{"id":1553044,"date":"2023-03-11T14:39:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-11T19:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?p=1553044"},"modified":"2023-03-11T14:39:05","modified_gmt":"2023-03-11T19:39:05","slug":"wayne-gretzky-highest-scoring-season-is-even-more-impressive-than-400-point-total","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/wayne-gretzky-highest-scoring-season-is-even-more-impressive-than-400-point-total\/","title":{"rendered":"Wayne Gretzky's Highest-Scoring Season Is Even More Impressive Than Its 400-Point Total Suggests"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>When it comes to the NHL record book, most conversations around scoring begin and end with <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wayne-gretzky-biography-career-net-worth-family-top-stories\/\">Wayne Gretzky<\/a>. While you could make arguments about different eras &#8212; it's tough to watch the immobile goalies of the 1980s and not feel like anyone could have scored a goal &#8212; the Great One's numerical superiority speaks for itself. Whether you're looking at his 215-point 1985-86 campaign or the fact that he'd still be the league's all-time leading scorer based solely on assists, No. 99 rules the roost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That dominance extends beyond the NHL, though. Consider that, at age 10, Gretzky scored an incredible 400 points during a season of youth hockey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And, if that total isn't impressive enough, consider this forgotten detail: the future star wasn't even playing forward that year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-wayne-gretzky-tallied-400-points-in-youth-hockey-while-playing-as-a-defenseman\">Wayne Gretzky tallied 400 points in youth hockey while playing as a defenseman <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Wayne Gretzky once scored 400 goals in a season\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GSZSbz6la6I?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>While the likes of Bobby Orr (and more modern players like Brett Burns and Erik Karlsson) have proven that defensemen can be offensive contributors, forwards are still the ones who are tasked with shouldering most of the scoring. During a single season of youth hockey, though, <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/tag\/wayne-gretzky\/\">Wayne Gretzky<\/a> shattered that stereotype.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show (h\/t the <a href=\"https:\/\/chicago.suntimes.com\/2015\/5\/29\/18608277\/wayne-gretzky-scored-400-goals-in-one-season-as-a-defenseman\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Chicago Sun-Times<\/a>), Gretzky said that his highest-scoring season consisted of 400 goals. Not wanting to be perceived as a one-way player, though, he insisted that he played defense during that year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While it would be easy to assume that the Great One simply meant he back-checked and otherwise fulfilled his defensive responsibilities, that's not the case. He was literally playing as a defenseman during that campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI was playing on a team of 10-year-olds,\u201d No. 99 recalled. \u201cIt was my fifth year on the team. So, the coach came to me and said, &#8216;I'm gonna make you a defenseman,' and, of course, it crushed me. I remember thinking, \u2018Oh my god, this guy is ruining my life. I've got to be a defenseman.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While it seemed like there was a silver lining &#8212; the team had two defensive pairs and three forward lines, so Gretzky was going to get some extra ice time by playing on the back end &#8212; things got even more dramatic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The very first game we played, one of the four defensemen got hurt. Broke his leg and was out for the season,&#8221; the NHL legend remembered. &#8220;So, basically, I played the whole game every game on defense.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1250\" height=\"879\" src=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Wayne-Gretzky.jpg?w=925&#038;strip=all&#038;quality=89\" alt=\"Wayne Gretzky skating during an Oilers alumni game.\" class=\"wp-image-1553097\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Wayne Gretzky never had any problems scoring, even as a defenseman. | Jeff Vinnick\/NHLI via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>While you could argue that positions are somewhat insignificant at the youth level &#8212; 10-year-olds are past the &#8220;everyone converge on the puck&#8221; age bracket, but there's still some level of flexibility &#8212; I'd still assert that lining up as a defenseman, even nominally, makes Gretzky's performance that much more impressive. Not only did he have positional responsibilities (no matter how insignificant they may have been), but there was probably a bit of unfamiliarity. Even if the game is theoretically the same, forwards and defensemen have different roles and landmarks on the ice. The Great One, for all his talent, couldn't simply skate to the same spot that he always did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gretzky's ice time could have also been a gift and a curse. While playing the entire game allowed him to pile up points, there was almost definitely a fatigue factor. Even at age 10, staying on the ice without a single breather is a physical challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Is that the most impressive campaign that Wayne Gretzky ever had? You can be the judge of that. Scoring 400 points while playing out of position, even at a youth level, is certainly quite the performance, though.