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Who was the first NHL player to score 100 points in a regular season?

The Detroit Red Wings’ Gordie Howe almost hit 100 points in 1952–53 when he got 95, but it took more than another decade and a half before the Boston Bruins’ Phil Esposito broke the 100 barrier in 1968–69 on his way to ending up with 126 points. Of course, Wayne Gretzky blew everybody away with his remarkable feats in the 1980s, topping 200 points four times, with a record 215 in 1985–86. The Great One is still the only NHL player to score more than 200 points in one season. The Pittsburgh Penguins’ Mario Lemieux came close in 1988–89 when he managed 199 points. Incidentally, Number 99 has the most 100-point seasons (15) and the most consecutive 100-pointers (13).

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Did you know …

that Gordie Howe was 41 and in his 23rd year with the Detroit Red Wings in 1968–69 when he achieved his only 100-point season? Howe is the sole 40-year-old in the NHL to achieve this plateau. That season he ended up with 103 points. Of course, Howe went on to retire from the Red Wings in the early 1970s, then came out of retirement to play through most of that decade in the World Hockey Association, and finally returned to the NHL with the Hartford Whalers when he was 51! He retired at last in 1980 at age 52.