Before 1965-66, Gordie Howe had the most assists, with 766 assists.

most career assists by a player before 1965-66

	NAME	A	GP	G	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	PPA	SHG	SHA	GWG	OTG	S	S%
1	Gordie Howe G. Howe	766	1,259	595	1,361	+58	1,300	157	270	18	8	99		2,094	8.5
2	Andy Bathgate A. Bathgate	501	789	291	792	-17	486	65	183	6	3	24		1,587	9.6
3	Red Kelly R. Kelly	494	1,192	259	753	+52	311	69	146	15	13	39		1,124	9.2
4	Ted Lindsay T. Lindsay	472	1,068	379	851	+9	1,808	93	125	9	1	58		209	10.0
5	Jean Beliveau J. Beliveau	471	744	358	829	+39	826	132	179	0	2	62		1,412	10.6
6	Alex Delvecchio A. Delvecchio	460	951	280	740	-8	268	60	156	10	8	50		1,582	8.8
7	Doug Harvey D. Harvey	432	1,041	86	518	+36	1,195	25	201	5	9	17		304	7.2
8	Bill Gadsby B. Gadsby	426	1,190	125	551	-74	1,467	32	140	6	10	14		635	4.9
9	Maurice Richard M. Richard	422	978	544	966	+18	1,287	143	111	4	2	84	0	166	11.4
10	Bert Olmstead B. Olmstead	421	848	181	602	-1	887	55	139	3	3	30		440	10.5
11	Elmer Lach E. Lach	408	664	215	623		478	60	104	2	2	45	0
12	Bernie Geoffrion B. Geoffrion	388	766	371	759	+40	630	111	162	2	0	73		1,165	12.6
13	Henri Richard H. Richard	373	636	221	594	+110	586	34	82	0	1	31		1,434	9.4
14	Bill Cowley B. Cowley	354	549	195	549		143	25	28	0	0	34	1
15	Milt Schmidt M. Schmidt	346	776	229	575		466	31	67	4	3	35	4
16	Dickie Moore D. Moore	343	692	256	599	+71	637	82	98	2	0	51		706	14.4
17	Ted Kennedy T. Kennedy	330	696	230	560		432	51	87	6	7	35	0
18	Norm Ullman N. Ullman	324	679	237	561	-30	465	50	85	5	8	40		1,343	12.4
19	Doug Bentley D. Bentley	324	565	219	543		217	39	77	2	3	28	1
20	Don McKenney D. McKenney	319	735	227	546	-67	201	50	86	3	1	26		838	13.6
21	Max Bentley M. Bentley	299	646	245	544		177	64	118	1	1	38	0
22	Toe Blake T. Blake	294	577	235	529		282	38	57	2	0	31	4
23	Syd Howe S. Howe	292	700	237	529		214	27	41	5	0	27	3
24	George Armstrong G. Armstrong	288	825	227	515	+77	656	53	69	5	10	30		993	11.3
25	Johnny Bucyk J. Bucyk	286	633	182	468	-147	352	31	76	2	0	27		1,024	12.3