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.
Ryan Kesler (Vancouver Canucks) – 41 goals in the 2010-11 season
Michigan native Ryan Kesler was once an indispensable figure with the Vancouver Canucks, but since 2014 he has been an Anaheim player. Now 37 years old, this center-forward can boast of scoring at least 20 goals in six of his ten seasons for the Canadian club. However, in 2010-11 he broke out of that string, netting 41 goals in the regular season. In the playoffs, he added seven more.
Kesler had long been one of the NHL’s best defensive forwards and was awarded the J. Selke Trophy in 2011. That year was also the closest he came to the Stanley Cup, though Vancouver lost the final 4-3 to Boston. After his season of forty goals, he returned to his former level and again regularly scored around twenty goals.
James Neal (Pittsburgh Penguins) – 40 goals in the 2011/12 season
James Neal has been one of the most hated players in the NHL. That he is probably not a completely unproblematic hockey player is proven by the fact that he has been with seven clubs in his 14-year NHL career. And Neal is the kind of ruthless brawler who uses his elbows without qualms in personal fights and aims his punches at the knees and heads of his opponents.
So far, he was suspended three times, missed eight games due to suspensions, and paid several thousand dollars in fines three times. Now, at age 34, his performances are rapidly going downhill, and it is very likely that he will end his NHL career for good after this season. However, he was a reliable goalscorer in the past, who contributed 20 goals for the team in the season. In 2011/12, which was his first in Pittsburgh’s jersey, He scored five goals in the last five games of the regular season and increased his goal tally to forty.
Going into the playoffs, The Penguins were one of the contenders for the Stanley Cup, but they were eliminated in the first round in a wild series against Philadelphia. Then Neal spent two more years in Pittsburgh, but he was “only” a 20-goal scorer again.
Guy Chouinard (Atlanta Flames) – 50 goals in the 1978-79 season
The Canadian center Guy Chouinard scored 17 goals in his first full NHL season with the Atlanta Flames. In his second season, he added eleven more, which wasn’t bad, but what he did in 1978-79 no one expected – scored 50 goals. That performance put him on par with the biggest stars in the league at the time – Bryan Trottier, Marcel Dionne and Guy Lafleur. Assisting his teammates on another 57 goals, it was the first and last time in his career he scored more than 100 points in the regular season.
In each of the next two years, he scored 31 goals; after that, his productivity went downhill. In 1984, at the age of 28, He retired from the NHL. He will be the club’s last goalscorer in history’s annals, though, forever, before moving on to Calgary.
Miroslav Satan (Buffalo Sabres) – 40 goals in the 1998/99 season
Miroslav Šatan has spent 14 seasons in the NHL and played for five clubs. His fondest memory is probably the 1998/99 season in Buffalo, in which he cracked the 40-goal mark once. The Slovak forward was extremely productive throughout his career. That year he was 24 years old and part of a very young team. At the time, there were four of the Sabres’ top scorers who were twenty-four years old or younger. He and Dominik Hasek managed to take Dallas, an underestimated team, to the finals. In the decisive series, however, the Texan players were luckier.
Daniel Sedin (Vancouver Canucks) – 41 goals in the 2010/11 season
Season 2010/11 was one of the best in the history of the Vancouver Canucks. And much of the credit goes to Daniel Sedin. This Swedish forward has scored around 30 goals per season throughout his career, compared to his brother Henrik who has hovered between 80 and 100. However, Daniel has been absolutely phenomenal in 2010/11. He became the Canadian top scorer with 41 goals and 63 assists. He never scored more than 100 points in his career, before or after. Likewise, he has not topped the 40-goal mark in any other season.
Jeff O’Neill (Carolina Hurricanes) – 41 goals in 2000-01 season
A Canadian forward and 1995 World Junior Champion, Jeff O’Neill became the fifth player to be called up to the NHL by Hartford in the summer of 1994. Most of his career was spent with the Whalers and then in Carolina, to which the club moved. In that time, he scored four seasons with over 60 points. However, he never quite lived up to the expectations placed on his talent, except for the 2000-01 season. That season he scored 41 goals and contributed 26 assists. He played on an aging team with players like Rod Brind’Amour and Ron Francis and was the most productive person on the team.
He followed that up with two more seasons of 30 goals but retired at age 31. His reason was a fear of flying. And he played 871 games in the NHL and scored 496 points (237+259). But his 40 goal season will be remembered by Canes fans for a long time.
Brad Boyes (St. Louis Blues) – 43 goals in the 2007/08 season
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).
Bill Flett (Philadelphia Flyers) – 43 goals in the 1972/73 season
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.
