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 2010-11 season—the 93rd regular season of the National Hockey League—a total of 41 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.

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

Of the 41 players to score 500 goals, 32 are Canadian, four are American (Joe Mullen, Mike Modano, Jeremy Roenick, and Keith Tkachuk), two are Finnish (Jari Kurri and Teemu Selanne), one is Czech (Jaromir Jagr), one is Swedish (Mats Sundin), and one is Slovakian (Peter Bondra). Jari Kurri has the honour of being the first non-Canadian to score fifty goals, as well as the first European to do so. Of note, Stan Mikita was born in Sokolče, Slovakia, (then Czechoslovakia,) but immigrated to Canada when he was young and represented Canada internationally.

The shortest 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 41 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 in overtime, winning the game for the Toronto Maple Leafs. In that one goal, he finished off a hat trick, scored one of his league-leading 15 overtime goals, while his team was short handed, and earned his 500th career NHL goal.

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 eleven 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 NHL Hall of Fame

(Updated as of April 10, 2011 - the end of the 2010-11 Regular Season)

Rank	Player	G	Team	Game no.	Date	Opposing goaltender	GP
1	Wayne Gretzky†	894	Edmonton Oilers	575	November 22, 1986	(empty net)	1487
2	Gordie Howe†	801	Detroit Red Wings	1045	March 14, 1962	Gump Worsley	1767
3	Brett Hull†	741	St. Louis Blues	693	December 22, 1996	Stephane Fiset	1269
4	Marcel Dionne†	731	Los Angeles Kings	887	December 14, 1982	Al Jensen	1348
5	Phil Esposito†	717	Boston Bruins	803	December 22, 1974	Jim Rutherford	1282
6	Mike Gartner†	708	New York Rangers	936	October 14, 1991	Mike Liut	1432
7	Mark Messier†	694	New York Rangers	1141	November 6, 1995	Rick Tabaracci	1756
8	Steve Yzerman†	692	Detroit Red Wings	906	January 17, 1996	Patrick Roy	1514
9	Mario Lemieux†	690	Pittsburgh Penguins	605	October 26, 1995	Tommy Soderstrom	915
10	Luc Robitaille†	668	Los Angeles Kings	928	January 7, 1999	Dwayne Roloson	1431
11	Jaromir Jagr	659	Philadelphia Flyers	928	February 4, 2003	John Grahame	1273
12	Brendan Shanahan	656	Detroit Red Wings	1100	March 23, 2002	Patrick Roy	1524
13	Dave Andreychuk	640	New Jersey Devils	1070	March 15, 1997	Bill Ranford	1639
14	Teemu Selanne	637	Anaheim Ducks	982	November 26, 2006	Jose Theodore	1186
15	Joe Sakic	625	Colorado Avalanche	1044	December 11, 2002	Dan Cloutier	1378
16	Bobby Hull†	610	Chicago Blackhawks	861	February 21, 1970	Ed Giacomin	1063
17	Dino Ciccarelli†	608	Detroit Red Wings	946	January 8, 1994	Kelly Hrudey	1232
18	Jari Kurri†	601	Los Angeles Kings	833	October 17, 1992	(empty net)	1251
19	Mark Recchi	577	Pittsburgh Penguins	1303	January 26, 2007	Marty Turco	1571
20	Mike Bossy†	573	New York Islanders	647	January 2, 1986	(empty net)	752
21	Mats Sundin	564	Toronto Maple Leafs	1162	October 14, 2006	Miikka Kiprusoff	1346
22	Mike Modano	561	Dallas Stars	1225	March 13, 2007	Antero Niittymaki	1459
23	Guy Lafleur†	560	Montreal Canadiens	896	December 20, 1983	Glenn Resch	1126
24	Joe Nieuwendyk†	559	New Jersey Devils	1094	January 17, 2003	Kevin Weekes	1242
25	Johnny Bucyk†	556	Boston Bruins	1370	October 30, 1975	Yves Belanger	1540
26	Ron Francis†	549	Carolina Hurricanes	1533	January 2, 2002	Byron Dafoe	1731
27	Michel Goulet†	548	Chicago Blackhawks	951	February 16, 1992	Jeff Reese	1089
28	Maurice Richard†	544	Montreal Canadiens	863	October 19, 1957	Glenn Hall	978
29	Stan Mikita†	541	Chicago Blackhawks	1221	February 27, 1977	Cesare Maniago	1394
30	Keith Tkachuk	538	St. Louis Blues	1055	April 6, 2008	(empty net)	1201
31	Frank Mahovlich†	533	Montreal Canadiens	1105	March 21, 1973	Dunc Wilson	1181
32	Bryan Trottier†	524	New York Islanders	1104	February 13, 1990	Rick Wamsley	1279
33	Pat Verbeek	522	Detroit Red Wings	1285	March 22, 2000	Fred Brathwaite	1424
34	Dale Hawerchuk†	518	St. Louis Blues	1103	January 31, 1996	Felix Potvin	1188
35	Pierre Turgeon	515	Colorado Avalanche	1229	November 8, 2005	Vesa Toskala	1294
36	Jeremy Roenick	513	San Jose Sharks	1267	November 10, 2007	Alex Auld	1363
37	Gilbert Perreault†	512	Buffalo Sabres	1159	March 9, 1986	Alain Chevrier	1191
38	Jean Beliveau†	507	Montreal Canadiens	1101	February 11, 1971	Gilles Gilbert	1125
39	Peter Bondra	503	Chicago Blackhawks	1050	December 22, 2006	Jean-Sebastien Aubin	1081
40	Joe Mullen†	502	Pittsburgh Penguins	1052	March 14, 1997	Patrick Roy	1062
41	Lanny McDonald†	500	Calgary Flames	1107	March 21, 1989	Mark Fitzpatrick	1111

Active players within 50 goals at the beginning of the 2011-12 season

Player	Team	GP	G
Jarome Iginla	Calgary Flames	1106	484

On January 7, 2012, Iginla, playing for the Flames, scored his 500th career goal during his 1149th game against Niklas Backstrom of the Minnesota Wild. The goal was the game winner in a 3-1 win.

Retired players within 50 goals

These are players who are now retired (or in the case of Sergei Fedorov, left the NHL for another league) 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

See also

• List of NHL statistical leaders
• List of NHL players with 1000 games played
• List of NHL players with 1000 points
• List of NHL players with 100 point seasons
• List of NHL players with 50 goal seasons
• List of NHL players with 50 goals in 50 games

References

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