Gretzky

If this were a typical 82-game season, McDavid would be on pace to record 49 goals and 97 assists for 146 points, a point total that would rank 12th all time on the era-adjusted points leaderboard behind luminaries like Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.

It’s too early to say for sure that McDavid is the second coming of Gretzky, but we can be certain we are seeing a young player ascend to the highest levels of the sport, and doing things his peers simply are unable to duplicate.

Gretzky was 53 when he suffered his stroke, just a few months into retirement after 34 years at Bell.

Even if you just take the games lost since 2012-13, that’s another 40 to 45 goals Ovechkin might have scored — which would put him fourth already, behind just Gretzky, Gordie Howe and Jaromir Jagr.

Still, even if he’s at a goal every other game — a significant drop-off from his career average — he could reach Gretzky late in the 2024-25 season, when he’s 39.

Weighing in on the matter, they have all but tried and convicted Wayne Gretzky as a domineering dad in the process.