Wayne Gretzky is often considered the best player to ever grace the ice. Nicknamed “The Great One,” Gretzky’s career is heralded as the pinnacle of performance that has inspired many young athletes. At the time of writing, Gretzky is credited with 61 official records with the most notable being Most Goals, Most Assists and, obviously, Most Points in a career. Gretzky spent most of his notable time in the league as a member of the Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings.
However, he also spent time with the St. Louis Blues and New York Rangers. In his 20-year career, Gretzky won 10 Ross Trophies, 9 Hart Trophies, 5 Byng Trophies, 5 Pearson Awards and 15 All-Star appearances. But how many Stanley Cups did The Great One win?
Wayne Gretzky won 4 Stanley Cups in his NHL career. Gretzky won all of his Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers, back-to-back in 1984 and 1985, then back-to-back again in 1987 and 1988. In his 4 Cup runs, Gretzky also snagged 2 Conn Smythe Trophies.
Stanley Cup Finals 1984: Edmonton Oilers vs New York Islanders
Gretzky actually led the playoffs in assists (22) and points (35), but the Conn Smythe was given to his teammate, Mark Messier. At the age of 23, Gretzky led the team in goals and points throughout the 5-game series against the New York Islanders. He totaled 4 goals and 3 assists for a total of 7 points. Needless to say, Gretzky did not disappoint in his first successful Cup run.
Stanley Cup Finals 1985: Edmonton Oilers vs Philadelphia Flyers
This time around, The Great One was on a mission and was crucial in securing his second straight Stanley Cup. Winning his first Conn Smythe, Gretzky totaled an insane 47 points (17 G, 30 A) throughout the playoffs. Gretzky finished the Finals with 7 goals and 4 assists in a 5-game series. His most impressive performance came in a Game 3 win in which he scored a hat trick and added an assist.
He was also credited with the game winner in Game 4. Regardless of personal statistics, Gretzky’s presence gave Edmonton an undeniable advantage as he not only was the best player on the ice, but he made his teammates better as well.
Watch: Wayne Gretzky scores a hat trick in Game 3 of the 1985 Stanley Cup Finals:
https://youtu.be/QTMMGM1ZXys
Stanley Cup Finals 1987: Edmonton Oilers vs Philadelphia Flyers
After a brief break from the Cup Finals, the Oilers and Gretzky were back again to face off against the Philadelphia Flyers yet again. Gretzky did not receive the Conn Smythe this year, but he did have 34 points, 29 of which were assists. Of his 5 goals, 2 of them came in the Cup Finals where he also had 9 assists. Edmonton pushed the series with Philadelphia to 7 games, securing the cup at home in Game 7.
Stanley Cup Finals 1988: Edmonton Oilers vs Boston Bruins
In what would end up being his last Stanley Cup run, Gretzky was impressive as ever. He earned himself his second and last Conn Smythe by scoring 12 goals and adding 31 assists for a total of 43 points in the playoffs. His Cup Finals totals came to 3 goals and 10 assists. Most notably, he scored 2 game-winning goals throughout the Finals in Game 2 and Game 5. This series was somewhat peculiar, as the Oilers swept the Bruins in 5 games due to Game 4 being declared a tie after a power outage.
Conclusion
After his amazing years with the Oilers, Gretzky was traded to the Los Angeles Kings because of Edmonton’s money troubles. He was unable to win any more Cups but still managed to accrue amazing stats, earning him the moniker of “The Great One”. His record career point total of 2,857 looks to be almost untouchable, as is his assist record of 1,963.
Some have said that Alex Ovechkin could possibly reach his goal record of 894, but at the time of writing, Ovechkin is at 742 goals. Gretzky was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999, the year of his retirement from hockey. He is currently a studio analyst, but after his retirement, he served in many different coaching and executive positions.
Check out how many Stanley Cups other NHL players have won:
Jamie is the founder of Hockey Response and he is the chief writer/ lead editor. Jamie has been playing hockey for over 20 years. He was the defenseman of the year in NL and has played Jr A level hockey. Jamie has coached several kids hockey camps and he was the assistant coach of the Western Kings.