Malkin's 21 Assists, Most in One Month in 17 Years


Evgeni Malkin just wrapped up the month of November with 21 assists in 15 games. This was the most helpers by a player in a calendar month since 1996. The guy who last collected 21 assists in January of 1996 was Wayne Gretzky. The Great One did it in 13 games on the way to a 79 assist campaign.

Of course this was far from the best assist total in any one month of Gretzky's career. In fact, he collected at least 25 assists in 11 different months over his career. Five different times he had months of over 30 assists! Gretzky's best month total was in December 1985 when he notched an amazing 36 assists over only 14 games.







Amazingly, this was his first of FOUR months in a row in which he would have at least 25 assists. Naturally this was the season that Gretzky set the all-time record for assists in a season with 163.

His amazing run included along with 36 assists in December, 31 in 15 January games, 26 in 11 February games and 31 in 14 March games.

Gretzky's last 30 assist month was in March of 1988 when he had 33 in 14 games. For Malkin, he's on pace to eclipse his personal best of 78 when he led the league the only other time in 2008/09.

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