According to Twitter historian, Mike Commito (you should really follow him if you don’t already), Wayne Gretzky made some NHL history on this day back in 1980. The Great One became the first player in NHL history to score 100 points in a single season before even hitting 20 years of age.
It’s pretty amazing to see the offensive numbers these guys were putting up in those days, and Gretzky was obviously the alpha in that department. In 1979-80, a still teen-aged Wayne Gretzky put up his most productive NHL season so far and went on to tie Marcel Dionne for the points race lead with 137, with the Great One leading the league in assists (86). There were eight players that hit the 100 point plateau during the 1979-80 season which is mind-boggling when you consider Connor McDavid was the only player to do it last season. Different time — I know.
Back to Gretzky, his 137 points from that season would actually end up being the lowest total he would put up until “dipping” back down to 121 points in 1991-92. Think about that for a second. Not only was Gretzky insanely productive but he was able to keep it going throughout his NHL career (for the most part). The 80s were a crazy time, man, and Wayne Gretzky was the emperor of producing offence. Amazing.

GRETZKY’S 1979-80 SEASON STATS

Regular SeasonPlayoffs
SeasonTeamLgeGPGAPtsPIM+/-GPGAPtsPIM
1979-80
Edmonton Oilers
NHL
79
51
86
137
21
15
3
2
1
3
0
WHA Totals
 
80
46
64
110
19
 
13
10
10
20
2
NHL Totals
 
1487
894
1963
2857
577
 
208
122
260
382
66