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.
Bill Flett was known in the NHL as the “Cowboy” because, besides playing field hockey, he also raised cattle and owned a ranch. A fan favorite, but never a standout cannonball player. In his first two seasons in Los Angeles, He scored more than 20 goals, then his performance plummeted.
Only when he was traded to Philadelphia in 1972 did something happen, and for one season, Flett became one of the league’s most feared goal scorers. He suddenly scored 43 goals and finished the previous season with seven full goals. Pairing with Bobby Clarke and Rick MacLeish certainly helped him achieve his surprising shooting form in a miraculous year.
Flett continued to play in the NHL until 1980 when he retired the Edmonton jersey. He exited the elite league with 689 games and 417 points (202+215), as well as a Stanley Cup win with Philadelphia in 1974, but he had scored only 17 goals by then, well short of his single-season best.
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