Records are meant to be broken - just not these ones.

Below, in no particular order, we investigate five NHL benchmarks that will stand the test of time.

Wayne Gretzky's 2,857 points

We could have chosen his 92-goal season, or his 215-point year, or his 51-game point streak, or eight consecutive MVPs, but let's be honest - this entire list could easily be Gretzky's. The Great One holds a whopping 61 NHL records, so we're taking the easy way out and picking his absurd point total.

If No. 99 never scored a single NHL goal, he'd still be the league's all-time top scorer. For additional context, Connor McDavid - who could very well join Gretzky on the NHL's Mount Rushmore of best players when it's all said and done - would need to play 19 more campaigns at his current point-per-game clip (1.42) to match Gretzky's total.

Many point to Gretzky's quality of competition as a key contributor to his outlandish numbers, but according to Hockey Reference's era-adjusted points, he's still comfortably in first with 2,475.

Glenn Hall's 502 consecutive starts

Hall's claim to fame is probably the most bulletproof of them all. From 1955 to 1962, "Mr. Goalie" started 502 consecutive regular-season contests for the Chicago Blackhawks - almost double the previous record.

Hall also made 49 playoff appearances in that span, winning a Stanley Cup in 1961 and Conn Smythe in 1968. Goalies in today's NHL rarely play both nights of a back-to-back, let alone suit up in a career's worth of games without taking a night off.

Islanders' 19 consecutive series wins

The early 1980s belonged to the New York Islanders, who began the decade winning four consecutive Stanley Cups to stake their claim as the greatest dynasty in league history. Those Isles teams were just stacked. A core of Bryan Trottier, Mike Bossy, Denis Potvin, and Billy Smith anchored the club through a record 19 consecutive series wins, as New York's impeccable run came to a close with a loss to Gretzky's Edmonton Oilers in the 1984 Stanley Cup Final.

The Montreal Canadiens won five Cups in a row in the late 1950s and then four straight in the 1970s, but none of those titles came at a time when teams needed four series victories to earn the championship.

The salary cap and parity in today's NHL make the Islanders' run untouchable. Think about it: The Tampa Bay Lightning are back-to-back champs and had to sell off an entire line from their latest Cup-winning squad to remain financially compliant. Could you imagine them winning 11 more series in a row? Not happening.

Henri Richard's 11 Cups as player

"The Pocket Rocket" collected so many rings throughout his career that he ran out of fingers to put them on. Now, lots of Canadiens in that era have a bucket full of titles as well, but Richard stands alone with 11 - one more than teammates Jean Beliveau and Yvon Cournoyer.

Richard started his career with five consecutive Cups - talk about good timing - and notched 47 points in 49 games over that span. He was by no means just a passenger on a team destined for greatness.

Again though, the era makes a big difference. Of course, it was easier to win chips when there were only six clubs in the league, but considering the most Cups won among active players is three, it's safe to assume Richard's record is going to be out of reach forever.

Teemu Selanne's 76 rookie goals

Selanne introduced himself to the NHL in grand fashion in 1992-93, potting 76 goals to obliterate Bossy's rookie record of 53 set in 1978. The Finnish Flash's mark is also the fifth-highest single-season total in league history.

The likes of Alex Ovechkin (53), Auston Matthews (40), Sidney Crosby (39), and McDavid (16) couldn't even come close to Selanne's rookie total, so what kind of talent is it going to take for the Hall of Famer to even feel pressure on his record? On top of that, the NHL hasn't even seen a 60-goal season since Steven Stamkos in 2011-12.

If by some miracle this record falls one day, Selanne's successor will still be in tough to match the former Jet's iconic celebration from 28 years ago.

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Heading into Wednesday's slate of games, with two weeks of action wrapped up, four NHL clubs remain undefeated - the Edmonton Oilers (5-0-0), Florida Panthers (6-0-0), St. Louis Blues (5-0-0), and Carolina Hurricanes (5-0-0).