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While Wayne Gretzky never had any problem finding the back of the net, he usually did so from the forward position. One season, however, was different.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":1553097,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4887],"tags":[4894,10863],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v22.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Wayne Gretzky Scored 400 Points in a Single Season Playing Out of Position - Sports7<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"During his time on the ice, Wayne Gretzky never had a problem scoring goals. Just consider one impressive Pee Wee hockey season.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/wayne-gretzky-highest-scoring-season-is-even-more-impressive-than-400-point-total\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wayne Gretzky Scored 400 Points in a Single Season Playing Out of Position - Sports7\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"During his time on the ice, Wayne Gretzky never had a problem scoring goals. Just consider one impressive Pee Wee hockey season.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/wayne-gretzky-highest-scoring-season-is-even-more-impressive-than-400-point-total\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sports7\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-11T19:39:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-11T19:39:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Wayne-Gretzky.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"879\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joe Kozlowski\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@JoeKozlowski_\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joe Kozlowski\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/wayne-gretzky-highest-scoring-season-is-even-more-impressive-than-400-point-total\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/wayne-gretzky-highest-scoring-season-is-even-more-impressive-than-400-point-total\/\",\"name\":\"Wayne Gretzky Scored 400 Points in a Single Season Playing Out of Position - Sports7\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/wayne-gretzky-highest-scoring-season-is-even-more-impressive-than-400-point-total\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/wayne-gretzky-highest-scoring-season-is-even-more-impressive-than-400-point-total\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Wayne-Gretzky.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-11T19:39:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-11T19:39:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/#\/schema\/person\/54fa4083caedd42dabe199fbc16f92a2\"},\"description\":\"During his time on the ice, Wayne Gretzky never had a problem scoring goals. 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He covers the NBA and soccer for Sports7, with specialties in legacy NBA players such as Michael Jordan and Premier League club Arsenal. Off the clock, he's a Kansas City Chiefs fan and a hockey goalie. Growing up loving Shaquille O'Neal and reading everything he could about the great big men throughout NBA history \u2014 likely because he was still tall enough, at least relative to his peers, to play center \u2014 he's continued to love learning about and exploring the historical and story-based sides of the basketball archives. As for Arsenal, Joe spent a year living in London and latched onto the local support of the club. He's barely missed a match since, loving Arsene Wenger, enduring the Banter Era, and following along through rebuilds. The Premier League interest developed into a passionate following of the Champions League, Europe's big five league, and international soccer as a whole when played at the highest level. Regardless of the sport, Joe is captivated by the stories of athletes beyond the box scores and how they push the envelope \u2014 both in terms of what we think a human is capable of accomplishing and how they find new competitive tactics to win.\",\"sameAs\":[\"\",\"JoeKozlowski_\",\"\",\"\",\"\"],\"jobTitle\":\"Joe Kozlowski | Sports7 Writer\",\"email\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Wayne Gretzky Scored 400 Points in a Single Season Playing Out of Position - Sports7","description":"During his time on the ice, Wayne Gretzky never had a problem scoring goals. 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He covers the NBA and soccer for Sports7, with specialties in legacy NBA players such as Michael Jordan and Premier League club Arsenal. Off the clock, he's a Kansas City Chiefs fan and a hockey goalie. Growing up loving Shaquille O'Neal and reading everything he could about the great big men throughout NBA history \u2014 likely because he was still tall enough, at least relative to his peers, to play center \u2014 he's continued to love learning about and exploring the historical and story-based sides of the basketball archives. As for Arsenal, Joe spent a year living in London and latched onto the local support of the club. He's barely missed a match since, loving Arsene Wenger, enduring the Banter Era, and following along through rebuilds. The Premier League interest developed into a passionate following of the Champions League, Europe's big five league, and international soccer as a whole when played at the highest level. 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