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Leading the NHL in goals & assists (same or separate seasons)

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The Panther

The Panther

Registered User
Mar 25, 2014
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Tokyo, Japan
Connor McDavid led the NHL in both goals and assists last season (2022-23), making him only the sixth player since 1926-27 (when the NHL consolidated its rival leagues) to do this. So, six guys in almost 100 years.

The very short and ultra-elite list is as follows:

1927-28: Howie Morenz

1950-51: Gordie Howe
1952-53: Gordie Howe

1972-73: Phil Esposito

1981-82: Wayne Gretzky
1982-83: Wayne Gretzky
1983-84: Wayne Gretzky
1984-85: Wayne Gretzky
1986-87: Wayne Gretzky

1988-89: Mario Lemieux
1995-96: Mario Lemieux

2022-23: Connor McDavid

This season, McDavid isn't really shooting the puck much, but his assists are up. Who knows how it'll shake down, but at present McDavid is actually pacing for over 100 assists (which no one has done since Gretzky in 1991).

So, in addition to the six ultra-elite players (across 12 different seasons -- Gretzky five times!), I was wondering how many players in total have led the NHL in goals and assists, either in the same season (I've listed them already) or in separate seasons. That is, besides the six players above, which other players have led the NHL in both goals and in assists, but in separate seasons?

For example, Guy Lafleur led in assists in 1977 and in goals in 1978, so add him to the list. Crosby led in goals in 2010 and 2017 and in assists in 2014, so add him as well. This makes:

Morenz
Howe
Esposito
Lafleur
Gretzky
Lemieux
Crosby
McDavid

Is there anybody else?
 
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Ted Lindsay
beliveau
Doug Bentley (2 scoring and 2 assist title but all in different season)
 
Doug Bentley led the league in goals in 1943 and 1944. He led the league in assists in 1948 and 1949.

Ted Lindsay led the league in goals in 1948. He led in assists in 1950 and 1951.

Jean Beliveau led the league in goals in 1956 and 1959. He led in assists in 1961.
 
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Thanks, all. So, it appears the complete list is:

Morenz
D. Bentley
Lindsay
Howe
Beliveau
Esposito
Lafleur
Gretzky
Lemieux
Crosby
McDavid

(Unless we missed anyone...)
 
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Using hockey-reference and excel it give me:

[TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]Connor McDavid[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Cy Denneny*[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Dickie Moore*[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Doug Bentley*[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Gordie Howe*[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Guy Lafleur*[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Howie Morenz*[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Jean Béliveau*[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Mario Lemieux*[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Newsy Lalonde*[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Phil Esposito*[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Player[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Sidney Crosby[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Ted Lindsay*[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Wayne Gretzky*[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Lalonde could be the only one we missed going by hands and brains, a the post 26-27 window... that why
 
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It is not a lot of people but Gretzky did lead the nhl 13 season in a row (lol) and 3 other time after that.

Someone like Marcel Dionne, 2 second place to Bossy in goals, second place to Gretzky and Lafleur in assist, thought luck competition wise.

A even with Gretzky monopolising the assist title, no one ever finished second to him, winning a scoring title and not made that list because of him, so he is not to "blame" at all.
 
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Okay, so then the Final-Final list appears to be:

Morenz
D. Bentley
Lindsay
Howe
Beliveau
D. Moore
Esposito
Lafleur
Gretzky
Lemieux
Crosby
McDavid

(Yes, I was not counting Denneny or Lalonde as they were pre-summer 1926.)

It's a fairly good list to show what I think are the truly greatest offensive players in NHL history... that is, if we could take off Dickie Moore and add Jagr.
 
A few stories behind the players.

Doug Bentley led in goals while playing LW and centred by his brother Max. Then he led in assists while playing C with Roy Conacher on his LW. It's a pretty straightforward case where he played different roles depending on his linemates.

Dickie Moore led the league in goals while being centred by Henri Richard, more of a playmaker, in 1957-58. In 1958-59, in late January, Moore's scoring line was 23-20-43, and he was second in the league in goals behind Andy Bathgate. Then Moore and Jean Beliveau were placed on a line together starting on January 24, and were absolutely white-hot for the final two months of the season. Moore finished with 18-35-53 in his final 26 GP, and Beliveau with 26-26-52 in the same 26 GP. Moore passed Bathgate in goals, but Beliveau passed Moore to lead the league with 45. So Moore's playmaking was part of the reason he didn't lead the league in goals that year. And Moore led the league in assists, nearly tying Bert Olmstead's record, despite being out of the top 10 in assists halfway through the season.

