The NHL's 50 Goal Club
The 50-goal club is one of hockey’s most exclusive groups. By my count, 101 players in NHL history have reached the mark, combining for 211 total 50-goal seasons. The first came in 1944-45 when Maurice “Rocket” Richard scored 50 goals in just 50 games. The feat became so iconic that the NHL eventually named its annual goal-scoring trophy after him.
That original achievement created an even more exclusive club. Only five players have ever scored 50 goals in 50 games or fewer, with an extended family of three more who completed the milestone in fewer than 50 personal games played.
Every one of these seasons was elite. Some may look like a fluke. A few names might make you scratch your head. Some players had the best passer in the league feeding them the puck. Others made a living parked in front of the net tipping shots. And some just waited at the top of the faceoff circle for the puck to find them. However they did it, they accomplished something most NHL players could only dream about.
The chart below shows how each member of the 50-goal club built their career season by season.
Heatmap sorted by total goals scored
Data & Methodology
Season goal totals were compiled from publicly available NHL records and the Wikipedia dataset of players with 50-goal seasons. The dataset includes every player who recorded at least one 50-goal NHL season. Only NHL regular-season statistics are included.
Each ridgeline represents a player’s career scoring totals by season. The horizontal axis reflects the player's age at the start of the season (approximate). Peaks represent total goals scored that season. Black markers indicate seasons in which a player scored 50 or more goals.
Some early-career ages may be off by a year due to birthdate cutoffs and mid-season birthdays. The goal totals themselves reflect official NHL statistics.