Naturally, almost everything is going right for these teams. After all, you don't just stumble into a lengthy season-opening winning streak in a league obsessed with parity. But we've tried to identify what's been unsurprising and what's been surprising about each blazing-hot start.

(Note: All advanced statistics collected from Evolving Hockey.)

Edmonton Oilers

Unsurprising: Connor McDavid is good at hockey. To start his sixth NHL season, McDavid leads the league in points with 13 in five games, which is a 213-point pace over 82 contests. (Maybe 150 isn't a pipe dream?) Meanwhile, super sidekick Leon Draisaitl isn't far behind with 11 points. McDavid, Draisaitl, and Zach Hyman, the new winger on McDavid's line, account for seven of the Oilers' league-leading eight power-play goals.

Hyman is fitting in perfectly with Edmonton, doing exactly the kinds of things he was doing in Toronto alongside Auston Matthews. On top of scoring, Hyman's regularly retrieving pucks, screening goalies, issuing body checks, and attending to his defensive responsibilities.

Surprising: A combination of blah goaltending and a lack of defensive depth had many pundits, myself included, questioning the Oilers' ceiling in 2021-22. Edmonton's final scores so far: 3-2, 5-2, 6-5, 5-1, 5-3.

Aside from the 6-5 game, the Oilers are holding down the fort defensively. Backup goalie Mikko Koskinen owns a .943 save percentage in 148 minutes, while starter Mike Smith (who's currently injured) has a .920 mark in 156. Darnell Nurse, who has a league-high average ice time of 27:37 a night, has steered the defense corps toward respectability. Originally paired with Tyson Barrie, Nurse is now dominating with Evan Bouchard. As for polarizing offseason acquisition Duncan Keith, well, he's been fine, which might be good enough from a 38-year-old.

Florida Panthers

Unsurprising: Last season, the Panthers finished tied for fourth in goals scored. It's been much of the same this year: They're tied for third in goals per game while outscoring the opposition 27-12. Florida plays an uptempo style, and so far, no other team is generating more five-on-five shot attempts per 60 minutes than the Panthers' 68.1.

As expected, a couple of recent additions up front are making a tangible impact, with Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett ranking first and second, respectively, among Panthers forwards in individual five-on-five shot attempts for. Together, they've chipped in 12 points. Also of note: Blue-liner Aaron Ekblad, shelved for most of 2020-21, has been terrific in his return. He and rising star MacKenzie Weegar make an elite top pairing.

Surprising: How real this dominance appears. The Panthers have defeated the Penguins, Islanders, Lightning, Avalanche, Flyers, and Coyotes, who are the only pushover in that group. Another significant positive: arguably the biggest question for this team - goaltending - has been more of an exclamation mark.

The much-maligned Sergei Bobrovsky, for one, has been nothing but steady, earning a quality start (when the goalie achieves at least the league's mean save percentage in a game) in each of his four starts, according to Hockey Reference. There's been no drop-off when 20-year-old Spencer Knight takes the net, either. The vet-rookie tandem has teamed up for a .937 save percentage.

St. Louis Blues

Unsurprising: There are two predictable developments with respect to the Blues. The first is David Perron once again producing at a high rate with little fanfare outside of St. Louis. The 33-year-old winger has accumulated six goals and two assists in five contests for a 1.60 points-per-game rate. Will he keep up that pace? Probably not. But he's in damn good shape to meet, or improve upon, his career average of 0.68 points per contest.

The second is the penalty kill stymying opposing power-play units, allowing only one goal on 16 opportunities for a league-leading 93.8% kill rate. In 2020-21, the Blues ranked 25th in penalty-kill percentage, but the results never seemed to align with the plethora of penalty-killing talent, namely Justin Faulk, Colton Parayko, and Ryan O'Reilly.

