One season in the NHL in which a hockey player scores 40 or more goals is routine for a player like Alexander Ovechkin. This mark has been surpassed 623 times in the history of the overseas elite league. This was not uncommon, especially during the 1970s and 1980s.
The 2019-20 season saw five players crack the 40-goal mark in the NHL regular season, even though the season was interrupted by a coronavirus outbreak. Last season, when teams played only 56 games, Auston Matthews was even able to reach that milestone.
Once in a while, however, somebody shows up to score more than forty goals in a single season, and then you never hear about them again in that context. Some manage to do it early in their careers, and others find the right chemistry with their teammates and manage to double their usual number of goals. In the chapters below, you will find the 20 most surprising 40-goal scorers in NHL history.
A Canadian forward drafted in the first round by Toronto in 2000, Brad Boyes first joined San Jose in the NHL but played his first full season in Boston. That season he scored 26 goals. He was traded to St. Louis the next season, spending most of his career there.
In 2007-08 he was the team’s most productive player, finishing behind the goalkeepers with forty-three goals. He had scored only 17 goals in the season before that, so this enormous jump was really unexpected. In the following season, he went on to score 33 goals. Before he retired in 2016, he managed to get over the 20-goal mark only once more. And he left the NHL with a record of 822 games and 505 points (211+294).
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