#1 - 1979 Points in 847 Games

Gretzky's career scoring totals are simply astounding no matter how you crunch the numbers. His 2857 career points in 20 seasons works out to an average of 143 points per season. Only 8 other players in NHL history have ever recorded a 140-point season, and only two others (Phil Esposito & Mario Lemieux) did it more than once.

Gretzky won 10 scoring titles, including 6 in a row in which he outscored the runner-up by at least 65 points. (The largest margin of victory ever by anyone other than Gretzky was Lemieux's 31-point lead in 1988-89.) He was also the runner-up three times and was still a top five scorer in the league as late as his 19th season.

Gretzky won 9 Hart Trophies, 5 Pearson Awards, 4 Stanley Cups, and 2 Conn Smythe Trophies. And of course he also starred in a Saturday morning cartoon with Michael Jordan and Bo Jackson, and I believe remains the only NHL player to ever have his own breakfast cereal.

#2 - 1059 Points in 749 Games

A veteran of Czechoslovakia's 1976 Canada Cup team, Stastny was already 24 years old when he and younger brother Anton risked imprisonment, torture, or worse to defect under the cover of darkness to NHL Quebec. (Older brother Marian would join them one year later to form the NHL's first and only all-brother line.)

Stastny topped 100 points seven times in his first eight seasons and scored more points in the decade than everybody but Wayne Gretzky.

#3 - 1043 Points in 754 Games

Gretzky's long-time winger won five Stanley Cups and posted six 100-point seasons, four 50-goal seasons, and was a First or Second Team All-Star five times.

#4 - 1013 Points in 736 Games

Montreal famously passed on the homegrown Savard at the 1980 draft in favour of Doug Wickenheiser. Savard was selected third overall and went on to record five 100-point seasons and over 1000 points in 10 seasons with Chicago. (First overall Wickenhesier posted 115 points in four seasons with Montreal.)

The Habs tried to correct their error ten years later by acquiring Savard in a trade for Chris Chelios. That didn't work out so well for them either. Savard scored 179 points in three seasons for Montreal and was not re-signed. Chelios played another 20 seasons in the NHL.

#5 - 980 Points in 729 Games

Dionne topped 100 points eight times and retired as the NHL's third-leading career scorer, but still had to suffer the indignity of getting demoted by the Rangers and finishing out his career in the minors. Dionne won the scoring title in 1979-80 and was a 2-time winner of the Lester Pearson Award (the players' choice for MVP).

#6 - 971 Points in 823 Games

Federko played 13 years in St. Louis, topping 100 point four times and 70 points ten straight times. He retired one year after a 1989 trade to Detroit for Adam Oates, who similarly went on to become one of the leading scorers of the 1990s.

#7 - 970 Points in 798 Games

Messier began his career with WHA Indianapolis in 1978 and retired as the NHL's second-leading career scorer in 2004 (now third). In between he won six Stanley Cups, two Hart Trophies, two Lester Pearson Awards, one Conn Smythe, and was a First Team All-Star at both left wing and center.

#8 - 952 Points in 733 Games

Coffey won four Stanley Cups, three Norris Trophies, and was a First or Second Team All-Star eight times. He trails only Ray Bourque in career scoring amongst defensemen.

(Sorry for the poor quality scan on this one. This is one of those encased ITG cards and I didn't want to crack open the slab.)

#9 - 951 Points in 821 Games

Another WHA graduate, Goulet posted four straight 50-goal seasons in the mid-1980s and just missed the mark with 49 and 48 the next two seasons after that. He was a First or Second Team All-Star five times

#10 - 929 Points in 713 Games

The first overall pick in 1981 after back-to-back Memorial Cups with the junior Cornwall Royals, Hawerchuk topped 100 points six times, 90 points ten times, and 80 points for 13 consecutive years.