List of NHL players with 500 goals

For ice hockey players in the National Hockey League (NHL), scoring 500 regular season goals is considered a highly significant achievement.

As of the completion of the 2012–13 NHL season — the 95th regular season of play of the National Hockey League — a total of 42 different players have scored at least 500 regular season goals in their NHL career.

A 500 goal career was first achieved in 1957–58, the 41st season of the NHL, when Maurice Richard scored his 500th goal in his 863rd game played. The most recent player to score 500 goals is Jarome Iginla who achieved it on January 7, 2012.

Season achievements

The 2006–07 NHL season saw the largest number of players (five) achieve their 500th goal. A total of four players scored their 500th goal in the 1995–96 season.

Starting with Maurice Richard's achievement in the 1957–58 NHL season, the greatest stretch between 500 goal scorers was the eight seasons between Gordie Howe in the 1961–62 season and Bobby Hull in the 1969–70 season.

Player achievements

The 42 players to score 500 goals consist of 32 Canadians, five Americans (Brett Hull, Joe Mullen, Mike Modano, Jeremy Roenick, and Keith Tkachuk), two Finns (Jari Kurri and Teemu Selanne), one Czech (Jaromir Jagr), one Swede (Mats Sundin), and one Slovak (Peter Bondra). Jari Kurri has the honour of being the first non-Canadian to score 500 goals. Of note, Stan Mikita was born in Sokolče, Slovakia, and was the first not born in Canada; however he immigrated when he was young and represented Canada internationally.

The fewest number of NHL games required to reach the mark was 575, set by Wayne Gretzky. Second quickest was Mario Lemieux, achieving the mark in his 605th game.

Of the 42 players to score at least 500 goals in their career, 17 reached the mark in fewer than 1000 career games played.

Of those on the list, Lanny McDonald came closest to 'not' achieving 500 goals—reaching the mark with only four games remaining in his final NHL season. Similarly, Joe Mullen scored his 500th goal with only ten games remaining in his final season.

Four players have scored their 500th goal on an empty net: Wayne Gretzky, Mike Bossy, Jari Kurri and Keith Tkachuk.

Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender Patrick Roy is the only net minder to 'allow' more than one opponent to tally their 500th career goal: Steve Yzerman in 1996, Joe Mullen in 1997 and Brendan Shanahan in 2002. A contributing factor for this statistical coincidence will be Roy's record for the second-most games played by a goaltender, at 1029.

Mats Sundin scored his 500th goal short handed in overtime on Hockey Night in Canada to finish off a hat trick to win the game for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Team achievements

A total of 20 different franchises have had a player score their 500th goal while playing for the franchise.

The Detroit Red Wings have had five different players score their 500th goal while playing for the team. The Chicago Blackhawks and Montreal Canadiens both had four players achieve the mark while with the team.

To date no team has had the coincidence of multiple players reaching 500 goals on the same team in the same season. The 2001–02 Detroit Red Wings were the first team to have three 500+ goal scorers on the roster (Steve Yzerman, Brett Hull and Luc Robitaille), and would finish the season with four players in the exclusive club after Brendan Shanahan joined them at the 500-goal plateau. Yzerman, Hull, Robitaille and Shanahan are four of only thirteen players with 650 or more goals in NHL history.

500-goal scorers

Legend

Rank - Ranking on all-time goals list

G – Career goals

Team – Team for which the player scored their 500th goal

Game no. – Number of career games played when 500th goal was scored

Date – Date of 500th goal

GP – Career games played

Active players currently in the NHL are listed in boldface

^† denotes player a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame

(Updated as of the end of the 2012–13 Regular Season. Please do not update statistics mid-season.)