Surprising: The Blues have used 20 skaters thus far, and all 20 have recorded at least one point. That's impressive given that St. Louis' secondary players aren't world-beaters, at least on paper. The club's 26-and-under forwards (Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, Pavel Buchnevich, Jake Neighbours, Klim Kostin, Ivan Barbashev) have all found success in the early going, contributing a combined nine goals and 12 primary assists.

The veterans aren't being left behind, though. Vladimir Tarasenko, fresh off an offseason trade request and scuttlebutt about his long-term health, has been excellent. The same goes for two-way wizard O'Reilly.

Carolina Hurricanes

Surprising: In the offseason, the Hurricanes turned over nine spots on their 23-man roster. It's typical (and understandable) for teams with such a high volume of changes to struggle out of the gate. So, Carolina's strong start, with so many new faces, is borderline shocking.

Frederik Andersen, who's manned the pipes every game so far, is headlining the fresh-faced standouts. The 6-foot-4 Dane currently boasts a .946 save percentage while sitting atop the NHL leaderboard in a couple of advanced goalie stats: goals saved above average and goals saved above expected. Forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored a goal against his former team, the Montreal Canadiens, last week. Defensemen Ethan Bear, Tony DeAngelo, and Ian Cole have looked solid in Dougie Hamilton's absence.

Unsurprising: Not to contradict the spirit of the above paragraphs, but even with the turnover, Carolina was primed to contend for the Metropolitan Division title. For a few years now, the franchise has been knocking on the door as a fringe Stanley Cup contender; it's not like Rod Brind'Amour, the club's wildly popular head coach, has changed his tactics.

The 2021-22 Hurricanes are still a team that dictates the flow of action most nights, ices a lethal power play, and employs a handful of game-breakers. One of those high-impact players, winger Andrei Svechnikov, is so far living up to his fat contract extension with five goals and four assists in five games. Captain Jordan Staal, more of a meat-and-potatoes kind of player at age 33, continues to post stellar underlying numbers, such as a 56.3% expected goals for percentage. Same old.

John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email (john.matisz@thescore.com).

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The Chicago Blackhawks took a small measure of responsibility on Tuesday by backing a report that outlined how a group of senior team leaders appear to have valued a Stanley Cup run in 2010 over protecting a player who warned of a predator on their coaching staff.

Those who've followed the sexual assault scandal involving disgraced former Blackhawks video coach Brad Aldrich were probably already disgusted by the team's handling of the matter. The results of the independent investigation by the law firm Jenner & Block - revealed first on Tuesday through a press briefing by the team and then through the full report - confirmed a lot of what had become mostly common knowledge through the work of various media outlets.

Yet the findings managed to evoke an extra layer of disgust. It laid out how 11 years ago a group of seven men - some of whom continue to be highly influential in the hockey world - put their own interests ahead of the well-being of an employee who reported inappropriate sexual behavior by Aldrich. Their selfishness set off a chain of events that ultimately led to further abuse by Aldrich at subsequent jobs.

That group includes former Blackhawks team president John McDonough; Stan Bowman, who resigned on Tuesday as president of hockey operations and general manager; Al MacIsaac, the vice president of hockey operations who also left the club on Tuesday; former executive VP of business operations Jay Blunk; former mental skills coach James Gary; former assistant general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, who's now GM of the Winnipeg Jets; and former head coach Joel Quenneville, now head coach of the Florida Panthers.

The months-long investigation, which drew from interviews with 139 witnesses, determined a sexual encounter between Aldrich and a Blackhawks minor-league player occurred shortly before the club won the 2010 Stanley Cup. (The player said the encounter wasn't consensual, which Aldrich disputes. The matter hasn't been heard in a court of law.)

McDonough, Bowman, MacIsaac, Blunk, Gary, Cheveldayoff, and Quenneville discussed the matter during a meeting following the Western Conference finals. However, for the next three weeks, nothing was done to address the situation. The team was chasing a championship, a pursuit that group deemed far more important than anything or anyone else.

