Going through NHL records is very much like reading through the career of Wayne Gretzky. The absurdly consistent, high-calibre forward simply couldn’t stop scoring for much of his 20-year career.
Here, we’re delving into another of his seemingly unbeatable NHL records. We’ll look at the years that he set the records for the most goals in a single NHL season, the season when he scored 100 goals, and if anyone can come close in the modern game.
Who Scored the Most Goals in a Single NHL Season?
Wayne Gretzky has scored the most goals in a single NHL season. Dominating this NHL record as well, he scored 92 goals in his 80 games of the 1981/82 season.
He also boasts the record for the second-most goals scored in a single NHL season. This came two seasons later, when he scored 87 goals in 74 games in 1983/84.
In both of these seasons of high goal scoring – during which he was in his early 20s – Gretzky scored over 200 points.
Scoring more than a goal per game is essentially unheard of in the modern NHL. That said, Auston Matthews, for the sixth-favourites in the NHL betting for the Stanley Cup, did put up 13 goals in the opening 12 games.
Who Scored the Most Total Goals in an NHL Season?
By combining the goals scored in the regular season and the playoffs, we find that the player with the most total goals in an NHL season is, once again, Wayne Gretzky.
The Great One added to his second-best regular season goals record of 1983/84 with 16 postseason goals to hit a grand tally of 100 for the campaign. It was arguably his best season and one of the best for the whole team.
Runner-up to Gretzky is, of course, Gretzky. In 1981/82, his 92 regular season goals got five more added to them in the playoffs to rank him joint-second on 97. Joining him is Mario Lemieux (1988/89) and Brett Hull (1990/91).
In fifth is Gretzky’s Oilers wingman, Jari Kurri, on 90 in 1984/85, and it was that season that the record holder also put up 90 total goals.
Which Active Player has Scored the Most Goals in a Single NHL Season?
You have to scroll down to 25th overall for the total goals scored in the regular season and playoffs of one campaign to get to the leader among active skaters, Connor McDavid.
He may be one of the highest scorers in the league, but for now, the Oilers are struggling mightily, sitting way out at +2200 to win the Stanley Cup in current sport betting lines.
Last season, in 2022/23, McDavid put up 72 goals in 94 total games, which is three more than Alex Ovechkin’s output of the 2007/08 season.
Even with that mighty output of Ovechkin in 2008, simulations gave him a mere 0.07 percent chance of breaking Gretzky’s record that season.
Top 10 Most Total Goals Scored in a Single NHL Season
These are the skaters who make up the ten highest outputs of goals in one season, including regular season scoring and goals scored in the playoffs.
-
Wayne Gretzky, 100 goals (83/84)
-
Wayne Gretzky, 97 goals (81/82)
-
Mario Lemieux, 97 goals (88/89)
-
Brett Hull, 97 goals (90/91)
-
Jari Kurri, 90 goals (84/85)
-
Wayne Gretzky, 90 goals (84/85)
-
Brett Hull, 85 goals (89/90)
-
Mike Bossy, 85 goals (80/81)
-
Alexander Mogilny, 83 goals (92/93)
-
Wayne Gretzky, 83 goals (82/83)
As anyone who clicked on this would have expected, it’s Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record again, and this time, he boasts four of the top ten spots!
*Credit for all images in this article belongs to Alamy*
