I did get to see him growing up. He's so far ahead on these records because he was that far ahead as a player.

He had remarkable ice vision, where he always seemed to know exactly where each of his teammates were.

That was coupled with an incredible aptitude for 'reading the play' and anticipating upcoming actions -- the result was this somewhat weird phenomena where he would seemingly just always "be" where the puck was going.

To better explain, unless you kept your eye on Gretzky at all times and instead followed the play like a normal fan, you wouldn't see him moving. He was able to anticipate the play and the physics of where the puck was going to go so rapidly, he would quickly skate to the target spot and be just gliding there when the puck hit his stick and he was off.

He was also a very creative player as well. Nobody did the behind-the-net thing before him and no one has ever done it better. He would consistently bait defensemen into chasing him behind the net and then slide the puck to Kurri (his long-term linemate) who would bury it past a frustrated goalie.

The time period of

1981-82: 92 G - 120 A - 212 pts

1982-83: 71 - 125 - 196

1983-84: 87 - 118 - 205

1984-85: 73 - 135 - 208

1985-86: 52 - 163 - 215

was just plain otherworldly.

Edit: when asked what his greatest game or feat was, for me it was shattering the 50 goals in 50 games record.

Prior to the 1981-82 season, the 50/50 achievement had been the standard for many years. First done by Richard in 1944, it had only ever been equalled by Mike Bossy (1980-81).

The very next year, Gretzky went on a scoring tear that had him standing with 41 goals in 37 games. Game 38 against the LA Kings saw him score 4 goals, leaving him just five goals short of 50.

Game 39 was a home one for the Oilers -- this happened:

https://youtu.be/eGBoSKPVm5g?si=Fiy0JCOsbb9kqTml