Started their careers with a bang 💥
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Started their careers with a bang 💥 20…
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before 1978 the minimum age was 20, so before Gretzky you couldn’t even play in the NHL at 18 without a special league exemption offered only to original 6 teams. Only 3 players did it before. The Bobbys (Hull and Orr) were two of them.
Points “before 20” is really a poor measuring stick that favours players with summer birthdays who can play two full seasons before turning 20. For a January-born player like McDavid, you’re playing only 110-120 games before turning 20 (unlike the 160ish played by most of these guys). So - not the best measure of early greatness.
*NHL points. If you add Gretzky’s 110 points in 80 games in the WHA, which later merged with the NHL and prevented Gretzky from winning the Calder, Gretzky jumps to #1 by a long shot. If the NHL considered the WHA enough of a pro league to preclude allowing an award, the stats should be counted here. Not diminishing Crosby at all, but if the WHA didn’t exist at the time, Gretzky would have been in the NHL at age 18, a full year sooner, just like Crosby.
Gretzky had 110 points in the WHA
Gretzky played what became his de facto pro rookie season in the now-defunct WHA. 80 games with Indianapolis and Edmonton before the merger. NHL considered that a pro league so he didn’t qualify for the Calder trophy in his NHL debut season. That’s why he had fewer NHL games before age 20 than Crosby. Prior to 1978, the minimum age was 20 for the NHL draft. Only 3 exceptions were made under a special exemption for original 6 teams: Bobby Orr in 1966 at 18, Bobby Hull in 1957 at 18, and Bep Guidolin in 1942 at 16. (I had to look that last one up.). The WHA’s ability to draft and sign younger players is what forced the NHL to lower its draft age in 1979, mainly due to Gretzky’s signing and the whole Kenny Linseman situation. That’s why out of all of these, no one who played before Gretzky is on the list.
Crosby had 40 more games than Gretzky?
I wonder if McDavid would’ve beat Crosby if not for his rookie season injury
Crosby had 44 more games to get the 2 points to beat Gretzky: Now let’s see how many points Gretzky had at 160 games.