Sidney Crosby could very well join the list of top scorers in NHL history after scoring his 1500th point in April 2023. Alex Ovechkin is also expected to hit 1500 points in the 2023-24 season.
Let’s take a look at the NHL’s top points scorers of all time before they inevitably join the list.
10. Phil Esposito (1590 points)
Phil Esposito is one of the greatest players in the modern era and he starred for the Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins, and New York Rangers over an 18-year career from 1964 through 1981.
A first team All Star five times, he was also a two-time winner of the Hart Memorial Trophy and inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1984. Esposito scored at least 30 goals in a season 13 times, and he finished his career with 717 goals and 873 assists.
9. Joe Sakic (1641 points)
A star leader for Quebec Nordiques and Colorado Avalanche over a 20-year career, Joe Sakic is ninth on the list of top scorers in NHL history with 1641 points. Sakic never led the league in goals or assists, but was remarkably consistent across his entire career.
He recorded at least 20 goals in a season 17 times and earned first team All Star on three occasions. A two-time Stanley Cup winner with the Avalanche, Sakic was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2012.
8. Mario Lemieux (1723 points)
Mario Lemieux played his entire 17-year career with the Pittsburgh Penguins and finished his career with 690 goals and 1033 assists. A first team All Star five times, he led the Penguins to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 1991 and 1992 on the back of his physically dominant game.
Lemieux became the Penguins hero again after buying the franchise in 1999 and bringing them out of bankruptcy. Since then, Pittsburgh added a further three Stanley Cup championships in 2009, 2016 and 2017, cementing Lemieux’s place as the most important figure in Penguins history.
7. Steve Yzerman (1755 points)
Steve Yzerman played more than two decades in the NHL with a career spanning from 1984 to 2006, spent entirely with the Detroit Red Wings. Yzerman, like Sakic, never led the league in goals or assists but he still registered 692 goals and 1063 assists. Yzerman scored at least 30 goals in a season 11 times with a career-high 65 in 1988-89. He was a first team All Star once, and won three Stanley Cups.
6. Marcel Dionne (1771 points)
Featuring with the the Detroit Red Wings, Los Angeles Kings, and New York Rangers, Marcel Dionne had a successful career spanning 19 years. In his rookie year he scored 77 points, a then-record for points by a rookie, and in the 1979-80 season was league leader for points scored, his 137 points tied with Wayne Gretzky
Although never part of a Stanley Cup winning team, Dionne was first team All Star three times. He scored at least 30 goals in a season 13 times and notched at least 50 goals in five consecutive seasons.
5. Ron Francis (1798 points)
With 549 goals and 1249 assists, Ron Francis is the fifth top scorer in NHL history. A star for the Hartford Whalers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Carolina Hurricanes, and Toronto Maple Leafs, Francis had a 23-year career and won two Stanley Cups alongside Lemieux.
Francis scored at least 20 goals in a season all but twice and peaked at 80 goals across three seasons. He also led the league in assists twice, and had a career-best 92 assists in the 1995-96 season while at the Penguins.
4. Gordie Howe (1850 points)
Gordie Howe played 25 of his 26 NHL seasons with the Detroit Red Wings and led the league in scoring six times, goals five times, assists three times, and finished with 801 goals and 1049 assists.
Howe was first team All Star 21 times, won the Hart Trophy six times and was a part of four Stanley Cup winning teams. He was the league’s all-time leading scorer upon his retirement and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1972, seven years before his return to the NHL for one more final season.
3. Mark Messier (1887 points)
Mark Messier played for the Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers, and New York Rangers in a career that spanned a quarter of a century and included 1193 assists. He never led the league in goals, assists, or total points, but notched at least 20 goals in 17 seasons.
He also recorded six seasons was at least 100 points, was a member of an impressive six Stanley Cup winning teams and was first team All Star five times.
2. Jaromir Jagr (1921 points)
Jaromir Jagr is truly remarkable. At 51-years of age he’s an owner-player with the Kladno Knights in the Czech Extraliga and still scoring goals. Before then, he was a superstar in a 24-year career in the NHL.
The first 11 seasons of his career was with the Penguins where he won back-to-back Stanley Cups in a star-studded lineup including Mario Lemieux and Ron Francis. Jagr led the league in points each season from 1997 through 2001, and finished his career with a staggering 1921 points.
1. Wayne Gretzky (2857 points)
Wayne Gretzky is an almost-consensus pick as the best player in history and he’s scored the most goals in NHL history with 894 to his name, the most assists with 1963 assists, and most points. Even without all the goals to his name he’d still be first on this list. Gretzky’s 2857 points in his career is simply mind boggling.
Gretzky was superhuman for the Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, New York Rangers, and St. Louis Blues over a 20-year career and he led the league in assists 14 times, total points 11 times and in goals five times. He was a first team All Star 15 times, Ross Trophy winner 10 times, Hart Trophy winner nine times, and four-time Stanley Cup winner.
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