Top 5 Goal Scorers all Time

[blundluntman]

If you had to pick a top 5 out of these players, who do you choose?

Edit: Added some other names based on suggestions from the thread so feel free to edit your votes if needed.

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[Sheppy]

I only did 4, Ovechkin, Gretzky, Lemieux, Bossy.

I feel those are the clear cut 1-4.

 

[jigglysquishy]

Gretzky
Ovechkin
Lemieux
Bobby Hull
Howe
Richard

Are a very clear top 6

 

[KoozNetsOff 92]

OV, Gretzky, Lemieux and Bobby Hull are 100% locks. Tough between Howe and Richard but went with Howe.

Expecting Bossy to be overrated as usual by people who stare at his GPG while applying zero context.

 

[SillyRabbit]

Basing it off goal scoring ability and career accomplishments:

Lemieux, Ovechkin, Gretzky, Bobby Hull are locks.

I’d be open to arguments for Howe and Richard but went with Howe.

Don’t think Bossy’s top 5 argument is that strong.

 

[tarheelhockey]

It's the first 4 without any argument.

The only way that part is controversial is if you get into the semantics of what "goal scorer" means. Like if you mean "pure goal scorer who doesn't do nearly as much in other phases of the game as he does when he's finishing a scoring rush" you might take off Gretzky and add someone else.

After that, I'd say it's between Richard, Howe, and Bossy. Richard usually gets the nod for his exploits in a weakened 1940s league, or Bossy for what he did in a scoring-inflated environment. I'd simply suggest that Howe deserves another look, given his run of goalscoring titles over more than a decade in a very consolidated, competitive, defense-first league.

 

[Garbageyuk]

I only did 4, Ovechkin, Gretzky, Lemieux, Bossy.

I feel those are the clear cut 1-4.

Agreed. I chose a 5th, but I feel you could give that spot to pretty much any of the remaining names. There’s no clear 5th choice.

 

[crazy8888]

OV, Gretzky, Lemieux and Bobby Hull are 100% locks. Tough between Howe and Richard but went with Howe.

Expecting Bossy to be overrated as usual by people who stare at his GPG while applying zero context.

I never watched him play. What is the context? His gpg looks looney

 

[amnesiac]

I only did 4, Ovechkin, Gretzky, Lemieux, Bossy.

I feel those are the clear cut 1-4.

Bobby Hull wouldve had 850+ had he not gone to the WHA

Agreed. I chose a 5th, but I feel you could give that spot to pretty much any of the remaining names. There’s no clear 5th choice.

Hull is part of the 4 locks... Bossy is not

Hes 7th for me, Richard and Howe beat him out, but a short career while playing in the highest scoring era of all-time inflated his numbers tremendously. More than anyone almost. Also helps when you have one of the greatest centre ever, on a dynasty team no less.

 

[amnesiac]

List needs Charlie Conacher if were talking all-time, but whatever

 

[nowhereman]

OV
Lemieux
Gretzky
Bobby Hull
Howe

HM: Richard, Bossy

 

[dire wolf]

Gretzky
Ovechkin
Lemieux
Bobby Hull
Howe
Richard

Are a very clear top 6

Not a Bossy fan, eh? 573 goals in 752 games = 0.76 goals/game for his entire career.

For comparison:
Gretzy: 0.60
Ovechkin: 0.61
Mario: 0.75
Hull: 0.57
Howe: 0.45
Rocket: 0.56

 

[Midnight Judges]

IMO Esposito gets underrated. He has strong peak and prime. Led NHL 6 times.

 

[dire wolf]

OV, Gretzky, Lemieux and Bobby Hull are 100% locks. Tough between Howe and Richard but went with Howe.

Expecting Bossy to be overrated as usual by people who stare at his GPG while applying zero context.

What's the context? That he played on a dynasty team? So did Gretzky and Richard. Or are you referring to a high scoring era? Maybe someone can post year-adjusted GPG stats. What am I missing. The dude was a goal scoring machine, and I don't particularly like him or the Isles.

 

[jigglysquishy]

Not a Bossy fan, eh? 573 goals in 752 games = 0.76 goals/game for his entire career.

For comparison:
Gretzy: 0.60
Ovechkin: 0.61
Mario: 0.75
Hull: 0.57
Howe: 0.45
Rocket: 0.56

This is such an offensively lazy argument.

First 752 games

Gretzky: 625 goals
Lemieux: 620 goals
Bossy: 573 goals

Bossy peaked in the highest scoring era ever. Comparing his raw totals to guys like Richard or Howe, who peaked in one of the lowest scoring eras, is just lazy.

Bossy lead the league in goals twice. Hull did it seven times.

