Was Wayne Gretzky Actually the Greatest Hockey Player Ever? The Case For and Against

Wayne Gretzky holds 61 NHL records including 2,857 career points — a number so extreme that his career assists alone (1,963) are more than any other player's total points. The statistical case for Gretzky as the greatest of all time is essentially unanswerable: no player in any major North American professional sport holds such a dominant position relative to their peers. The counter-argument centers on era: Gretzky played in the high-scoring 1980s when NHL averages were 7–8 goals per game. Mario Lemieux's per-game numbers adjusted for era were comparable — and Lemieux achieved his while managing serious illness. The honest answer: Gretzky is the most dominant statistical outlier in NHL history. Lemieux may have been the most naturally talented player.