Before 1989-90, Wayne Gretzky had the most assists, with 1,200 assists.

Interpreted as:

most career assists by a player before 1989-90

	NAME	A	GP	G	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	PPA	SHG	SHA	GWG	OTG	S	S%
1	Wayne Gretzky W. Gretzky	1,200	774	637	1,837	+568	349	136	356	60	63	66	1	3,095	20.6
2	Gordie Howe G. Howe	1,049	1,767	801	1,850	+160	1,685	211	353	24	12	121		3,803	10.1
3	Marcel Dionne M. Dionne	1,040	1,348	731	1,771	+27	600	234	409	19	11	73	2	5,363	13.6
4	Stan Mikita S. Mikita	926	1,396	541	1,467	+329	1,264	150	312	12	6	84		4,482	12.1
5	Phil Esposito P. Esposito	873	1,282	717	1,590	+252	910	246	303	23	12	118		5,166	13.9
6	Bobby Clarke B. Clarke	852	1,144	358	1,210	+507	1,453	99	234	32	35	38	1	2,582	13.9
7	Bryan Trottier B. Trottier	842	1,064	487	1,329	+478	769	154	255	17	18	69	1	2,542	19.2
8	Alex Delvecchio A. Delvecchio	825	1,550	456	1,281	+24	383	111	265	15	16	75		3,129	10.1
9	Gilbert Perreault G. Perreault	814	1,191	512	1,326	+41	500	134	298	8	4	81	0	3,077	16.6
10	Johnny Bucyk J. Bucyk	813	1,540	556	1,369	-7	493	159	284	4	0	92		3,087	16.2
11	Jean Ratelle J. Ratelle	776	1,280	491	1,267	+236	276	137	213	4	3	68		2,916	16.8
12	Guy Lafleur G. Lafleur	755	1,028	536	1,291	+471	393	145	249	3	2	96	0	3,326	16.1
13	Denis Potvin D. Potvin	742	1,060	310	1,052	+456	1,356	127	332	10	22	44	0	3,050	10.2
14	Norm Ullman N. Ullman	739	1,410	490	1,229	+7	710	116	172	8	13	59		3,426	12.3
15	Bernie Federko B. Federko	721	927	352	1,073	-123	463	117	284	2	0	40	0	1,966	17.9
16	Jean Beliveau J. Beliveau	712	1,125	507	1,219	+117	1,033	173	269	0	2	83		2,627	11.4
17	Henri Richard H. Richard	688	1,258	358	1,046	+243	932	47	115	0	1	53		3,199	8.5
18	Larry Robinson L. Robinson	686	1,202	197	883	+692	706	65	225	3	5	28	0	2,136	9.2
19	Brad Park B. Park	683	1,113	213	896	+363	1,429	92	285	5	8	28	0	2,827	7.5
20	Bobby Orr B. Orr	645	657	270	915	+582	953	76	248	16	31	26		3,058	8.8
21	Darryl Sittler D. Sittler	637	1,096	484	1,121	+57	948	150	160	10	10	57	0	3,815	12.7
22	Peter Stastny P. Stastny	630	675	356	986	+31	663	110	246	6	6	43	1	1,814	19.6
23	Andy Bathgate A. Bathgate	624	1,069	349	973	-60	624	78	233	6	3	35		2,461	8.6
24	Borje Salming B. Salming	620	1,099	148	768	+150	1,292	45	256	6	10	13	0	2,487	6.0
25	Rod Gilbert R. Gilbert	615	1,065	406	1,021	+38	510	108	215	0	0	52		3,142	12.9