List of NHL players with 50-goal seasons


Scoring 50 goals in one season is one of the most celebrated individual achievements in the National Hockey League. In, Maurice Richard became the first player to score 50 goals in a season. Bernie Geoffrion became the second player to reach the milestone 16 years later in. Fifty-goal seasons increased in frequency during the 1970s and 1980s as offense increased across the league. By 1980, it had been reached 24 times in NHL history; the plateau was reached 76 times in the 1980s alone.
Wayne Gretzky scored his 50th goal in his 39th game in, the fastest any player has done so. He also shares the record for most 50-goal seasons with Mike Bossy, each having reached the milestone nine times in their careers. A record fourteen players exceeded 50 goals in, after which offence declined across the league, and with it the number of players to reach the total. In, for the first time in 29 years, no player scored 50 goals. Ninety-one unique players have scored 50 goals in any one NHL season, doing so a combined 186 times.

History

scored 44 goals for the Montreal Canadiens in the NHL's inaugural season of —a season with a twenty-game schedule. It was a record that stood nearly 30 years. The introduction of the centre red line and permission of forward passing out of the defensive zone in 1943 increased scoring; six players scored 30 goals in, the first time in league history so many players reached that total in one season. Maurice Richard averaged a goal per game for Montreal in and surpassed Malone's record of 44 late in the season. He was as obsessed with reaching the 50-goal mark as his opponents were with preventing it. Richard faced opponents who repeatedly elbowed, hooked and held him in an effort to prevent him from reaching 50. As a result, he scored only seven goals in his final 13 games. Richard scored his 50th goal, in 50 games, in the third period of Montreal's final game of the season against the Boston Bruins. The league introduced the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy in his honour in 1999, and the Canadiens donated the physical trophy.
Richard's mark stood untouched for 16 seasons until Bernie Geoffrion became the second player to score 50 goals in, also for Montreal, doing so in his 62nd game of the season. Early in the 1960s, Chicago Black Hawks teammates Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull began experimenting with curved blades, noticing that different bends made shots more unpredictable for goaltenders. Mikita led the NHL in scoring four times using a curved blade, while Hull became the third player in NHL history to score 50 goals in. It was the first of five times he would reach the milestone.
While playing for Boston in the 1970s, Phil Esposito scored 50 goals in five consecutive seasons, led by a then-NHL record 76 goals in. By 1980, 24 players had reached the mark. Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders joined Richard as the second man in NHL history to score 50 goals in 50 games in. He did so by scoring two goals in the final five minutes of the Islanders' 50th game. Bossy, who had set a league rookie-scoring record with 53 goals in, surpassed the 50-goal mark in each of his first nine NHL seasons. The 1980s represented one of the highest scoring eras in NHL history: on 76 occasions, a player scored 50 goals in a season. Wayne Gretzky was responsible for nine of those occasions, including his league-record 92 goals in. In that season, Gretzky scored five goals in his 39th game of the season to total 50, bettering Richard and Bossy by 11 games as the fastest to reach the mark.
Bossy and Gretzky are tied for the most
50-goal seasons, with 9 each. Bossy holds the record for most consecutive 50-goal seasons, with 9.
A record 14 players scored 50 goals in, the same season that a record 21 players reached the 100-point plateau. Among the 50-goal scorers that season was Teemu Selanne, who scored 76 goals as a rookie, surpassing Bossy's record for first-year players by 23 goals. The next season,, Brett Hull achieved his fifth 50-goal season, matching father Bobby's five 50-goal seasons three decades earlier; the two are the only father-son pair to each achieve a 50-goal season, let alone achieving it five times each.
As teams shifted their focus to defensive play rather than offensive, scoring rapidly declined in the late 1990s. No player scored 50 in, the first time that had happened in 29 years, excluding the lockout-shortened NHL season.
Only five players reached the 50-goal mark between 1999 and 2004: Pavel Bure, Joe Sakic, Jaromir Jagr, Jarome Iginla, and Milan Hejduk. Following the 2004–05 lockout that cancelled the season, the league introduced numerous rule changes designed to increase scoring. While five players scored 50 in, scoring immediately fell off thereafter, with only 15 marks of 50-goals over the next 12 years. Starting with the minor spike in, the most prolific 50-goal scorer in the past 14 seasons is Alexander Ovechkin, reaching 50 goals in 8 of those seasons, the only player to score 50 in,, and.

