Gretzky forced the entire game to change. People can try and diminish what he accomplished because of how much the game has changed since his time but like... He's one of the biggest reasons why the game changed. Sure eventually it would have evolved on its own but he moved it forward in a way that few players will ever be able to. His impact evolved the sport.

The stats are impressive enough on their own but the truth is Gretzky's legacy is way more important than that. Heck it could easily be argued that American hockey owes much of its popularity to the Gretzky to LA trade but that's another topic entirely.