Not All Are Made to be Broken : HOCKEY

The names of four players jump out of the NHL record book, and one--Wayne Gretzky--continues to break his own standards.

Gretzky, winding down his career with the New York Rangers after Stanley Cup runs at Edmonton and an NHL mission in Los Angeles, with a side trip to St. Louis, has 885 goals and 1,910 assists for 2,795 points, all records, none threatened or likely to be, given the NHL’s proclivity for low-scoring, defensive games.

It took Gordie Howe 26 seasons to score 801 goals, and the player still skating and closest to Gretzky’s mark was Mike Gartner with 708. He retired last week.

Assists?

Paul Coffey is second, but he’s 37 and has only 1,090, many of them achieved in setting up Gretzky at Edmonton and Mario Lemieux at Pittsburgh. At the rate Coffey is accumulating them at Philadelphia, he will have to play into his 60s to catch Gretzky.

Howe nearly did just that--actually, he skated a shift in a game last season in the International Hockey League at 69--in playing 1,767 games, mostly for the Detroit Red Wings, later for the Hartford Whalers, with whom he skated on a team that included sons Marty and Mark.

Red Wing teammate Alex Delvecchio came closest to Howe, playing 1,549 games in 24 seasons. At 37, Gretzky is the leading active player with 1,417, fifth on the list but with the calendar running out.

Terry Sawchuk turned in more shutouts than any other goaltender, 103, and no active goalie is in the ZIP code. The leader on the ice, Colorado’s Patrick Roy, has 41 but he’s 33 and had only four last season.

And finally there is the story of Dave “Tiger” Williams, the bruiser who roughed up players for the Kings, among other teams. Nobody in the history of the NHL accumulated more penalty minutes than Williams--3,966--and second-place Dale Hunter of the Washington Capitals is going to need to spend a few hours in the penalty box to catch him.

Hunter is at 3,446, and, at 38, his roughhousing days are nearly over.