Most NHL games in which a player scored (at least) 1 goal

[The Panther]

I was wondering about something. Well, actually two things:

1) Who has scored goals in the most NHL games in history? Not the most goals, but the most games.

2) Who has the highest career percentage of goals (any number, per game) scored in games played? For example, if you scored 250 goals in 200 games over a 800-game career, your percentage is 25% (800 divided by the 200 games in which you scored. The raw number of goals scored doesn't matter).

To start with Gretzky: We all know Wayne has his 894 regular season goals, plus 122 playoff goals. But how many games did he actually score goals in?

So, I checked:

1979-80
37 RS games + 2 playoff games
1980-81
37 RS games + 3 playoff games
1981-82
55 RS games + 4 playoff games
1982-83
53 RS games + 6 playoff games
1983-84
49 RS games + 9 playoff games
1984-85
48 RS games + 11 playoff games
1985-86
37 RS games + 6 playoff games
1986-87
42 RS games + 5 playoff games
1987-88
28 RS games + 10 playoff games
1988-89
39 RS games + 4 playoff games
1989-90
31 RS games + 3 playoff games
1990-91
33 RS games + 4 playoff games
1991-92
25 RS games + 1 playoff games
1992-93
13 RS games + 12 playoff games
1993-94
30 RS games
1995
9 RS games
1995-96
22 RS games + 2 playoff games
1996-97
23 RS games + 6 playoff games
1997-98
18 RS games
1998-99
9 RS games


It adds up to 726 NHL games (RS and playoffs) in which Wayne scored at least 1 goal. And he appeared in 1695 games (RS and playoffs). So, his percentage is 42.8%.

By the way, the most RS games in one season in which a player scored goals is (to my knowledge) Brett Hull in 1990-91. In that season, Brett scored goals in 56 RS games (one more than Wayne in 1981-82) and then 7 playoff games, for 63 games total. But surely Hull's career total "games scored in" isn't going to threaten Gretzky's total...

I think it's highly unlikely that anyone scored goals in more NHL games (726) than Gretzky, but I'm willing to bet there are some whose career percentage of games scored in is higher than Gretzky's 42.8%.

Anyone?

Click to read more...

 

[Peter Tosh]

Interesting stat that adds dimensions to the regular Goals Scored stat. This new stat says something about the streakyness of a scorer. Another interesting stat would be to exclude goals scored in meaningless games, for instance games played between two teams that already have missed the playoffs late in the regular season, as well as empty netters.

 

[wetcoast]

Interesting stat that adds dimensions to the regular Goals Scored stat. This new stat says something about the streakyness of a scorer. Another interesting stat would be to exclude goals scored in meaningless games, for instance games played between two teams that already have missed the playoffs late in the regular season, as well as empty netters.

The stat wouldn't have that much meaning comparing say a player from the high scoring 80s to lower scoring times in the NHL though would it?

 

[tarheelhockey]

Regular season leaders since 1979-80.

Player	Goals	Games	Pct.
Wayne Gretzky	638	1487	42.9%
Jaromir Jagr	623	1733	35.9%
Mike Gartner	553	1432	38.6%
Mark Messier	549	1756	31.3%
Steve Yzerman	549	1514	36.3%
Brett Hull	547	1269	43.1%
Dave Andreychuk	533	1639	32.5%
Luc Robitaille	531	1431	37.1%
Teemu Selanne	529	1451	36.5%
Brendan Shanahan	527	1524	34.6%
Joe Sakic	510	1378	37.0%
Jarome Iginla	503	1554	32.4%
Alex Ovechkin	503	1092	46.1%
Mark Recchi	486	1652	29.5%
Mario Lemieux	480	915	52.5%
Patrick Marleau	479	1660	28.9%
Mats Sundin	472	1346	35.1%
Ron Francis	467	1731	28.7%
Mike Modano	461	1499	30.1%
Dino Ciccarelli	460	1232	37.3%

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Playoffs included

Player	Goals	Games	Pct.
Wayne Gretzky	726	1695	42.8%
Jaromir Jagr	687	1941	35.4%
Brett Hull	633	1471	43.0%
Mark Messier	631	1992	31.7%
Steve Yzerman	605	1710	35.4%
Mike Gartner	589	1554	37.9%
Joe Sakic	578	1550	37.3%
Luc Robitaille	577	1590	36.3%
Brendan Shanahan	577	1708	33.8%
Dave Andreychuk	570	1801	31.6%
Teemu Selanne	567	1581	35.9%
Alex Ovechkin	560	1220	45.9%
Mario Lemieux	538	1022	52.6%
Patrick Marleau	538	1851	29.1%
Mark Recchi	537	1841	29.2%
Jarome Iginla	534	1635	32.7%
Jari Kurri	533	1451	36.7%
Dino Ciccarelli	516	1373	37.6%
Mike Modano	514	1675	30.7%
Ron Francis	510	1902	26.8%

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Some interesting nuggets in there.
Even granting that retirement timing is a factor, Dino Ciccarelli and Mike Gartner are surprisingly high. Ovechkin being higher than Gretzky is downright shocking and a huge feather in his cap. Mario Lemieux's percentage goes up in the playoffs!