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Who are the top goal scorers in NHL history? Here is our top 10 countdown:
Note: Updated in 2021.
10. Pavel Bure: though his career was shortened by injury, the speedy Bure was a scoring dynamo in his prime, putting up five seasons of 50+ goals, including consecutive 60-goal seasons in the early 1990s; overall, his goals-per-game average of 0.623 ranks top-five all-time.
9. Brett Hull: the son of legendary goal scorer Bobby Hull, Brett was elite in his own right in putting the puck into the net – he had three consecutive seasons between 1989 and 1992 of 70+ goals, including a career-high 86 in 1990-1991, en route to 741 career goals.
8. Maurice Richard: the namesake of the Richard Trophy for top goal-scorer annually, Richard led the league in goal-scoring 5x and accumulated 544 career goals, becoming the first player to score 50 goals in a season (in just 50 games) and 500 goals in a career.
7. Gordie Howe: Mr. Hockey himself, Howe had 30+ goals in a season an incredible 14x and retired as the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer with 801 career goals (though he has since been surpassed by Wayne Gretzky).
6. Bobby Hull: known as “The Golden Jet”, Hull led the NHL in goals 7x and scored 50+ goals in a season 5x, including a career-high 58 in 1968-1969; in addition to his 610 NHL goals, Hull also scored 303 goals in seven WHA seasons.
5. Phil Esposito: in addition to scoring a then-record 76 goals in 1970-1971, Esposito led the league in goals scored for six straight years in the 1970s, including five straight with 50+, and retired as the NHL’s second-leading goal-scorer behind only Gordie Howe.
4. Mario Lemieux: despite being slowed by illness and injury at various points in his career, Lemieux led the NHL in goals 3x (including a career-high 85 in 1988-1989) and had six 50+ goal seasons en route to 690 career goals scored, good for second place all-time in terms of goals-per-game average (0.754).
3. Mike Bossy: though he only played for 10 seasons, Bossy scored 50+ goals in nine straight years (2x leading the NHL) and has the highest goals-per-game average in NHL history (0.762).
2. Alex Ovechkin: the greatest goal-scorer of this generation, Ovechkin has won the Richard Trophy 8x and has scored 30+ goals in every season of his career thus far, including 50+ 8x.
1. Wayne Gretzky: known as “The Great One”, Gretzky holds a slew of NHL records, including most career goals (894) and most goals scored in a season (92 in 1981-1982; he is also second with 87 in 1983-1984); overall, he led the NHL in goals scored 5x and had 40+ goals in a season for an astounding 12 straight seasons.
Agree/Disagree? As always, debate/discuss, and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Note: All statistics as of time of publication.
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