How Many Goals Does Wayne Gretzky Have?

While players come and go, legends remain. Such is the relationship between legendary ice hockey player Wayne Gretzky and the National Hockey league. Talking about NHL without references to Gretzky seems incomplete. Gretzky did not just revolutionize the sport in Canada but also made it a household name in the United States and other parts of the world.

Hailing from the streets of Brantford, Ontario to becoming a leading goal-scorer in the NHL, here is the epic NHL journey of Wayne Gretzky.

Wayne Gretzky’s road to 894 goals

Gretzky’s ice hockey journey began with his father, the legendary Walter Gretzky, who took efforts to teach his son to hold the stick at the young age of two and a half years. It was almost destined for Gretzky to fall in love with the sport. After all, the White Tornado went on to become a prodigy for the game.

In the following season, he became the first player in NHL history to average more than two points a game. It did not end there, in the 1981–82 season, The Great One set the NHL regular season record for goals (92), assists (120), and points (212). It soon became a habit for Gretzky to break his previous records and set new ones.

During his time in Edmonton, Gretzky received the Art Rose Memorial Trophy (which is given to the leading NHL scorer during a particular season) seven consecutive times, from 1981 to 1987. He was also the first player to win the Hart Memorial Trophy (given to most valuable player) eight consecutive times, from 1980 to 1987, and was successful to lay his hands one last time in 1989 during his tenure with Los Angeles Kings.

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While Gretzky was enjoying his time in Edmonton and breaking records, he also inched closer to Gordie Howe’s 801 leading NHL goal-scorer back then. However, in 1988 everyone’s attention from Gretzky’s upcoming record was shifted to his trade to LA Kings. In fact, it went on to become the most-controversial trade in NHL history.

Gretzky’s saga to 894 goals continued…

After several breaking news, headlines, blame games, and press conferences, Gretzky moved to the City of Angeles. And here he resumed his goal-scoring chase.

During the 1989–90 NHL season, Gretzky broke Gordie Howe’s all-time scoring record of 1,850 points. Although it was a huge achievement, the mission was only half accomplished. A couple of seasons later, during the 1993–94 season, Gretzky finally broke Howe’s record of 801 career goals to become the all-time leading scorer of the NHL. But, Gretzky did not stop there.

He went on to play until 1999 when he finally ‘dropped the hockey stick’. In total, Gretzky scored 894 goals throughout his career. And even after 24 years, it is still the highest goal-scoring record in NHL history.

However, current NHL star Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals is determined to break Gretzky’s record. So far, Ovechkin has scored 812 goals, while Gretzky eagerly awaits for him to break his long-held record.

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Records are meant to be broken. However, with his people skills and the humble lad that he is, the personality that Gretzky holds has surely soared to become larger than life.