"Bowman recalled that during the meeting, McDonough and Quenneville made comments about the challenge of getting to the Stanley Cup Final and a desire to focus on the team and the playoffs," the 107-page document notes.

During this period of inaction by the Blackhawks higher-ups, Aldrich continued to work for and travel with the team. He was in the presence of the player who made the complaint. And he then allegedly made an unwanted sexual advance toward a young intern following a night of celebration with members of the team, according to the report.

A few days after the Cup victory, Aldrich's alleged misconduct was finally brought to the attention of the team's human resources department. He resigned and received a severance package and playoff bonus. The team allowed his name to be engraved on the Cup, presented him with a ring, provided him with a personal day with the Cup, and invited him to attend a banner-raising ceremony. The report found that the lack of an investigation went against the team's written policy.

Three years later, Aldrich - having faced no repercussions for his actions in Chicago, despite the team having a sexual harassment policy - pleaded guilty to criminal sexual conduct with a minor while volunteering as a coach at a Michigan high school. There have been multiple allegations of further abuse at other stops in his travels.

Elizabeth Jeglic, a professor of psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, whose research focuses largely on sexual violence prevention, told theScore on Tuesday she isn't "entirely surprised" by the findings of the investigation.

Jeglic said the reaction of Blackhawks management after being told of the complaint against Aldrich was similar to that of the leadership at Penn State when Jerry Sandusky's behavior came to their attention: They "passed the buck." By letting Aldrich leave without an immediate investigation, he was free to abuse elsewhere.

"A lot of people knew and nobody said anything. The time frame is shorter here, and it involves adults versus children, but a lot of the same dynamics come into play," Jeglic said of similarities between the two cases.

"It shows where people's priorities lie and where their values are," she added. "I understand they're a sporting organization, but first and foremost you have to care about the people who belong to your organization. If you're not going to take these allegations seriously and follow your procedures seriously, you're sending a message that's (essentially saying), 'This isn't something that's important or a priority.'"

Bowman, who on Tuesday also stepped down as GM of the United States men's Olympic hockey team, issued a statement that more or less pinned the lack of an investigation on McDonough, whose tenure with the team ended in April 2020. Bowman also didn't take responsibility for his inaction or apologize to the player.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in his own statement that any of the disgraced Blackhawks executives wishing to re-enter the league must meet with him "in order to determine the appropriate conditions under which such new employment might take place." As for Cheveldayoff and Quenneville, Bettman added that he'll meet with each of them soon to "discuss their roles in the relevant events as detailed in the report."

Cheveldayoff previously denied knowing about Aldrich's misconduct in Chicago until "just prior" to the latter's departure from the team. Quenneville denied he knew anything until lawsuits filed by the Blackhawks player and by the Michigan high schooler were reported by media outlets earlier this year. Jenner & Block's findings contradict their assertions.

The league also punished the Blackhawks - a franchise worth an estimated $1 billion - with a $2-million fine, half of which will be "directed to fund local organizations in and around the Chicago community that provide counseling and training for, and support and assistance to, survivors of sexual and other forms of abuse."

Jenner & Block found both Blackhawks chairman Rocky Wirtz and CEO Danny Wirtz were unaware of Aldrich's misconduct until recently.

"I believe one of the beautiful parts of our game is the focus on team success over individual achievements and accolades," Danny Wirtz said Tuesday. "But that cannot come at the expense of individual safety and well-being. It is clear that in 2010, the executives of this organization put team performance above all else."

The player they failed, Wirtz added, "deserved better from the Blackhawks."

John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email (john.matisz@thescore.com).

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Toronto Maple Leafs veteran Jason Spezza doesn't believe that his team will crack easily amid an early-season slump.

"I think for every team that hasn't won, there is a fragile aspect to them. That word has been used by a lot of people, but I don't think we're a fragile group," Spezza said Tuesday, according to The Hockey News' David Alter. "But I think we're a group that is still trying to find their consistency and find our way. We know what a good game feels like; we just haven't been able to do it here recently."

