In his fifth season in the National Hockey League, Wayne Gretzky set one of his 61 records.
A then 23-year-old Gretzky recorded an assist two minutes into an Edmonton Oilers’ 7-3 win over the Los Angeles Kings. The assist, the first of a six-point night against what would be his next team in the NHL, was Gretzky’s 1,000th regular season point in the NHL.
On that night in Edmonton, Gretzky became the youngest player to reach 1,000 points, also accomplishing the feat faster than any player in league history. He reached the milestone in 424 games, 296 games quicker than Montreal Canadiens’ legend Guy Lafleur who previously held the plateau at 720 games. Gretzky passed Lafleur again when he reached 2,000 points, reaching the mark in just 433 games.
The News is looking back at notable events from Medicine Hat’s history as we celebrated our 140th publishing year on Oct. 29.
The 1984-85 NHL season proved to be a memorable one for Gretzky and the Oilers, who captured their second Stanley Cup a year after winning the franchises’ first title. The win was also the second in a string of four Cups in five seasons, a run divided only by the Canadiens who captured the 1986 Stanley Cup.
Gretzky won his sixth straight Hart Memorial Trophy as league MVP and the fifth of his seven straight Art Ross Trophies after recording his third 200 point season.
The ‘Great One’ played three more seasons in Edmonton before he was traded to Los Angeles in the trade of all trades. He played 11 more seasons in the NHL with the Kings, St. Louis Blues and New York Rangers before retiring at the end of the 1999 season.
He left the NHL with his infamous No. 99 hanging in the rafters of each team’s rink, retired league wide in 2000. Gretzky was credited by the NHL Record Book with 61 records when he hung up the skates on April 18, 1999.
He set records in both the regular season and the playoffs, including regular season goals (894), assists (1,963), points (2,857) and hat-tricks (50). The next closest player in total points for the regular season is Jaromir Jagr at 1,921.
As of the end of the 2024-25 season, more than 25 years since he retired, he still holds or shares 55 of those records.
On April 6, 2025, 26 years after Gretzky scored his last regular season goal, Alexander Ovechkin broke his record for most regular season goals.
