Who is the best goal scorer of all time and who are the top 10 all time in order?

[Retire91]

Lemieux for me. Others have the numbers because of lengthy careers but what Mario gets especially for me is that he had some of his best seasons during some of the most defensive hockey in modern history. He'll always have the mark because of health issues but if I need a goal and I could put anyone in top health in their prime in hockey history, I am sending Lemieux over the boards. The guy was even a smoker, if you remove all the handicaps this guy makes untouchable records too.

 

[rmartin65]

Sure, you can almost do that for the last 20 minutes. That leaves out a lot of hockey history.

I did a double-take here

 

[Gorskyontario]

Yes Michael Phelps may not have any records anymore but is still considered the best swimmer by probably everybody. You just can’t say the “fastest” in any particular event which would be the world record holder.

This definitely applies to Mario Lemieux being the greatest goal scorer ever.

 

[Staniowski]

I'm not going to rank them, but discuss some candidates for 10-best, roughly chronologically:

Maurice Richard was most likely the first all-time great goal-scorer. He was skilled, focused, determined.

Bobby Hull was probably even better than Rocket. Hull had great puck skills, slapshot, wrist and snap shots, and was excellent one-on-one, and a great deker, with quickness against the goalie. One of the best ever.

Phil Esposito was hockey's first ever super-scorer, and he was a great goal-scorer. Esposito was a very smart scorer, and he's one of the best examples of a player who grew to become a much better goal-scorer than he previously was. Watch Esposito in the slot....his best skill is the spin moves he makes before shooting. These are difficult for the goalie, especially then, when nobody else is doing it nearly as well. Esposito became a master at the mechanics of scoring.

Mike Bossy looked like the first real professional goal-scorer. Many observers thought he was the best-ever when they first saw him. The focus, the quickness, accuracy, strength. He could score from anywhere...slapshot, wrist and snapshots, dekes, from every distance.

Vladimir Krutov was the best goal-scorer of all the Soviet era players. His combination of powerful skating, physical strength, puck skills, and goal-scoring ability set him apart. He was a great shooter, could score from a distance, and went hard to the net.

Mario Lemieux was simply the best goal-scorer ever, without a doubt. Nobody is very close.

Brett Hull loved to score goals. He could score well from all over the offensive zone. Great at finding space, great shooter.

Cam Neely was a legendary goal-scorer. Very good sense of the net, could score very well in close or from a distance.

The '90s generation was full of great goal-scorers, probably as many (or more) greats than the entire first 100 years of hockey combined. In addition to Hull, Lemieux, and Neely, there was Bure, Mogilny, Selanne, Jagr, Sakic. Bure was probably the best of the latter five, and easily one of the five-best goal-scorers ever.

Over the past 25 years....Kovalchuk, Ovechkin (obviously one of the very best ever), Stamkos, Matthews. Crosby, also, has some excellent goal-scoring skills but is certainly behind some of these other guys.

There's other players currently, like Pastrnak and Kaprizov, and, of course, keep an eye on Bedard.

Gretzky, Crosby, and McDavid each have some great goal-scoring abilities, but none of the three would be among the 10-best ever. Same for Gordie Howe.

 

[VanIslander]

Mike Bossy is on any sane tier 1.
& OV.

...um...

Richard, Howe, Gretz joins him.

That gets 1-5 clearly.

Then a tier of Mario, Bobby.

(Brett vs. Al was an issue so he isn't here high.)

I can't start the next tier with absent options.

8th, 9th, 10th options could be better.

 

[Gorskyontario]

I'm not going to rank them, but discuss some candidates for 10-best, roughly chronologically:

Maurice Richard was most likely the first all-time great goal-scorer. He was skilled, focused, determined.

Bobby Hull was probably even better than Rocket. Hull had great puck skills, slapshot, wrist and snap shots, and was excellent one-on-one, and a great deker, with quickness against the goalie. One of the best ever.

Phil Esposito was hockey's first ever super-scorer, and he was a great goal-scorer. Esposito was a very smart scorer, and he's one of the best examples of a player who grew to become a much better goal-scorer than he previously was. Watch Esposito in the slot....his best skill is the spin moves he makes before shooting. These are difficult for the goalie, especially then, when nobody else is doing it nearly as well. Esposito became a master at the mechanics of scoring.

Mike Bossy looked like the first real professional goal-scorer. Many observers thought he was the best-ever when they first saw him. The focus, the quickness, accuracy, strength. He could score from anywhere...slapshot, wrist and snapshots, dekes, from every distance.

Vladimir Krutov was the best goal-scorer of all the Soviet era players. His combination of powerful skating, physical strength, puck skills, and goal-scoring ability set him apart. He was a great shooter, could score from a distance, and went hard to the net.

Mario Lemieux was simply the best goal-scorer ever, without a doubt. Nobody is very close.

Brett Hull loved to score goals. He could score well from all over the offensive zone. Great at finding space, great shooter.

Cam Neely was a legendary goal-scorer. Very good sense of the net, could score very well in close or from a distance.

The '90s generation was full of great goal-scorers, probably as many (or more) greats than the entire first 100 years of hockey combined. In addition to Hull, Lemieux, and Neely, there was Bure, Mogilny, Selanne, Jagr, Sakic. Bure was probably the best of the latter five, and easily one of the five-best goal-scorers ever.

Over the past 25 years....Kovalchuk, Ovechkin (obviously one of the very best ever), Stamkos, Matthews. Crosby, also, has some excellent goal-scoring skills but is certainly behind some of these other guys.

There's other players currently, like Pastrnak and Kaprizov, and, of course, keep an eye on Bedard.

Gretzky, Crosby, and McDavid each have some great goal-scoring abilities, but none of the three would be among the 10-best ever. Same for Gordie Howe.

If you're going to include Cam Neely I don't see how you can not include Tim Kerr. Neely was obviously a far superior player. Kerr was the best garbage man in the history of the game, except for maybe Esposito.