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List of NHL players with 500 goals

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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 2009-10 season—the 92nd 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 Selänne, one is Czech (Jaromír Jágr), 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
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
G – Career goals.
Active players currently in the NHL are listed in boldface.

(Updated as of April 12, 2010 - the end of the 2009-10 Regular Season)

Player Team Game no. Date Opposing goaltender GP G
1 Maurice Richard Montreal Canadiens 863 October 19, 1957 Glenn Hall 978 544
2 Gordie Howe Detroit Red Wings 1045 March 14, 1962 Gump Worsley 1767 801
3 Bobby Hull Chicago Blackhawks 861 February 21, 1970 Ed Giacomin 1063 610
4 Jean Beliveau Montreal Canadiens 1101 February 11, 1971 Gilles Gilbert 1125 507
5 Frank Mahovlich Montreal Canadiens 1105 March 21, 1973 Dunc Wilson 1181 533
6 Phil Esposito Boston Bruins 803 December 22, 1974 Jim Rutherford 1282 717
7 Johnny Bucyk Boston Bruins 1370 October 30, 1975 Yves Belanger 1540 556
8 Stan Mikita Chicago Blackhawks 1221 February 27, 1977 Cesare Maniago 1394 541
9 Marcel Dionne Los Angeles Kings 887 December 14, 1982 Al Jensen 1348 731
10 Guy Lafleur Montreal Canadiens 896 December 20, 1983 Glenn Resch 1126 560
11 Mike Bossy New York Islanders 647 January 2, 1986 (empty net) 752 573
12 Gilbert Perreault Buffalo Sabres 1159 March 9, 1986 Alain Chevrier 1191 512
13 Wayne Gretzky Edmonton Oilers 575 November 22, 1986 (empty net) 1487 894
14 Lanny McDonald Calgary Flames 1107 March 21, 1989 Mark Fitzpatrick 1111 500
15 Bryan Trottier New York Islanders 1104 February 13, 1990 Rick Wamsley 1279 524
16 Mike Gartner New York Rangers 936 October 14, 1991 Mike Liut 1432 708
17 Michel Goulet Chicago Blackhawks 951 February 16, 1992 Jeff Reese 1089 548
18 Jari Kurri Los Angeles Kings 833 October 17, 1992 (empty net) 1251 601
19 Dino Ciccarelli Detroit Red Wings 946 January 8, 1994 Kelly Hrudey 1232 608
20 Mario Lemieux Pittsburgh Penguins 605 October 26, 1995 Tommy Soderstrom 915 690
21 Mark Messier New York Rangers 1141 November 6, 1995 Rick Tabaracci 1756 694
22 Steve Yzerman Detroit Red Wings 906 January 17, 1996 Patrick Roy 1514 692
23 Dale Hawerchuk St. Louis Blues 1103 January 31, 1996 Felix Potvin 1188 518
24 Brett Hull St. Louis Blues 693 December 22, 1996 Stéphane Fiset 1269 741
25 Joe Mullen Pittsburgh Penguins 1052 March 14, 1997 Patrick Roy 1062 502
26 Dave Andreychuk New Jersey Devils 1070 March 15, 1997 Bill Ranford 1639 640
27 Luc Robitaille Los Angeles Kings 928 January 7, 1999 Dwayne Roloson 1431 668
28 Pat Verbeek Detroit Red Wings 1285 March 22, 2000 Fred Brathwaite 1424 522
29 Ron Francis Carolina Hurricanes 1533 January 2, 2002 Byron Dafoe 1731 549
30 Brendan Shanahan Detroit Red Wings 1100 March 23, 2002 Patrick Roy 1524 656
31 Joe Sakic Colorado Avalanche 1044 December 11, 2002 Dan Cloutier 1378 625
32 Joe Nieuwendyk New Jersey Devils 1094 January 17, 2003 Kevin Weekes 1242 559
33 Jaromír Jágr Washington Capitals 928 February 4, 2003 John Grahame 1273 646
34 Pierre Turgeon Colorado Avalanche 1229 November 8, 2005 Vesa Toskala 1294 515
35 Mats Sundin Toronto Maple Leafs 1162 October 14, 2006 Miikka Kiprusoff 1346 564
36 Teemu Selänne Anaheim Ducks 982 November 26, 2006 José Théodore 1186 611
37 Peter Bondra Chicago Blackhawks 1050 December 22, 2006 Jean-Sébastien Aubin 1081 503
38 Mark Recchi Pittsburgh Penguins 1303 January 26, 2007 Marty Turco 1571 563
39 Mike Modano Dallas Stars 1225 March 13, 2007 Antero Niittymäki 1459 557
40 Jeremy Roenick San Jose Sharks 1267 November 10, 2007 Alex Auld 1363 513
41 Keith Tkachuk St. Louis Blues 1055 April 6, 2008 (empty net) 1201 538

Active players who are close

There are no players who have a realistic chance to reach 500 goals during the 2010–11 NHL season. Sergei Fedorov who is still active but no longer playing in the NHL has scored 483 goals in 1248 games primarily with the Detroit Red Wings. Jarome Iginla had 441 goals at the end of 2009-10, but unless he scores 59 goals in 2010–11, he will not get to 500 this year.


Retired players who came close

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
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
Doug Gilmour Toronto Maple Leafs 1474 450
Peter Stastny Quebec Nordiques 977 450

See also

References

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