[2][3] At his retirement, his 801 goals, 1,049 assists, and 1,850 total points were all NHL records that stood until they were broken by Wayne Gretzky, who himself has been a major champion of Howe's legacy.

His involvement with the WHA was central to their brief pre-NHL merger success, forcing the NHL to recruit European talent and expand to new markets.

He received his first taste of professional hockey at age 15 in 1943 when he was invited by the New York Rangers to their training camp held at "The Amphitheatre" in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

However, Howe did not feel that was a good fit for him and wanted to go back home to play hockey with his friends; he declined the Rangers' offer and returned to Saskatoon.

However, in 1945, he was promoted to the Omaha Knights of the minor professional United States Hockey League (USHL), where he scored 48 points in 51 games as a 17-year-old.

While playing in Omaha, Frank Selke of the Toronto Maple Leafs noticed Howe's rights needed to be properly listed as Red Wings property.

[13] Using his great physical strength, he was able to dominate the opposition in a career that spanned six decades (including one game with the Detroit Vipers of the IHL in 1997).

[15] Howe led Detroit to four Stanley Cup championships and to first place in regular-season play for seven consecutive years (1948–49 to 1954–55), a feat never equalled in NHL history.

[17] However, as he was emerging as one of the top players in the league, Howe sustained the worst injury of his career - his skull was fractured and his cheekbone and nose were broken after his attempt to check the Toronto Maple Leafs captain Ted Kennedy into the boards went awry during the 1950 playoffs.

He won four straight scoring titles and in two of the years (1950–51 and 1952–53) he led the NHL in both goals and assists, which has only been done by five other players in history (a total of 10 times aside from Howe).

Only three other players have ever matched the feat of winning four straight scoring titles since—Phil Esposito, Jaromír Jágr, and Wayne Gretzky (who won seven in a row).

[19] Howe recalled "They always thought there was bad blood because I hit [Richard] once coming across the line and he spun like a rocket and fell down.

[20] Howe also had a rivalry with the Canadiens' centre Jean Béliveau, who wrote in his autobiography that "trying to strong-arm Gordie off the puck in a corner was akin to wrestling with a telephone pole".

Hull and Howe would also be rivals in the World Hockey Association (WHA), as members of the Winnipeg Jets and Houston Aeros, respectively, and would be reunited as teammates on the Hartford Whalers where they finished off their playing careers.

[2][3] Following his personal best 103-point season, conflict arose with the Red Wings after Howe discovered he was just the third-highest paid player on the team with a $45,000 salary.

Dissatisfied with not having any meaningful influence in the Red Wings' office, he underwent wrist surgery to make a return to hockey possible, and he led his new team to consecutive league championships in 1974 and 1975.

Writer Michael Farber recounted "Mark told Gordie, 'Dad, he's [Robbie] my friend, he's an old teammate on Team Canada, he has been a mentor to me,' But none of that mattered.

"[22] Howe was named with sons Mark and Marty to the WHA version of Team Canada for an eight-game series against the Soviet Union.

[33] Howe played one final season, appearing in all 80 games of the schedule and helping his team to make the playoffs by scoring 41 points (15 goals and 26 assists).

One particular honour came when Wales Conference head coach Scotty Bowman selected Howe, Phil Esposito and Jean Ratelle to the mid-season All-Star Game—which was to take place in Detroit—as a nod to their storied careers before they retired.

The Joe Louis Arena crowd gave him a standing ovation twice, lasting so long he had to skate to the bench to stop people from cheering.

Mark had a long NHL career, playing 16 seasons for the Hartford Whalers, the Philadelphia Flyers, and the Red Wings, and was one of the dominant two-way defencemen of the 1980s.

[59] Howe's cremated remains, along with those of his wife Colleen, were returned to Canada for the last time and interred in Saskatoon in September 2016, at the base of his statue outside of SaskTel Centre.

Howe's strength, scoring ability, and speed exemplified the perfect example of the modern-day role of a power forward and someone who can play the 200-foot game.

When it became public knowledge Howe had scored more than 600 goals for the organization before it reluctantly offered to pay him over $40,000, his linemate, Ted Lindsay, began a campaign to establish a player's association to unite for fair wages against the NHL owners.

[64] Howe's time playing with the WHA with his sons allowed the fledgling professional league to gain much-needed legitimacy and the ability to fill stadiums.

He was signed to a one-game contract by the Detroit Vipers of the International Hockey League and at age 69, made a return to the ice for one shift.

In Season 3 of the NBC television crime drama series Good Girls, in an episode entitled "The Eye in Survivor", the character of Ruby (Retta) steals an autographed Stanley Cup Finals game-worn Gordie Howe jersey from a sports bar only to have it appraised and learn that it is counterfeit.

[76] In 1993, a statue created by Michael Martin of Eston, Saskatchewan, was installed across from Midtown Plaza in Howe's hometown of Saskatoon, and then moved to what is now SaskTel Centre in 2005.

In May 2015, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder announced that a new international bridge spanning the Detroit River would be named in honour of Howe.