Ranking Alex Ovechkin and the Top 10 Goalscorers in the NHL Since 1980
It's goal-scoring season in the NHL.
OK, it's obvious that putting pucks in nets has always been of the utmost importance when it comes to winning hockey games, but it's safe to say a bit more attention is being paid this season thanks to the exploits of Alex Ovechkin.
The "Great 8" is pushing hard to break Wayne Gretzky's all-time goals record before the close of the 2024-25 schedule, and the frenzy surrounding the Washington Capitals star got the B/R hockey team to thinking of other adept snipers, too.
We looked back over the last 45 years–reaching back to 1979-80 season, Gretzky's first in the NHL–to come up with a list of the league's 10 best goal-scorers over that time frame, considering not only their total numbers but also other metrics like season-by-season and goals-per-game averages.
Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought in the app comments.
10. Leon Draisaitl - 398 Career Goals
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Team: Edmonton Oilers
He's well behind others in terms of career length, but Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl has been nothing if not prolific thus far, posting 0.50 goals per game since arriving in northern Alberta as the third overall draft pick in 2014.
The uber-talented German center scored 75 times across his first four NHL seasons but has taken it up several notches since, starting with a 50-goal breakout in 2018-19 and adding 43 in 71 games the following season while earning both the Art Ross and Hart Memorial trophies for the Oilers.
He hit 50 goals this past week for the fourth time in his career and continues to be one of the most dangerous players in the NHL.
9. Pavel Bure - 437 Career Goals
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Teams: Vancouver Canucks, Florida Panthers, New York Rangers
Looking for a more dynamic, more creative, and more successful player than Pavel Bure was across 12 NHL seasons? Good luck.
The 20-year-old "Russian Rocket" was among the first to arrive from the old Soviet Union and his 34 goals in a Calder-worthy debut in 1991-92 were merely a prelude to the 60-goal seasons he put up in years two and three in Vancouver.
His elite speed and skilled hands made him a consistent finisher and only time on the shelf with balky knees interrupted a string of prolific seasons in which he reached 50 goals three more times.
Bure scored 19 goals in 39 games with the Rangers in 2002-03 before the knee issues prompted an early retirement. But his 0.62 goals per game for his career are sixth in league history and fourth among players on our list.
8. Auston Matthews - 397 Career Goals
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Team: Toronto Maple Leafs
So we can pretty much agree on two things, right?
Ovechkin is going to break Gretzky's record in a matter of days (we picked April 10 way back in February, by the way), and Auston Matthews is the player with the best chance to break the Russian's record a few years down the line.
And the evidence for the Toronto sniper's case is plentiful.
The top overall pick in 2016 headed from the Arizona desert to Ontario's hockey capital and made an instant impact with a 40-goal season that yielded a Calder Trophy. He followed with 34 in year two and has exceeded that number in each of six subsequent seasons, including 60 in 2021-22 and 69 in 2023-24.
The latter was tops in the NHL in 28 years, since Mario Lemieux had 69 in 1995-96.
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7. Mike Gartner - 708 Career Goals
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Teams: Washington Capitals, Minnesota North Stars, New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Phoenix Coyotes
It's easy, sort of, to forget about Mike Gartner.
He wasn't the biggest or strongest player. He never was a Stanley Cup champion. And though he played 19 NHL seasons, he never led the league in goals. But upon further review, the uber-speedy winger's all-around prowess and consistency are undeniable.
Only seven players finished with more than Gartner's 708 career goals and only a handful bettered the 0.49 average he established over 1,432 games. He scored 36 times as a rookie with Washington in 1979-80 and didn't dip below 30 in any of the 17 seasons during which he played more than 60 games.
His speed and quick release made him dangerous anywhere on the ice, particularly on the power play, where he scored more than 30 percent of his career goals. His 212 goals with a man advantage are 12th in league history, too.
6. Jaromir Jagr - 766 Career Goals
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Team: Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Dallas Stars, Boston Bruins, Florida Panthers, Calgary Flames
He's among the coolest guys to ever take NHL ice and he's easily the most-traveled player on our list, having suited up for eight teams in a career that spanned 27 calendar years, not to mention six Canadian prime ministers and five U.S. presidents.
But let's not forget, Jaromir Jagr was a phenomenal talent packed inside a 6'3", 230-pound frame that was perfectly balanced and difficult to move off the puck.