Players

;Key
SeasonPlayerTeamRef
Montreal Canadiens5050
Montreal Canadiens6450
Chicago Black Hawks7050
Chicago Black Hawks6554
Chicago Black Hawks6652
Chicago Black Hawks7458
Boston Bruins7876
Boston Bruins7851
Boston Bruins7666
New York Rangers7850
Chicago Black Hawks7850
Boston Bruins7855
Detroit Red Wings7652
Philadelphia Flyers7850
Boston Bruins7868
Buffalo Sabres7852
Detroit Red Wings7651
Boston Bruins7650
Boston Bruins7961
Montreal Canadiens7053
Buffalo Sabres6852
Detroit Red Wings8050
Philadelphia Flyers8061
Montreal Canadiens8056
Pittsburgh Penguins7653
Pittsburgh Penguins8052
Buffalo Sabres7950
Philadelphia Flyers8050
Montreal Canadiens8060
Montreal Canadiens8056
Los Angeles Kings8053
Montreal Canadiens7860
New York Islanders7353
New York Islanders8069
Los Angeles Kings8059
Montreal Canadiens8052
Atlanta Flames8050
Los Angeles Kings6456
Buffalo Sabres7656
Hartford Whalers8056
Los Angeles Kings8053
New York Islanders7551
Edmonton Oilers7951
Montreal Canadiens7350
Montreal Canadiens7450
Philadelphia Flyers7650
New York Islanders7968
Los Angeles Kings8058
Los Angeles Kings6556
Edmonton Oilers8055
Pittsburgh Penguins8055
St. Louis Blues7854
Quebec Nordiques7852
Washington Capitals8050
Edmonton Oilers8092
New York Islanders8064
Washington Capitals8060
Minnesota North Stars7655
Toronto Maple Leafs7754
Hartford Whalers8052
Boston Bruins7551
Los Angeles Kings7850
Edmonton Oilers7850
New York Islanders8050
Edmonton Oilers8071
Calgary Flames8066
New York Islanders7960
Quebec Nordiques8057
Los Angeles Kings8056
Chicago Black Hawks8054
Toronto Maple Leafs7851
Edmonton Oilers7487
Quebec Nordiques7556
Philadelphia Flyers7954
Edmonton Oilers8054
Edmonton Oilers6452
Toronto Maple Leafs7652
New York Islanders6751
Pittsburgh Penguins7651
Edmonton Oilers8073
Edmonton Oilers7371
New York Islanders7658
Quebec Nordiques6955
Detroit Red Wings7955
Philadelphia Flyers7454
Washington Capitals8053
Winnipeg Jets8053
Washington Capitals8050
Edmonton Oilers7868
New York Islanders8061
Philadelphia Flyers7658
Edmonton Oilers7254
Quebec Nordiques7553
Edmonton Oilers8052
Edmonton Oilers7962
Philadelphia Flyers7558
Pittsburgh Penguins6354
Edmonton Oilers7954
Minnesota North Stars8052
Pittsburgh Penguins7770
Pittsburgh Penguins/Edmonton Oilers8056
Los Angeles Kings8055
Los Angeles Kings8053
Calgary Flames7551
Detroit Red Wings6450
Montreal Canadiens7250
Calgary Flames8050
Pittsburgh Penguins7685
Los Angeles Kings7970
Detroit Red Wings8065
Los Angeles Kings7854
Calgary Flames7751
Calgary Flames7951
St. Louis Blues8072
Detroit Red Wings7962
Boston Bruins7655
Minnesota North Stars8055
New York Islanders7454
Los Angeles Kings8052
Montreal Canadiens7551
Toronto Maple Leafs8051
St. Louis Blues7886
Boston Bruins6951
Calgary Flames7951
Detroit Red Wings8051
St. Louis Blues7370
Pittsburgh Penguins8054
Calgary Flames7653
Chicago Blackhawks8053
Buffalo Sabres7776
Winnipeg Jets8476
Pittsburgh Penguins6069
Los Angeles Kings8463
Vancouver Canucks8360
New York Islanders8358
Detroit Red Wings8458
Pittsburgh Penguins7255
St. Louis Blues8054
Buffalo Sabres/Toronto Maple Leafs8354
Buffalo Sabres8453
Philadelphia Flyers8453
St. Louis Blues7151
Chicago Blackhawks8450
Vancouver Canucks7660
St. Louis Blues8157
Detroit Red Wings8256
Toronto Maple Leafs8353
St. Louis Blues8152
Detroit Red Wings8252
New York Rangers8452
Boston Bruins4950
Dallas Stars7650
Pittsburgh Penguins7069
Pittsburgh Penguins8262
Vancouver Canucks7955
Washington Capitals6752
Philadelphia Flyers8251
Colorado Avalanche8251
Winnipeg Jets7650
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim8250
Phoenix Coyotes8152
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim7851
Pittsburgh Penguins7650
Philadelphia Flyers8250
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim7352
Washington Capitals7652
Vancouver Canucks8251
Philadelphia Flyers8251
Florida Panthers7458
Florida Panthers8259
Colorado Avalanche8254
Pittsburgh Penguins8152
Calgary Flames8252
Colorado Avalanche8250
San Jose Sharks8256
New York Rangers8254
* Atlanta Thrashers7852
* Washington Capitals8152
Ottawa Senators8250
Tampa Bay Lightning8252
Ottawa Senators8250
* Washington Capitals8265
* Atlanta Thrashers7952
Calgary Flames8250
* Washington Capitals7956
*Pittsburgh Penguins8151
* Tampa Bay Lightning8251
* Washington Capitals7250
*Anaheim Ducks8250
* Tampa Bay Lightning8260
*Pittsburgh Penguins7550
* Washington Capitals7851
* Washington Capitals8153
* Washington Capitals7950
* Washington Capitals8151
*Edmonton Oilers8250