Wayne Gretzky was the "Great One" for a reason. Honestly, for decades, his records felt less like milestones and more like natural laws. You don't argue with gravity, and you didn't argue with Number 99’s lead on the all time scoring NHL list. It was untouchable. Until it wasn't.
We’re living through a bizarre, beautiful era of hockey where the math is finally starting to break. Alex Ovechkin is chasing the goal record, Connor McDavid is producing points at a rate that feels like a video game glitch, and the league’s scoring environment has swung back toward the high-flying 80s. If you haven't looked at the leaderboard lately, you might be surprised by how much "active" blood is starting to pool at the top of the charts. It’s not just a museum of guys with wood sticks and no helmets anymore.
The Gretzky Gap and the Ovechkin Pursuit
When people talk about the all time scoring NHL records, they usually mean two things: total points and total goals. Gretzky owns the points lead by such a wide margin that it’s almost hilarious. He has 2,857 points. Jaromir Jagr is second with 1,921. Do the math. Even if you took away every single goal Gretzky ever scored, he would still be the all-time leading scorer based on his assists alone. That is a stat that doesn't feel real. It feels like a typo.
But the goals? That’s where the drama lives right now.
Alex Ovechkin entered the 2024-2025 season with 853 goals, trailing Gretzky’s 894. For thirty years, 894 was the "unbreakable" number. We watched legends like Brett Hull and Mario Lemieux fall short because of injuries or lockouts. Ovechkin, though, is a tank. He survived the 2004-05 lockout (which cost him a whole rookie year), a shortened 2012 season, and a global pandemic, and he’s still hammering one-timers from the left circle. It’s a pursuit of pure will.
Some purists argue that Ovechkin's hunt is different because of the era. They’re right, but not in the way they think. In the 80s, goalies stood five-foot-eight and wore pads that soaked up water like sponges. Today, he’s shooting at six-foot-five giants who look like Transformers. If he catches 894, it won't just be a record—it will be a total paradigm shift in how we value modern players against the legends of the past.
The Mount Rushmore of Points
Beyond the Gretzky/Ovechkin vacuum, the all-time list is a fascinating study in longevity versus peak dominance.
Take Jaromir Jagr. The man is basically a hockey immortal. He played in the NHL until he was 45, then went back to Czechia and kept playing professionally into his 50s. His 1,921 points are a testament to the fact that the best ability is availability. If he hadn't spent three years in the KHL during his late 30s, he’d likely be the only person in history to cross the 2,000-point threshold alongside Gretzky. It's one of those "what if" scenarios that keeps hockey nerds up at night.
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Then you have Mark Messier and Gordie Howe.
Messier: 1,887 points.
Howe: 1,850 points.
Howe is the most impressive of the bunch for many. He played in an era where you could basically use your stick as a weapon, and the schedules were shorter. He stayed in the top five of all time scoring NHL history despite retiring (the first time) in 1971. He eventually returned to play with his sons in the WHA and then came back to the NHL at age 51 to score 15 goals for the Hartford Whalers. It's tough to compare a guy who played against Original Six defenses to a guy like Sidney Crosby, who is currently carving his way up the list.
Why Today’s Stars Are Re-Writing the Script
You’ve probably noticed that the NHL is fast again. For a long time—roughly from 1995 to 2015—the league was in the "Dead Puck Era." Teams used the neutral zone trap to turn games into slogs. Scores were 2-1 or 1-0. It was brutal for anyone trying to climb the all-time leaderboards.
That’s over.
Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin have spent their entire careers being compared, but Crosby’s climb up the all-time points list is arguably more impressive given his concussion history. As of early 2024, Crosby sat at 10th all-time with 1,596 points. By the time you read this, he’s likely jumped Phil Esposito (1,590) and is eyeing Joe Sakic (1,641) and Mario Lemieux (1,723).
