By heeding his dad”s urgings to go where the puck would be , and not to where it had been he outshone his rivals.
Is he the Great One? At a time when 100 points a year was a stellar performance, Wayne was boasting 200 plus. Four times he accomplished this feat , no one else has ever done it once , peaking at 215 in 1985-86 . In 1981 he broke the 50 goals in 50 games record long held by the legendary Maurice Richard . He was just 20 years old. With 9 goals in the last two games he did it in just 39 games. Gretzky went on to do it again nine times in the 80′s!
Wayne accomplished a fantastic 92 goals in the 1980 season easily broke the record of 76 held by Phil Esposito. Additionally Wayne owns the record for assists with 163 in 1986.
In the 80′s he alone won the Hart and the Ross trophies. Gretzky won the most valuable player trophy (Hart) nine times , more than any other team sport super star , and the Ross scoring trophy 7 times in the 1980′s , plus three more times in the ’90s . In those years Wayne ws the best player on the greatest team, leading the Edmonton Oilers to four Cups in five seasons and winning post season MVP honors two times .
The shifty Gretzky did not have the look of a superstar at 5’11″ and 175lbs. His huge talent lay elsewhere, not in brawn and muscle. Gretzky anticipated plays seconds before they developped, then played accordingly.
Wayne could see what should happen, where the others players would be in the following moments .
Wayne couldn’t beat people with strenght ; Wayne did not have a hard shot; Wayne wasn’t the quickest of skaters . His eyes, his anticipation and his smarts had to do most of the work.