The man simply known as "The Great One" hit another major milestone Wednesday, but it had nothing to do with hockey. Wayne Gretzky is celebrating his 50th birthday today, and the sports world is going mad with retrospectives on his life and career.

Countdowns of his top on-ice moments and testimonials about his impact on the game abound, but Gretzky says it's "just another birthday" and he's happy that at the half-century mark, he still has his health.

"For me right now it's not just another day but it's another birthday and I feel very fortunate that I'm healthy and I feel good and I feel in shape and I still feel young," Gretzky told TSN in an extensive interview. "By no means could I play at the level of these kids who play in the NHL now but as 50-year-olds go, I feel really good and I feel blessed that I'm still healthy."

The name Gretzky is synonymous with hockey, and with good reason. He still holds 60 of the whopping 61 records he set during his career, including most career points (2,857) most goals in a single season (92) and most points in a year (215).

But the individual record Gretzky is most proud of is hitting the 50 goal mark in a mere 39 games, the record he feels is least likely to fall.

"I can see somebody getting 200 points some day, I can see somebody getting 93 goals one day," Gretzky said. "But to score 50 goals in 38 games will take an awful lot of luck, it'll take something really special, and I think for me personally, that'll be the hardest record to break."

Experts and fans from various generations will offer different names in the debate over the greatest hockey player ever. Gordie Howe and Bobby Orr will be put forward by an older crowd, while kids who have never seen Number 99 play will argue for Sidney Crosby or Alex Ovechkin. For the record, Gretzky says Orr and Howe "are the greatest two players that ever played the game."

But NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman says Gretzky is "in a class by himself."

"The fact that he has 60 records, I don't think any player in any sport has ever or can ever dominate in that way," Bettman said. "He was a consummate superstar ambassador for the game on and off the ice. I don't think there's anyone comparable because he's always represented this game with elegance and class."

It was that class that saw Gretzky through some trying times during his tenure in the NHL, including his 1988 trade from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings. While he shed many tears at the news conference announcing he was heading to California, Gretzky never lashed out publicly over the move despite his emotions.

Globe and Mail sports reporter Matthew Sekeres says Gretzky turned the situation into an opportunity to be an ambassador for the game to an American audience.

"He certainly put that franchise on the map and that franchise getting on the map led to the expansion of franchises throughout the American Sunbelt," Sekeres told CTV News Channel on Wednesday.

Several years later, when Gretzky was head coach of the Phoenix Coyotes and the team was plodding through contentious bankruptcy proceedings (in which he lost money as a minority owner of the team), The Great One kept himself out of the media circus and quietly stepped down from the job in September 2009.

While he is enjoying life away from the game, shuttling his two youngest children to and from school, golfing and doing charity work, Gretzky hasn't ruled out a return to the National Hockey League one day.

When asked what it would take to get him back to the NHL, Gretzky replied: "It wouldn't take anything, I just haven't really thought about it…I have a lot of really good friends in the game. Right now, the time isn't right for me and maybe one day it will be, but right now it's just not the right time."

In the meantime, Gretzky watches a lot of hockey and says he "always pulls" for the Oilers and Kings. And despite being away from the league in which he played for 20 years, Gretzky calls himself "the number one fan."

"Everything I have in my life is because of the NHL and because of hockey," Gretzky said. "And I love the game."