Jason Blake (New York Islanders) – 40 goals in the 2006/07 season
There are a few special seasons with 40 goals in the history of the New York Islanders. For example, remember Zigmund Pálffy – before he went to Los Angeles, he scored over 40 goals three times. Anders Lee’s 40 goals in the 2017-18 season are also impressive. However, Jason Blake’s 2006-07 season was the most surprising.
The American forward averaged 15 to 20 goals in the regular season, but this season something clicked, and a small miracle happened. Blake began to pace himself more, spending less time in the penalty area and apparently changing his goal-scoring philosophy. While he scored almost as many goals as he had the season before, he passed the 40-goal mark. However, in the following seasons, he was back to being “only” a goal scorer with a maximum of 20 goals.
Cam Atkinson (Columbus Blue Jackets) – 41 goals in 2018-19
Cam Atkinson is in his prime at the moment and doing well, but it is hard to imagine him repeating his 2018/19 season, in which he conceded 41 goals before his career ends. American winger scores an average of 25 goals in the regular season, and only once (2016/17) did he manage to score 35 goals.
Craig Simpson (Pittsburgh Penguins, Edmonton Oilers) – 56 goals in the 1987/88 season
A two-time Stanley Cup winner, Canadian Craig Simpson is one of only 12 players in NHL history to score at least 16 goals in a single playoff game. That indicates he was a good goal scorer; the fact that he was at his best in Edmonton was also a major factor.
Before he was traded by Pittsburgh in 1987-88, he scored 13 goals in 21 games for the Penguins. But with his new teammates in Canada, he scored like a god and scored 43 goals in 59 games, taking his total to 56 after the regular season. During the playoffs, in 19 games, he scored 13 goals and won his first Stanley Cup.
He still managed to break the 30-goal mark twice in the regular season but never came close to his 1987/88 performance. With 634 games and 497 points (247+250), he retired from the NHL in 1995.
Rick Kehoe (Pittsburgh Penguins) – 55 goals in 1980/81 season
Canadian forward Rick Kehoe split his NHL career between two clubs – Toronto and Pittsburgh – consistently scoring between 20 and 30 goals per season. But one year, something extraordinary happened, with Kehoe becoming a goal-scoring machine. He scored 55 goals in 80 games in his first season in the 1980s.
Kehoe was beloved by fans, also those who supported other clubs, for practicing a clean game without tricky or unnecessarily hard tackles, something that was not common at the time. He just took the puck and headed it towards the opponent’s goal. However, he was at his best in the 1980/81 season.
Wayne Babych (St. Louis Blues) – 54 goals in the 1980/81 season
Canadian Wayne Babych was picked third overall in the 1978 NHL draft and was considered a great talent. He was discovered by scouts from the St. Louis Blues, who he played six of his nine seasons within the NHL. The fans loved him, but he was unlucky to play on a team that didn’t have enough good teammates around him.
In his debut season, he scored 27 goals; however, he managed to double that number in the 1980/81 season – he scored fifty-four times behind the goalkeepers’ backs. In the opinion of many commentators, he virtually single-handedly took the team to the playoffs, where they cruised past Pittsburgh but then failed to beat the New York Rangers in the second round. The remainder of Babych’s NHL career didn’t go so well – he was plagued by a series of injuries and never got past the 20-goal mark again. He ended his career at age 28 with 519 games and 438 points (192+246).
Alexander Syomin (Washington Capitals) – 40 goals in 2009-10 season
Alexander Syomin, a Russian forward, was a major hockey talent, but he squandered it in an unbelievable way. He was selected by Washington in the first round of the 2002 draft, so when they gave him a chance in the 2006-07 season, though, he went on to impress with 73 points in 77 games. In the seasons that followed, he managed to improve on those numbers. However, laziness, a poor work ethic and neglect of defensive duties went hand in hand with his productivity. When he asked for a higher salary, The Capitals let him go.
But the 2009/10 season, when he scored goals with breathtaking ease, will be long remembered by Caps fans. He needed to play only 73 games to score 40 goals. And he never hit the 30-goal mark again.
Jeff Skinner (Buffalo Sabres) – 40 goals in 2018-19 season
Selected seventh overall in the 2010 NHL Draft, Jeff Sinner immediately hit the NHL like a whirlwind. He collected 63 points (31+32) in 82 games for Carolina in his debut season and won the Calder Trophy for the league’s best rookie. However, he has never surpassed that performance, topping it only twice.
In his first year in Buffalo, he had the season of his life when he was traded – scoring 40 goals and earning an eight-year, $72 million contract. However, it appears that the signing on the sheet that guaranteed him an average annual salary of $9 million through 2027 has put a curse on his hockey life. Performances had plummeted, with Buffalo hoping he could find his way back to the form he had when he signed.