Rank	Player	G	Team	Game no.	Date	Opposing goaltender	GP
1	Gretzky, WayneWayne Gretzky†	894	Edmonton Oilers	575	01986-11-22November 22, 1986	(empty net)	1487
2	Howe, GordieGordie Howe†	801	Detroit Red Wings	1045	01962-03-14March 14, 1962	Worsley, GumpGump Worsley	1767
3	Hull, BrettBrett Hull†	741	St. Louis Blues	693	01996-12-22December 22, 1996	Fiset, StephaneStephane Fiset	1269
4	Dionne, MarcelMarcel Dionne†	731	Los Angeles Kings	887	01982-12-14December 14, 1982	Jensen, AlAl Jensen	1348
5	Esposito, PhilPhil Esposito†	717	Boston Bruins	803	01974-12-22December 22, 1974	Rutherford, JimJim Rutherford	1282
6	Gartner, MikeMike Gartner†	708	New York Rangers	936	01991-10-14October 14, 1991	Liut, MikeMike Liut	1432
7	Messier, MarkMark Messier†	694	New York Rangers	1141	01995-11-06November 6, 1995	Tabaracci, RickRick Tabaracci	1756
8	Yzerman, SteveSteve Yzerman†	692	Detroit Red Wings	906	01996-01-17January 17, 1996	Roy, PatrickPatrick Roy	1514
9	Lemieux, MarioMario Lemieux†	690	Pittsburgh Penguins	605	01995-10-26October 26, 1995	Soderstrom, TommyTommy Soderstrom	915
10	Robitaille, LucLuc Robitaille†	668	Los Angeles Kings	928	01999-01-07January 7, 1999	Roloson, DwayneDwayne Roloson	1431
11	Jagr, JaromirJaromir Jagr	681	Washington Capitals	928	02003-02-04February 4, 2003	Grahame, JohnJohn Grahame	1391
12	Selanne, TeemuTeemu Selanne	675	Anaheim Ducks	982	02006-11-26November 26, 2006	Theodore, JoseJose Theodore	1387
13	Shanahan, BrendanBrendan Shanahan	656	Detroit Red Wings	1100	02002-03-23March 23, 2002	Roy, PatrickPatrick Roy	1524
14	Andreychuk, DaveDave Andreychuk	640	New Jersey Devils	1070	01997-03-15March 15, 1997	Ranford, BillBill Ranford	1639
15	Sakic, JoeJoe Sakic†	625	Colorado Avalanche	1044	02002-12-11December 11, 2002	Cloutier, DanDan Cloutier	1378
16	Hull, BobbyBobby Hull†	610	Chicago Black Hawks	861	01970-02-21February 21, 1970	Giacomin, EdEd Giacomin	1063
17	Ciccarelli, DinoDino Ciccarelli†	608	Detroit Red Wings	946	01994-01-08January 8, 1994	Hrudey, KellyKelly Hrudey	1232
18	Kurri, JariJari Kurri†	601	Los Angeles Kings	833	01992-10-17October 17, 1992	(empty net)	1251
19	Recchi, MarkMark Recchi	577	Pittsburgh Penguins	1303	02007-01-26January 26, 2007	Turco, MartyMarty Turco	1571
20	Bossy, MikeMike Bossy†	573	New York Islanders	647	01986-01-02January 2, 1986	(empty net)	752
21	Sundin, MatsMats Sundin†	564	Toronto Maple Leafs	1162	02006-10-14October 14, 2006	Kiprusoff, MiikkaMiikka Kiprusoff	1346
22	Modano, MikeMike Modano	561	Dallas Stars	1225	02007-03-13March 13, 2007	Niittymaki, AnteroAntero Niittymaki	1459
23	Lafleur, GuyGuy Lafleur†	560	Montreal Canadiens	896	01983-12-20December 20, 1983	Resch, GlennGlenn Resch	1126
24	Nieuwendyk, JoeJoe Nieuwendyk†	559	New Jersey Devils	1094	02003-01-17January 17, 2003	Weekes, KevinKevin Weekes	1242
25	Bucyk, JohnnyJohnny Bucyk†	556	Boston Bruins	1370	01975-10-30October 30, 1975	Belanger, YvesYves Belanger	1540
26	Francis, RonRon Francis†	549	Carolina Hurricanes	1533	02002-01-02January 2, 2002	Dafoe, ByronByron Dafoe	1731
27	Goulet, MichelMichel Goulet†	548	Chicago Blackhawks	951	01992-02-16February 16, 1992	Reese, JeffJeff Reese	1089
28	Richard, MauriceMaurice Richard†	544	Montreal Canadiens	863	01957-10-19October 19, 1957	Hall, GlennGlenn Hall	978
29	Mikita, StanStan Mikita†	541	Chicago Black Hawks	1221	01977-02-27February 27, 1977	Maniago, CesareCesare Maniago	1394
30	Tkachuk, KeithKeith Tkachuk	538	St. Louis Blues	1055	02008-04-06April 6, 2008	(empty net)	1201
31	Mahovlich, FrankFrank Mahovlich†	533	Montreal Canadiens	1105	01973-03-21March 21, 1973	Wilson, DuncDunc Wilson	1181
32	Trottier, BryanBryan Trottier†	524	New York Islanders	1104	01990-02-13February 13, 1990	Wamsley, RickRick Wamsley	1279
33	Verbeek, PatPat Verbeek	522	Detroit Red Wings	1285	02000-03-22March 22, 2000	Brathwaite, FredFred Brathwaite	1424
34	Hawerchuk, DaleDale Hawerchuk†	518	St. Louis Blues	1103	01996-01-31January 31, 1996	Potvin, FelixFelix Potvin	1188
35	Iginla, JaromeJarome Iginla	530	Calgary Flames	1149	02012-01-07January 7, 2012	Backstrom, NiklasNiklas Backstrom	1232
36	Turgeon, PierrePierre Turgeon	515	Colorado Avalanche	1229	02005-11-08November 8, 2005	Toskala, VesaVesa Toskala	1294
37	Roenick, JeremyJeremy Roenick	513	San Jose Sharks	1267	02007-11-10November 10, 2007	Auld, AlexAlex Auld	1363
38	Perreault, GilbertGilbert Perreault†	512	Buffalo Sabres	1159	01986-03-09March 9, 1986	Chevrier, AlainAlain Chevrier	1191
39	Beliveau, JeanJean Beliveau†	507	Montreal Canadiens	1101	01971-02-11February 11, 1971	Gilbert, GillesGilles Gilbert	1125
40	Bondra, PeterPeter Bondra	503	Chicago Blackhawks	1050	02006-12-22December 22, 2006	Aubin, Jean-SebastienJean-Sebastien Aubin	1081
41	Mullen, JoeJoe Mullen†	502	Pittsburgh Penguins	1052	01997-03-14March 14, 1997	Roy, PatrickPatrick Roy	1062
42	McDonald, LannyLanny McDonald†	500	Calgary Flames	1107	01989-03-21March 21, 1989	Fitzpatrick, MarkMark Fitzpatrick	1111

