Toronto Maple Leafs: Marner Ties Gretzky, What’s Next?
Last night the Toronto Maple Leafs savagely beat up on the NHL’s worst team.
While there are many things we could focus on, from the Toronto Maple Leafs current points streak, to the three-assists of Conor Timmins, or the back-to-back shutouts of Ilya Samsonov, the main thing we want to discuss today is Mitch Marner.
And his now historic points-streak.
Last night he reached 22 games and tied one of Wayne Gretzky’s records.
Toronto Maple Leafs and Mitch Marner’s Point Streak
By scoring a point in his 22nd straight game, Marner moved into a tie with Gretzky and Guy Lafleur for the ninth longest streak in NHL history.
That alone is awesome.
To pass move into 9th, Marner passed Steve Yzerman, Dany Heatley and some awesome guy named Bronco Horvath. I don’t know who that is, but you can expect me to find out.
Besides that one guy I’ve honestly never heard of, the list of names sitting along Marner’s is almost unbelievable: Gretzky, Hull, Lafleur, Trotier, Kane, Coffey, Lemieux and Mats Sundin.
Sure, he’s not even halfway to the record, but the record is stupid, impossible and inaccessible.
Starting 1973, the NHL never had a league average save percentage above .900 until 1995. Then it went into the .800s for one year, then never dipped below .900 again.
— Editor in Leaf (@EditorinLeaf) December 14, 2022
Virtually every NHL scoring record was set between 73-95, and today's players have no shot at them.
Wayne once scored 61 goals and 92 assists across 51 straight games.
He finished that season with 87 goals and 205 points, which would not be possible in today’s game. When Gretzky was racking up those points, there were an extra 1.36 goals per game and the league average save percentage was .875. Today a .900 save percentage will get you a one-way ticket to the AHL.
The fact is that what Marner is doing today is nearly as impressive as what Gretzky did back then. You just don’t get to face out-of-shape goalies who smoke four cigarettes between periods before strapping back on goalie pads that are just slightly larger than today’s player’s shin pads.
Kane and Crosby are the only two active players ahead of Marner, and they are the only two players whose points streaks occurred after 1995.
Two more games to catch Crosby, three more to catch Kane.
Anything else he does is a bonus, because unfortunately for fans and players in today’s game, the artificially high scoring of the late seventies to mid nineties means pretty much all scoring records that don’t require longevity are impossible to even flirt with.
Next. How the Leafs Stole a Draft. dark
Mitch Marner likely cannot get to 51, but what he’s done so far is historical. If you put it into the context of today’s goalies and defenses, it’s almost as good. If he passes Patrick Kane, I will consider him the all-time scoring streak champ, because Gretzky’s record, and every one of them that occurred between 1975-95 should have an asterisk.