NHL Playoff Scoring Leaders
The Stanley Cup Playoffs are the true proving grounds of the greatest players in NHL history. The competitiveness is ramped up to eleven, the stakes are raised, and players have to endure as many as seven games just to gain passage to the next phase. It’s a grueling trial, but those who dominate end up immortalized in the record books.
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Among the greatest of records is that of point scoring in the NHL playoffs. Those who can consistently create and score goals in this pressure cooker of a contest prove themselves to be the best of the best skaters. The record, as you would have guessed, belongs to Wayne Gretzky, but the tallies put up by others below “The Great One” are still mighty impressive.
Here’s how the top ten NHL playoff scorers list looks, and what it means to be a prolific postseason scorer in the NHL.
Understanding Playoff Scoring
Playoff scoring differs significantly from regular season NHL scoring, which is why this particular record, of all of Gretzky’s records, is held in such high esteem – as are the tallies of his next-closest competitors.
Definition of Playoff Scoring
To score in the playoffs, a skater has to play for a team that has made it to the Stanley Cup Playoffs that season and then score in a game as part of the knockout-style postseason competition. So, the skater likely needs to have performed well enough through as many as 82 games to help their team achieve a high regular season standing before turning on the afterburners to continue scoring throughout high-intensity playoff games.
Importance in NHL History
The Stanley Cup Playoffs are what ultimately decide the champion of the NHL, so all teams go bigger and harder in the knockout series. There are only a few series to be played by each team in the playoffs if they’re to hoist the Stanley Cup, so there isn’t any room for a drop in form.
Those who do manage to keep on scoring are rightfully hailed as it will be their scoring that greatly contributes to success found in the postseason. Ultimately, it’s postseason performances that forge a great legacy for an NHLer, regardless of their regular season stats.
Top 10 NHL Playoff Scoring Leaders
These are the top ten NHL playoff scoring leaders, naturally, all being led by the legendary performances of one Wayne Gretzky.
Wayne Gretzky: 382 points
Winner of four Stanley Cups and scorer of the goal that won the 1988 title, Wayne Gretzky’s NHL playoff points record is one of several that likely won’t ever be defeated in the NHL. Playing for the Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues, and New York Rangers, The Great One amassed 122 goals and 260 assists for 382 points in 208 postseason games, being named playoffs MVP in 1985 and 1988.
Mark Messier: 295 points
Boasting a 25-year NHL career that spanned the Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers, and Vancouver Canucks, Mark Messier sits a noble second on the NHL playoff scoring list but does beat Gretzky in a different regard. His mighty haul of 109 goals and 295 points may place him a distant second, but Messier got to raise the Cup six times and was named the playoffs MVP in 1984 – a year before Gretzky got his first of two Conn Smythe Trophies.
Jari Kurri: 233 points
Gretzky’s famed Finnish wingman, Jari Kurri was the perfect fit on the Oilers line to allow Gretzky’s magic to result in goals. After playing for the Oilers, Kings, Rangers, Anaheim Ducks, and Colorado Avalanche, Kurri hung up his skates with 106 goals and 233 points in the playoffs from just 200 games.
Glenn Anderson: 214 points
Glenn Anderson was very much a player for the biggest games, which means that he showed up in a big way often in the playoffs. For the Calgary Flames, Blues, Dallas Stars, and Detroit Red Wings, the right wing notched 214 points in 225 games. If they’re to make good on their Western Conference champion odds, the Stars will hope that one of their young star forwards can turn in the kind of performances that Anderson became notorious for.
Jaromír Jágr: 201 points
More than just a legendary mullet, Jaromír Jágr was excellent in the postseason, ranking fifth (for now) for his scoring while playing for six different teams in the playoffs. For most of his 201 points in 208 games, Jágr did the damage for the Pittsburgh Penguins en route to back-to-back Stanley Cup wins.
Sidney Crosby: 201 points
If the Stanley Cup odds are anything to go by, Sidney Crosby will remain tied for fifth in playoff scoring for at least one more year. For now, the Pittsburgh Penguins captain stands 71 goals and 201 points in just 180 playoff games. His two Cup wins were also paired with back-to-back Conn Smythe Trophy wins, cementing him as an all-time great.
Paul Coffey: 196 points
The first defenseman to rank on this list is Paul Coffey. A member of the deadly Edmonton Oilers team of the 1980s, Coffey managed to collect 59 goals and another 137 assists in 194 games from the blueline in a career that would see him join six teams in the playoffs.
Brett Hull: 190 points
Now the general manager of the St. Louis Blues, who aren’t exactly in Central Division contention this season, Brett Hull collected points for fun in the playoffs. He ended his career with two Stanley Cups and 190 points in 202 games.