Mario is the great tragedy of the list. He has 1,723 points in only 915 games. His points-per-game average is 1.88, second only to Gretzky’s 1.92. If Lemieux hadn't battled Hodgkin’s disease and chronic back issues, the all time scoring NHL leaderboard would look very different. He’s the only player who truly lived in Gretzky’s atmosphere.
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The McDavid Factor
We have to talk about Connor McDavid. He’s the elephant in the room.
McDavid is the first player since the 80s who actually threatens the rate of scoring we saw back then. He recently became the fourth-fastest player to reach 900 career points. He did it in 602 games. Only Gretzky, Lemieux, and Mike Bossy did it faster.
If McDavid stays healthy for another ten years, does he hit 2,000? Maybe. He’s currently operating at a level that makes elite NHL defenders look like they’re wearing rental skates. But the "all-time" list is a marathon, not a sprint. To get into the top five, you don't just need to be the best in the world; you need to do it for two decades.
Contextualizing the Eras: Why Stats Lie
Comparing points across generations is a bit of a trap. In the 1983-84 season, the average NHL game saw 7.89 goals. By 2003-04, that dropped to 5.14.
This is why "Era-Adjusted" stats are becoming so popular among analysts. When you adjust for the difficulty of scoring, players like Gordie Howe and Jaromir Jagr actually gain ground on Gretzky. Some models even suggest that Ovechkin's goal-scoring peak is more impressive than Gretzky's because of the league-wide save percentages.
In the 80s, league-wide save percentages hovered around .875.
In the 2020s, they are usually between .900 and .910.
That might not seem like a huge gap, but over thousands of shots, it's the difference between a 70-goal season and a 40-goal season. When we look at the all time scoring NHL list, we have to respect the raw numbers, but we should also acknowledge that some points were simply harder to get than others.
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The "Quiet" Legends
Not everyone at the top of the list gets the "Great One" treatment.
- Ron Francis: 1,798 points. He’s 5th all-time. He was never the flashy superstar, but he was incredibly consistent and played 23 seasons.
- Marcel Dionne: 1,771 points. He’s often forgotten because he played for some struggling Kings teams, but he was a scoring machine who went toe-to-toe with Gretzky in the early 80s.
- Steve Yzerman: 1,755 points. Before he became the quintessential "two-way" captain for Detroit, he was putting up 150-point seasons.
These names are the backbone of hockey history. They represent the bridge between the high-scoring past and the modern professional game.
What to Watch Moving Forward
If you want to keep track of the all time scoring NHL records, stop looking at the top for a second and look at the "active" leaders.
- The Ovechkin Countdown: Every Capitals game is now an event. If he scores, the hockey world shakes.
- Crosby’s Ascent: He is likely to finish his career in the top 5 or 6 of all-time scorers. Watching him pass legends like Sakic and Yzerman is a privilege.
- The 1,000 Point Club: Watch for players like Nathan MacKinnon or Nikita Kucherov. They are in their primes and stacking points at a rate that will see them skyrocket up the rankings in the next five years.
The most important thing to remember is that these rankings aren't static. For thirty years, we thought the book was closed. We thought the 1980s had locked the doors and kept the keys. But the modern game has found a way to pick the lock.
To really understand where the league is going, you should check the NHL's official Live Milestone Tracker or follow independent analysts like Hockey-Reference who provide the era-adjusted data that puts these numbers into perspective.
The record books are being rewritten in real-time. Don't blink, or you'll miss McDavid or MacKinnon jumping another Hall of Famer.
Actionable Steps for Fans
- Track Era-Adjusted Stats: Use sites like Hockey-Reference to see how Ovechkin and McDavid compare to Gretzky when the "inflation" of the 80s is removed.
- Watch the Capitals Power Play: If you want to see history, this is where the goal record will likely be broken. It's a specific "spot" on the ice that has defined an entire career.
- Follow Points-Per-Game (P/G): Total points favor those who play forever. P/G favors the most talented. Watching the P/G battle between McDavid and the retired legends tells you who the "best" actually is, regardless of career length.