Bobby Carpenter (Washington Capitals) – 53 goals in the 1984/85 season
When Washington got him a third-round pick in the 1981 draft, he immediately established himself in the Capitals’ lineup, scoring 32 goals in his first two seasons. To this day, Bobby Carpenter is the eighth-most productive 18-year-old forward in NHL history.
The season of his life, though, was 1984-85, his fourth in the elite league, during which he managed to score 53 goals against his rivals. When you look at his statistics, this performance sticks out like a sore thumb. Later on, he has never scored more than 27 goals. In point of fact, he has just as many seasons with fewer than ten goals as he does with 20 or more in his career.
But Carpenter became a legend with his record-breaking shooting performance – he became the first hockey player born in the United States to crack the 50-goal mark in a season. From then on, it was downhill for his productivity. He ended his career with six seasons with the New Jersey Devils, winning the Stanley Cup with them in 1995.
Hakan Loob (Calgary Flames) – 50 goals in the season 1987/88
One of the legends of Scandinavian field hockey is Hakan Loob. He was even called the “Swedish Wayne Gretzky”. That may be a bit of an exaggeration, though he was an outstanding ice hockey player who won a number of trophies and medals, the Stanley Cup among them, in his domestic showcases. He was a two-time world champion, Olympic gold medalist and a member of the Triple Gold Club.
Resisting the lure of the NHL, it was not until 1983 that Loob was persuaded to go to Calgary. He had been drafted by the Canadian club in the ninth round three years earlier, but it later became a dream choice. In each of his first three seasons, Johnson scored at least 30 goals before dropping to 18 in 1986/87 – just as if to catch his breath before the peak of his career overseas. But he exploded as a scorer just one season later, drawing fifty consecutive fouls against his opponents and scoring 106 points in 80 regular-season games.
He became the first Swede in NHL history to score 50 goals in the regular season. Loob was not strictly a cannonball player, making it unexpected that he reached that mark. He remained overseas for six seasons, earning the Stanley Cup in 1989 before returning home, playing seven more seasons in the top division.
Jonathan Cheechoo (San Jose Sharks) – 56 goals in the 2005/06 season
In the NHL, Jonathan Cheechoo has always had the reputation of a quality player; however, what he accomplished in 2005/06 season surpassed all his performance limits. For long periods of time, he fought for the top spots in the productivity chart and became the king of goal scorers, outscoring Jaromir Jagr by two goals. In his entire season, Cheechoo scored 56 goals.
Things looked like the NHL had a new superstar, but the Canadian forward dropped to 37 goals the next year, and then 23, then 12, before only scoring five goals in 61 games during the 2009-10 season. They then bought him out of his contract, and he played in the AHL without ever appearing in the NHL again. He ended his career in 2017 with Slovan Bratislava.
Jacques Richard (Quebec Nordiques) – 52 goals in the 1980/81 season
Unbelievably, Canadian forward Jacques Richard did not win a single medal, trophy or individual award during his hockey career. But he was a great talent with immeasurable hockey potential. He was terrific in the QMJHL junior league, where he passed the hundred mark three seasons in a row – at his best, he had 160 points (71+89) after 61 games. Unsurprisingly, when Atlanta took him in 1972, they went No. 2 in the draft.
It was expected that he would become one of the NHL’s biggest stars, but it did not happen. He wasn’t able to adjust to adult professional competition. It’s rumored that he barely spoke to anyone in his first season. He moved to Buffalo after three mediocre years in Atlanta and was soon shifted to the farm system, in which he spent nearly two seasons. Then the Sabres realized they couldn’t squeeze any more talent out of him and terminated his contract.
By 1980, he was back in his hometown of Quebec, where he played junior field hockey, so it was as if something clicked again. Richard was a star again. This was like waking up from a lethargy that lasted only one season. In 1980-81, Richard scored 52 goals and amassed 103 points – more than twice as many as in any other season.
William Karlsson (Vegas Golden Knights) – 43 goals in 2017-18
The most surprising 40-goal scorer in NHL history is still in our memory, and we can still see him in the jersey of the team where he was successful. He went into the 2017-18 season with a new club from Las Vegas, and few expected him to reshuffle the cards. Many experts thought he was going to be the worst player in the league. However, Knights put together a fantastic first year and made it to the finals.
Many experts and fans weren’t quite on board when the Golden Knights’ scouts selected Swedish forward William Karlsson from Columbus in the expansion draft. Coming off three completely lackluster seasons, he showed no signs of changing at his new club. His career-high was nine goals in 81 regular-season games.
But the change of jersey was like a magic wand. Karlsson began scoring goal after goal, and after 82 games, he had forty-three of them. His productivity dropped off again after a miraculous season, and it seems like he’ll never have another 40-goal season.