 

[Video Nasty]

Picked Gretzky, Lemieux, Ovechkin, Bobby Hull, and Esposito. Like many, the first four on this poll are locks to me and #5 is just personal preference. I’d normally go for Bossy, but I’m kind of tired of this site ignoring Espo.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Ovechkin
Gretzky
Brett Hull
Bossy
Esposito

Not a Bossy fan, eh? 573 goals in 752 games = 0.76 goals/game for his entire career.

For comparison:
Gretzy: 0.60
Ovechkin: 0.61
Mario: 0.75
Hull: 0.57
Howe: 0.45
Rocket: 0.56

Eyeroll worthy argument

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

This is such an offensively lazy argument.

First 752 games

Gretzky: 625 goals
Lemieux: 620 goals
Bossy: 573 goals

Bossy peaked in the highest scoring era ever. Comparing his raw totals to guys like Richard or Howe, who peaked in one of the lowest scoring eras, is just lazy.

Bossy lead the league in goals twice. Hull did it seven times.

Also the fact that he retired early,, in his prime. Had he stayed healthy and played as long as Wayne, Ovi his numbers go down

 

[LightningStorm]

1. Lemieux
2. Ovechkin
3. Gretzky
4. Hull
5. Bossy

 

[amnesiac]

Not a Bossy fan, eh? 573 goals in 752 games = 0.76 goals/game for his entire career.

For comparison:
Gretzy: 0.60
Ovechkin: 0.61
Mario: 0.75
Hull: 0.57
Howe: 0.45
Rocket: 0.56

not aware that Bossy played in the highest scoring era ever and retired in his prime?

 

[dire wolf]

This is such an offensively lazy argument.

First 752 games

Gretzky: 625 goals
Lemieux: 620 goals
Bossy: 573 goals

Bossy peaked in the highest scoring era ever. Comparing his raw totals to guys like Richard or Howe, who peaked in one of the lowest scoring eras, is just lazy.

Bossy lead the league in goals twice. Hull did it seven times.

I guess you're easily offended. LOL - ok. Yes, it's somewhat lazy, but I wasn't arguing he was the greatest goal scorer of all time. I was responding to your comment that the top 6 are so clear and do not include Bossy. I think you can make a good argument he belongs in that list. Or, at the least, that it's not so clear. Bossy was amazingly consistent in his goal scoring. His only season with fewer than 50 goals was his last season, in which he scored 38 goals in 63 games (a 49.4 goal pace). If not for knee problems, I think he was a legitimate candidate for over 800 goals. But I'll let some Islander fan defend him the rest of the way. I'm not that invested in it.

Anyway - Lemieux is my guy, for what it's worth.

not aware that Bossy played in the highest scoring era ever and retired in his prime?

View attachment 622542

I'm aware - and that's a good chart. It still puts Bossy at #6

 

[CascadiaPuck]

Cam Neely???

No disrespect - he was a helluva player - but he’s an outlier on this list.

 

[dire wolf]

Ovechkin
Gretzky
Brett Hull
Bossy
Esposito


Eyeroll worthy argument

Whatever - I just thought he needs to be in the mix. And, judging by your list, you do too.

I'll roll my eyes at leaving Mario off your list -- so I guess that makes us even : )

 

[biturbo19]

Warhol's portrait of Gretzky is pretty f***ing sexy, and Mike Bossy shot it wide...

But i think both still deserve a place here. Along with the guy the Trophy is named after and is basically synonymous with scoring goals.

You also have to include the guy who is going to be the all-time leader in doing goal-scoring by the time he retires. Especially having done it through a generally low scoring era.



Last spot is tough. I give it to Bure just because i like him and he was just a goal-scoring machine. Capable of scoring in so many different ways, and especially where so many of those goals were just completely purely and truly entirely of his own creation.

But i should probably give it to Brett Hull who made a career of doing literally nothing other than scoring goals, or the other Hull, or just a guy like Lemieux who scored a ton of them in his career.

 

[Regal]

This is such an offensively lazy argument.

First 752 games

Gretzky: 625 goals
Lemieux: 620 goals
Bossy: 573 goals

Bossy peaked in the highest scoring era ever. Comparing his raw totals to guys like Richard or Howe, who peaked in one of the lowest scoring eras, is just lazy.

Bossy lead the league in goals twice. Hull did it seven times.

I do find it interesting the fact that Bossy was a better goal scorer against good teams than Gretzky, as well as the postseason, both of which are born out in the numbers. Without diving into it too deep against other competition, I do wonder if he gets underrated a bit when simply looking at scoring titles or pure goal totals compared to Gretzky when he played for a team that wasn’t running up the score to the same degree against the have nots. His contemporaries seem to hold him in a much higher light than the numbers show, and I think there might be something to that.