Gordie Howe’s career by the numbers

Gordie Howe, Mr. Hockey, deserved the name — even when just looking at his statistics.

The hockey great died early Friday morning at his home in Ohio, and hockey lost one of its legends.

Here’s a look at Howe’s NHL career, by the numbers.

More games than anyone else

Gordie Howe played 1,767 regular season games in the NHL, more than any other player in league history.

Most regular season games

1. Gordie Howe – 1767
2. Mark Messier – 1756
3. Ron Francis – 1731
4. Mark Recchi – 1652
5. Chris Chelios – 1651

He also played 157 playoff games.

Second-highest number of goals

Howe had 801 goals over the 26 seasons he played in the NHL. That record is only surpassed by one person: Wayne Gretzky.

Most regular season goals

1. Wayne Gretzky – 894
2. Gordie Howe – 801
3. Jaromir Jagr – 749
4. Brett Hull – 741
5. Marcel Dionne – 731

Howe had an additional 68 playoff goals.

Trophies galore

Howe won the Art Ross Trophy, for top scorer in the NHL, six times. He’s tied with Mario Lemieux for the second-highest number of Art Ross trophies. Wayne Gretzky has 10.

Howe also has six Hart Memorial trophies, awarded to the NHL’s most valuable player. Again, this is the second-biggest collection of trophies — Gretzky has 9.

While playing with the Detroit Red Wings, Howe won the Stanley Cup four times.

Penalty minutes

Unlike some other high-scoring players, Howe wasn’t afraid to get into the occasional scrap on the ice, even eventually lending his name to the “Gordie Howe Hat Trick” (one goal, one assist and one fight in a game). He was only in 22 fights, according to the NHL, but he managed to rack up 1,685 penalty minutes in the regular season.

That’s enough for him to break into the top 100 most-penalized players: he sits in 92nd place.

All statistics from www.hockeydb.com unless otherwise noted.

WATCH: Hockey legend Gordie Howe dead at 88.

1:53 Hockey legend Gordie Howe dead at 88