The 50 players to score 500 goals consist of 36 Canadian-born
Canadians, five US-born
Americans (
Joe Mullen,
Mike Modano,
Jeremy Roenick,
Keith Tkachuk, and
Patrick Kane); three
Slovaks (
Stan Mikita,
Peter Bondra, and
Marian Hossa), two
Finns (
Jari Kurri and
Teemu Selänne), two
Russians (
Evgeni Malkin and
Alexander Ovechkin), one
Czech (
Jaromir Jagr) and one
Swede (
Mats Sundin). Stan Mikita was the first player not born in Canada to score 500 goals (he was born in the
Slovak Republic, but represented
Canada internationally); Jari Kurri was the first 500-goal scorer who never played for the Canadian national team. The fewest NHL games required to reach the mark is 575, set by
Wayne Gretzky. Second-quickest is
Mario Lemieux, who achieved the mark in his 605th game. With
Mike Bossy (647) and
Brett Hull (693) following, only these four players needed fewer than 800 games to score their first 500 goals. Of the 50 players to score at least 500 goals in their career, 19 reached the mark in fewer than 1000 career games played. Of those on the list,
Lanny McDonald came closest to
not achieving 500 goals; he reached the mark with only four games left in his final NHL season. Similarly, Joe Mullen scored his 500th goal with only ten games left in his final season.
Glenn Anderson is the closest player to never reach the mark, retiring in 1996 with 498 career NHL goals. Five players have scored their 500th goal on an
empty net: Mike Bossy, Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, Keith Tkachuk, and Patrick Kane.
Maurice Richard and Peter Bondra are the only players with over 500 goals but fewer
than 1,000 points.
Patrick Roy is the only goaltender to concede more than one opponent's 500th career goal:
Steve Yzerman in 1996, Joe Mullen in 1997, and
Brendan Shanahan in 2002. A contributing factor for this statistical coincidence is Roy playing the
third-most games ever by a goaltender, at 1,029. In 2006, on
Hockey Night in Canada, Mats Sundin scored his 500th goal
short-handed, in
overtime, to finish off a
hat trick and to win the game for the
Toronto Maple Leafs. == Team achievements ==