Joe Sakic: 188 points
A rare one-franchise star, Joe Sakic greatly helped the flailing Quebec Nordiques team find its feet once it moved to become the Colorado Avalanche. His prolific scoring not only turned the tide on the scoreboard, but it got the team the Stanley Cup in its inaugural season in Colorado, for which, Sakic was named playoffs MVP. Certainly not a one-season-wonder, Sakic finished with 188 points in 172 games and guided Colorado to another title in 2022 from the front office. Now, he's the president of hockey operations for the team,among the Stanley Cup favourites.
Doug Gilmour: 188 points
Doug Gilmour’s rise to all-time great and top-ranking NHL playoffs scorer is quite incredible. The Ontario native was picked 134th overall by the St. Louis Blues in 1982, had to wait for the 1983/84 season to get his first start, but finished as a Stanley Cup champion in 1989 with a postseason scoring record of 182 games, 60 goals, and 188 points.
FAQs
How is playoff scoring different from regular season scoring?
Playoff scoring differs from regular season scoring because it only counts points that are scored during the postseason. The NHL regular season concludes, and then only the top-ranking teams go into the Stanley Cup Playoffs,which are a series of four rounds, each consisting of up to seven games with losing teams getting knocked out. The playoffs are seen as the more prestigious stage for scoring, with the competition being consistently higher and play being much tougher than in the regular season.
Do playoff scoring leaders always win championships?
Playoff scoring leaders do not always win championships. In fact, for all of his incredible, record-setting scoring in the playoffs, Wayne Gretzky only won the Stanley Cup, the NHL’s championship, four times in his 20-season NHL career and 16 trips to the postseason.
Can a defenseman be the top playoff scorer?
A defenseman certainly can be the top playoff scorer if they manage to put up more goals and assists than any of the forwards competing in the postseason. Paul Coffey is a prime example of this, sitting seventh on the all-time most playoff points list. In the 1989 NHL Playoffs, Al MacInnis finished atop the playoff scoring with seven goals and 31 points, landing six points up on the nearest forward (Tim Kerr).
Who has scored the most points in NHL Playoff history?
Wayne Gretzky has, by far, scored the most points in NHL Playoff history. With 122 goals and 260 assists in the bag, The Great One’s haul of 382 playoff points is 87 points better than Mark Messier in second.
Has anyone ever scored a double hat-trick in the NHL?
Joe Malone (1920, 1920), Newsy Lalonde (1920), Corb Denneny (1921), Cy Denney (1921), Syd Howe (1944), Red Berenson (1968), and Darryl Sittler (1976) have all scored a double hat-trick in the NHL. To score a double hat-trick, a skater needs to put away six or more goals in one game. It’s a feat that Wayne Gretzky never accomplished, finishing with five goals in a single game four times.
How many eight-point games did Wayne Gretzky have?
Wayne Gretzky had two eight-point games in his NHL career. The first came on November 19, 1983, in which he scored three goals and five assists. Later that same season, on January 4, 1984, Gretzky put up four goals and four assists to mark his second and final eight-point outing.
Who has the most seven-point games in NHL history?
As you might expect, Wayne Gretzky boasts the most games with seven points or more in NHL history. His first came with the Edmonton Oilers on February 15, 1980, which featured seven assists. This was followed by more seven-point games in February 1981, December 1981, November 1983 (twice), January 1984, December 1985, and February 1986. In 1989, for the Los Angeles Kings, Gretzky secured his ninth and final seven-point game in the NHL.
How far away is Alex Ovechkin from Wayne Gretzky?
With 14 games left for the Washington Capitals in the 2023/24 NHL season, Alex Ovechkin sat 49 goals behind Wayne Gretzky’s record for career NHL regular season goals. At the age of 38 at the time of writing, ‘Great Eight’ was on track to finish the season with around 28 goals to be 44 goals behind Gretzky with two years left on his Caps contract.
What is the most goals scored in the NHL playoffs?
The record for the most goals scored in the NHL playoffs stands at 122, which were tallied by Wayne Gretzky. By scoring 122 goals in 208 Stanley Cup Playoff games, Gretzky had a 0.59 rate of scoring goals in the postseason. Second on the list, Mark Messier, required 236 postseason games to score his 109 goals.
How many playoff goals does Wayne Gretzky have?
Wayne Gretzky is the proud scorer of 122 playoff goals, which he scored in just 208 games. It stands as the clear record for postseason scoring, with the next-closest active players, Joe Pavelski and Alex Ovechkin, both nearing retirement on 73 and 72 goals, respectively.
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