 7. James could play a few more seasons and pad his total before he decides to call it a career. It may be decades before anyone in the NBA can cross the 40,000-point plateau.
But what about the NHL’S points record?
“No chance,” Golden Knights forward Jonathan Marchessault said.
Wayne Gretzky retired in 1999 with 2,857 points following a 20-year career that will likely never be mirrored again. “The Great One” had 14 consecutive seasons of at least 100 points — nine with at least 150 points, and four seasons of 200-plus points.
Gretzky retired 936 points ahead of Jaromir Jagr’s career total; Jagr’s best season was 149 points (1995-96).
“It’s hard to say a record will never be broken, but it’s going to be pretty damn hard,” Vegas defenseman Alec Martinez said.
There will be a time within the next two or three years that Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin — health pending — will break Gretzky’s goals record of 894. Ovechkin is 83 goals away with no sign of slowing down.
But adding the assist component is another factor entirely. Gretzky finished with 1,963 assists, 714 more than next on the list, Hall of Famer Ron Francis.
Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby, who is the league’s active leader with 930 career assists, is 29 points away from 1,500, still more than 1,400 points away from catching Gretzky.scoring in the NBA is more linear. Baskets are worth one, two or three points; scoring in hockey doesn’t add up as quickly.
Goalies in the 1980s had much more limited protection than they do now. Equipment was minimal, and the room for trying to make outstretched saves was the difference between a goal and a broken arm.
The rules for goalies have also changed. Since the trapezoid rule was introduced in 2004 — where a goalie can’t play the puck outside of the trapezoid behind the net — that’s limited goalies from playing the puck more aggressively in the corners. They’re more confined to that one area of the ice.
Goalies have also gotten better while the scoring has gone up. The last two years have seen the highest goals-per-game averages around the league in almost 30 years. Teams are averaging 3.15 goals per game this year, up from 3.14 last season, and the highest since 3.24 in 1994.
But the league was averaging an .895 save percentage in 1994, whereas now it’s averaging .906. When the Golden Knights entered the NHL in 2017, goalies averaged a .912 save percentage and 2.78 goals against that year.
“I think the game’s evolved tremendously where you’re not allowed to achieve that milestone,” Vegas forward Keegan Kolesar said. “Whereas basketball, the game’s stayed the way it has from era to era. You’ve got a generational player like (James) who uses his God-given ability, has worked on it and was able to equate that record.”
The only player that has a puncher’s chance of coming close to Gretzky is Connor Mcdavid. The Edmonton Oilers superstar, who just turned 26 in January, has 97 points through 54 games this season. Mcdavid is on pace to have the first 130-point season of the post-lockout era (from 2004).
Mcdavid has been on a torrid scoring pace since January 2021. That season, which was just 56 games due to the pandemic, Mcdavid had 105 points. The next season, he had 123 with a career-high 44 goals.
“I think if you’re going to see anyone do it, it’d be Connor,” said center Jack Eichel, who was selected one pick after Mcdavid went No. 1 overall in the 2015 NHL Draft. “You have to have a lot of things go your favor. I think it’d be tough to do those years where he’s having close to 200 points, and some of those seasons were astronomical numbers.”
Mcdavid, at 794 career points entering the week, is likely to become the second player ever to reach 2,000 points, but that’s also pending health.
Gretzky played at least 70 games in 17 seasons. Mcdavid has missed only 13 total games through seven seasons since missing 35 in his rookie season due to injury. On that pace, there’s plenty of gas left in Mcdavid’s tank.
“What Connor is doing right now is pretty remarkable, the way he produces points,” Eichel said. “And where he’s at in his career, it’s remarkable. To catch Gretz would be a tough feat, but you never know, right? I’m sure no one ever thought (Ovechkin) would be where he is now, and he is there.”
Should Mcdavid never get there, then who will? Maybe it’s another Connor — the likely No. 1 pick in this summer’s draft, Connor Bedard.
“Whether it’s Mcdavid, or Connor Bedard, or some 14-yearold kid that’s playing somewhere right now,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “I imagine there will come a day, but right now ,I would say no.”
Eichel added, however, to never say never.
“Records were meant to be broken,” he said. “The way that the game’s played, it’s changed a bit. … I’m not sure. It’s tough to say.”