The Maple Leafs have lost four straight games and own a 2-4-1 record, and their stars haven't found the scoresheet as often as they normally do. Auston Matthews has one goal in four contests, while Mitch Marner has one assist in seven games. John Tavares has three points, and William Nylander leads the team with five points.

However, Toronto's underlying numbers tell a different story. The club ranks first in the league with a 55.36 Corsi For rating and sits ninth with a 54.16 expected goals for percentage, according to Natural Stat Trick. The Maple Leafs also lead the NHL with 270 scoring chances.

Spezza said the onus is on the entire team to step up.

"I think a big thing for our guys is realizing that we get out of this as a team," Spezza said. "We're not looking for one or two guys to climb us out of this."

The Maple Leafs are set to take on the winless Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night.

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The New York Islanders re-signed forward Ross Johnston to a four-year contract extension, the team announced Tuesday.

Johnston's deal carries an average annual value of $1.1 million, reports TSN's Chris Johnston.

The 27-year-old signed with the Islanders as an undrafted free agent in 2015. He's skated in 87 NHL games, scoring seven goals and adding eight assists.

Since the beginning of the 2017-18 season, Johnston ranks second on the Islanders with 198 penalty minutes and 18.95 hits per 60 minutes.

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Stan Bowman stepped down as Chicago Blackhawks general manager, team CEO Danny Wirtz revealed Tuesday.

Bowman vacated his role following the conclusion of an independent investigation into former video coach Brad Aldrich's alleged sexual assault of a Blackhawks player in 2010.

Former assistant U.S. attorney Reid J. Schar of Jenner & Block produced the probe's findings Tuesday. The inquiry determined that the player had a sexual encounter with Aldrich in May 2010, though both people involved disagreed about whether it was consensual.

The Blackhawks named Kyle Davidson interim GM. He was previously their assistant general manager of hockey administration.

Bowman had worked with the Blackhawks since 2001, joining them that year as special assistant to GM Mike Smith. Chicago promoted Bowman to director of hockey operations and then to assistant GM before naming him GM in July 2009.

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The St. Louis Blues placed captain Ryan O'Reilly and forward Brandon Saad on the club's non-roster COVID-19 protocols list Tuesday.

O'Reilly will miss at least 10 days, while Saad won't likely be out that long, Blues head coach Craig Berube said, according to Jim Thomas of the Post-Dispatch.

St. Louis recalled center Dakota Joshua from its AHL affiliate, the Springfield Falcons, in a corresponding move.

O'Reilly has produced two goals and three assists over five games this season. The 30-year-old leads all Blues forwards in average ice time with 19:13.

Saad, who'll turn 29 on Wednesday, has collected a goal and an assist in three contests this campaign. The Blues signed him to a five-year contract as a free agent in July.

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Vladimir Tarasenko said he was truly touched to hear St. Louis Blues supporters chanting his name after he starred in a 3-0 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night.

"That was a special moment," the Blues winger told reporters postgame. "It was very emotional."

Tarasenko smiled and waved to the crowd as fans chanted "Vladi, Vladi" after he emerged from the tunnel upon being named first star of the game.

Tarasenko dazzled in the contest, producing a highlight-reel goal to open the scoring early in the third period before adding another late in the frame.

The Russian forward hasn't changed his mind after requesting a trade over the summer, reports The Athletic's Jeremy Rutherford. However, Tarasenko is still appreciative of the Blues' faithful.

"We always have support from the real fans," he said Monday night. "Our family got so much help from (the) people (of) St. Louis. The support through (these) 10 years was very awesome."

Tarasenko spent all nine of his previous NHL seasons with the Blues. Shoulder injuries requiring multiple surgeries derailed his last two years before this campaign.

The 29-year-old, who'll turn 30 in December, has collected three goals and three assists over the first five games. St. Louis improved to 5-0-0 with Monday's victory, clinching its best start over the first handful of contests in franchise history.

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