In 1992, at just 26 years old, Mario Lemieux became the NHL’s second fastest player to reach 1,000 career points, only behind the renowned Wayne Gretzky. What’s equally impressive is that Lemieux retired over a decade later with a career total of 1,723 points. He earned his first 1,000 points in just eight years, and though his total career points puts him in 8th place overall, the fury with which Lemieux entered the NHL set him on the track for becoming arguably the best hockey player the League has ever seen.

From setback to comeback, “Super Mario” would carve a name for himself in the Hockey Hall of Fame and prove to be a truly otherworldly athlete, only bested by Gretzky himself for career average points per game. But points are just one metric by which a player’s skill and value can be measured. So what made Mario Lemieux “The Magnificent One,” and how good was he at his prime?