Active players within 50 goals

There are no active NHL players within 50 goals of the 500 mark at the beginning of the 2013–14 NHL season. At the end of the 2012–13 NHL season, the nearest active player is Marian Hossa with 434 career goals scored.

Retired players within 50 goals

These are players who are now retired that came within 50 goals of reaching 500 for their career.

Legend

Team – The team for which the player played the most games.

GP – Career games played

G – Career goals scored

Player	Team	GP	G
Glenn Anderson	Edmonton Oilers	1129	498
Jean Ratelle	New York Rangers	1281	491
Norm Ullman	Detroit Red Wings	1410	490
Brian Bellows	Minnesota North Stars	1188	485
Darryl Sittler	Toronto Maple Leafs	1096	484
Sergei Fedorov	Detroit Red Wings	1248	483
Bernie Nicholls	Los Angeles Kings	1127	475
Alexander Mogilny	Buffalo Sabres	990	473
Denis Savard	Chicago Blackhawks	1196	473
Pat LaFontaine	New York Islanders	865	468
Alex Delvecchio	Detroit Red Wings	1549	456
Theoren Fleury	Calgary Flames	1084	455
Rod Brind'Amour	Carolina Hurricanes	1484	452
Doug Gilmour	Toronto Maple Leafs	1474	450
Peter Stastny	Quebec Nordiques	977	450

References

• 2005 NHL Official Guide & Record Book ISBN 0-920445-91-8.