Known initially for being Mario Lemieux's sidekick on Pittsburgh's Cup winners in 1991 and 1992, the colorful Czech went on to capture five scoring titles while reaching 40 goals three times, 50 goals twice and topping out at 62 amid a 1995-96 masterpiece that he completed with a career-high 149 points, too.
And if you don't think he was still an effective player as he aged, think again. Jagr's 97 goals after his 40th birthday are an NHL record.
5. Brett Hull - 741 Career Goals
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Teams: Calgary Flames, St. Louis Blues, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, Phoenix Coyotes
Like father, like son. Or in Brett Hull's case, even better.
The "Golden Brett's" old man, Bobby, was a pretty fair player during an NHL run that covered 16 seasons and ended with 610 goals. But the younger Hull, plucked in the sixth round by Calgary in the 1984 draft, managed to leave a second-generation mark with 741 goals while playing with five teams through 2005.
Three years during his time with the St. Louis Blues were legendarily productive, including 86 goals in 1990-91, that's the highest number posted by a man not named Gretzky. He sandwiched that season with a 72 before and a 70 after for 228 goals, the best three-year stretch outside of Gretzky's 250 from 1981-82 to 1983-84.
4. Alex Ovechkin - 889 Career Goals
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Team: Washington Capitals
This just in: Guys who break Gretzky's records are good at hockey.
Ovechkin is another in a line of No. 1 overall picks who've produced, arriving in the U.S. capital with a 52-goal season in 2005-06 that opened his NHL trophy case with a Calder. The 46 goals he scored the following season were a prelude to a subsequent three-year run in which he lit the lamp 171 times.
Consistency and durability have become his calling cards in the decade-plus since, with five 30-goal seasons, three 40-goal seasons and five 50-goal seasons.
He's led the league nine times along the way and the 0.60 goals he's averaged per game through Friday, at age 39, is his best clip in five years.
Suffice to say, the all-time record will be in good hands.
3. Mike Bossy - 573 Career Goals
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Team: New York Islanders
Before Draisaitl, Matthews or Ovechkin, there was Mike Bossy.
The gangly winger from Montreal arrived on Long Island after tearing up the Quebec junior ranks and made an immediate and unprecedented impact, scoring 53 goals in his first NHL season to establish a record that stood for 15 years.
An uncanny ability to find open ice paired with a lethal wrist shot made Bossy a star as he went for 69 goals as an encore and never scored fewer than 51 until dipping to 38 in 63 games in an all-too-soon finale in 1986-87, by which time a balky back had robbed him of a run at what was then Gordie Howe's record.
Another statistical testament to Bossy's greatness? His career goals-per-game of 0.76 is still the league's all-time best, 38 years after his last celebration.
2. Mario Lemieux - 690 Career Goals
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Team: Pittsburgh Penguins
Yes, others have more total goals. And yes, others have scored more in a single season. Nevertheless, it's hard to make a case that Lemieux is not the best goal-scorer the league has seen in the last 45 years outside of the guy wearing No. 99.
In fact, we'd suggest it's impossible.
Though he's "only" eighth in goals since 1979-80, "Super Mario" climbs the ladder because of almost absurd productivity when he was actually on the ice.
Remember, No. 66 lost significant pieces of his career due to injury and illness, playing just 910 games compared to 1,482 for Ovechkin and 1,269 for Hull. Which means his per-game average of 0.75 gets elevated to preeminence, trailing only Bossy (0.76) in league history compared to Ovechkin in eighth place and Hull in ninth.
Simply put, if you're in discussions alongside Gretzky or Bobby Orr when it comes to the league's all-time greatest players, you know you're the real deal.
Lemieux was Le Magnifique.
1. Wayne Gretzky - 894 Career Goals
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Teams: Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues, New York Rangers
His No. 99 hangs at every NHL rink.
And though Wayne Gretzky is recalled more as a play-maker than a sniper, his most prolific seasons–92 goals in 1981-82 and 87 goals in 1983-84–and a three-year run from 1981 to 1984 during which he scored a jaw-dropping 250 goals, are still scoring standards no one has approached, let alone surpassed.
A run of nine MVPs across his first 10 seasons seems almost fable-like these days, and Gretzky's 637 goals over 774 games in that stretch yield a 0.82 average that betters the peak years of Ovechkin and anyone who's ever pulled on a sweater.
The four-time Cup champ deserved every bit of praise he got for a remarkable hockey IQ, which made him a perennial All-Star despite a less-than-imposing physical presence. And yes, he could snipe with the best of them, too.
In fact, when it comes to goal scoring, the "Great One" is the greatest one.
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