Jean Beliveau led the league in goals with great playmakers at LW. Olmstead's record-setting season in 55-56, and the already-mentioned Dickie Moore in 58-59. Both Olmstead and Moore were renowned for their corner work as well as their playmaking. He led the league with 58 assists in 60-61 (and I believe he broke Olmstead's record) when his RW Boom-Boom Geoffrion tied the Rocket's record of 50 goals.

Lafleur played with Jacques Lemaire at C for 1977-78 (when Lafleur had 60 goals), after Lemaire and Pete Mahovlich split time as his C in 1976-77 (and Lafleur had 80 assists). Did Lemaire help him reach 60 goals? Maybe but I think this was more about Lafleur being a great all-around talent than a change in linemates. Lemaire was a great shooter himself.

Lindsay was a goal scorer in 47-48 and a playmaker in 49-50 with the same linemates - Sid Abel and Gordie Howe, the Production Line. Howe and Abel scored 16 and 14 goals in the earlier season, and 35 and 34 goals in the later season. This change is the most inexplicable to me. I guess they adjusted their style of playing with time. It would be interesting to see their shot totals and shooting percentages.
 
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Imagine having one season so terrific - and out of the ordinary - that you almost join the list here. In 1959-60, Bronco Horvath led the NHL in goals*, was second in points and 7th in assists.

(* tied with Bobby Hull)
 
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Hmm, am I the only surprised to see Crosby on this list? Which year did he lead the league in goals?
 
MadLuke said:
This goes into the not sure if serious category.
Click to expand...

Maybe it's just me, but I usually thought of Crosby as a perennial contender for the art Ross, but he wouldn't be at the very top of my list for the rocket.
 
JianYang said:
Maybe it's just me, but I usually thought of Crosby as a perennial contender for the art Ross, but he wouldn't be at the very top of my list for the rocket.
Click to expand...
Yes and I feel that why it is a relatively well know trivia that he did lead the league in goals more time (2x) than in assist (1x).

It is more that it is something so easy to check (well maybe less so from a phone) which year did Crosby lead the nhl in goals, that asking the question could be rhetorical:
www.hockey-reference.com

Sidney Crosby Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Title | Hockey-Reference.com

Checkout the latest stats of Sidney Crosby. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, trade, draft and more on Hockey-Reference.com
www.hockey-reference.com www.hockey-reference.com

That why I thought it could some rift on that a bit of strangeness like you say, but... was not clearly a joke either.
 
Last edited:
I loved this topic! Something that made me curious was: I saw in another thread that Lafleur was top 5 in goals and assists for 5 consecutive seasons.
Could anyone list all the players in history who were in the top 5 for goals and assists in the same season? And who stayed for more than one season besides Lafleur, Gretzky, Lemieux, Howe, Jagr...?
 
The Panther said:
Okay, so then the Final-Final list appears to be:

Morenz
D. Bentley
Lindsay
Howe
Beliveau
D. Moore
Esposito
Lafleur
Gretzky
Lemieux
Crosby
McDavid

(Yes, I was not counting Denneny or Lalonde as they were pre-summer 1926.)

It's a fairly good list to show what I think are the truly greatest offensive players in NHL history... that is, if we could take off Dickie Moore and add Jagr.
Click to expand...

That is a very elite list. A lot of great names not on there. Which goes to show you how hard it is. For example Jagr didn't get on here. Thought Boom Boom Geoffrion was closer with assists than he was.

Considering how many great records Gretzky has, I think the fact that if you add his years where he led in goals, assists and/or points it is more than double the next guy. Gretzky it is 31. I believe Howe has 14 as well as Esposito. Mario has 12. McDavid, Hull and Ovechkin have 10. I could be wrong but I think that is the only ones with double digits.

Even Jagr has just 8. Beliveau and Crosby 5. It's hard, but 31 times? Come on. Maybe McDavid is able to pass Howe and Esposito but he may not even get half of Gretzky's
 
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JotAlan said:
I loved this topic! Something that made me curious was: I saw in another thread that Lafleur was top 5 in goals and assists for 5 consecutive seasons.
Could anyone list all the players in history who were in the top 5 for goals and assists in the same season? And who stayed for more than one season besides Lafleur, Gretzky, Lemieux, Howe, Jagr...?
Click to expand...
See this thread

From 1968 to present, the players with the most seasons where they placed in the top five in goals and assists (in the same year) were Gretzky and Esposito (8x each). Then there's a four-way tie between Lemieux, Jagr, Lafleur, and Dionne (5x each).

Among post-lockout players, Draisaitl leads the way with three seasons. McDavid has two. Crosby and Ovechkin have never achieved this (but Malkin and Kane have).

According to pnep's post in that thread, if we go back to pre-expansion, Howe leads the way with 12 seasons (yes, it was easier when there were fewer teams, but nobody else from his era is even close - Beliveau only has five years).
 
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