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

[Overrated]

One name is missing that should definitely be there which is Boris Mikhailov.

 

[carjackmalone]

Why is Kurri overlooked

 

[The Panther]

It's very hard to isolate a particular skill and rank it -- and of course there's a lot more that goes into volume of goals scored than just the player's ability -- but anyway, I'll try (this is just NHL based, btw, if that wasn't obvious):

1. Mario Lemieux
2. Alex Ovechkin
3. Bobby Hull
4. Maurice Richard
5. Wayne Gretzky
6. Gordie Howe
7. Brett Hull
8. Mike Bossy
9. Phil Esposito
10. Jaromir Jagr / Pavel Bure / Auston Matthews

I feel like Charlie Conacher's and Jari Kurri's periods as elite goal scorers were just a tad too short to make the top 10.

It's still early days on Matthews, but if he can get another 60-ish goal season this year, maybe he kicks aside Jagr and Bure and starts to climb up the list further...

 

[rmartin65]

It's very hard to isolate a particular skill and rank it -- and of course there's a lot more that goes into volume of goals scored than just the player's ability -- but anyway, I'll try (this is just NHL based, btw, if that wasn't obvious):

1. Mario Lemieux
2. Alex Ovechkin
3. Bobby Hull
4. Maurice Richard
5. Wayne Gretzky
6. Gordie Howe
7. Brett Hull
8. Mike Bossy
9. Phil Esposito
10. Jaromir Jagr / Pavel Bure / Auston Matthews

I feel like Charlie Conacher's and Jari Kurri's periods as elite goal scorers were just a tad too short to make the top 10.

A six year span as the top goal scorer in the league is a tad too short? I can't get behind that.

 

[The Panther]

A six year span as the top goal scorer in the league is a tad too short? I can't get behind that.

Talking about Conacher? You may be right, and I'm certainly more prime than I am longevity (more than most on here, in my experience).

But... with Conacher, yes, he's got 5 out of 6 years as the #1 goal scorer. But he falls off the cliff at age 26, which is rather young. For the next five years (mostly in his late-20s), he was 45th in goals scored, and was at 0.20 goals per game.

It's not a stick to beat him with because his 1931 to 1936 seasons are amazing and speak for themselves. I would be interested in the thoughts of others who know more about Conacher / this era than I do...

 

[rmartin65]

Talking about Conacher? You may be right, and I'm certainly more prime than I am longevity (more than most on here, in my experience).

But... with Conacher, yes, he's got 5 out of 6 years as the #1 goal scorer. But he falls off the cliff at age 26, which is rather young. For the next five years (mostly in his late-20s), he was 45th in goals scored, and was at 0.20 goals per game.

It's not a stick to beat him with because his 1931 to 1936 seasons are amazing and speak for themselves. I would be interested in the thoughts of others who know more about Conacher / this era than I do...

Conacher, like Bure, dealt with a lot of injuries. Conacher fell off a cliff due to a broken wrist in 1937 and a dislocated shoulder in 1938, which limited him to just 34 games over the two seasons. Modern medicine likely would have seen him return to his high-scoring days.

In any case, here is how Conacher stacks up with several other bubble players mentioned in this thread. I'm only looking at top 5 finishes, since we are looking at the cream of the crop here.

	Conacher	Bure	Jagr	Stamkos	Bossy	Selanne	Matthews
Raw Goals, Leader	5	3	0	2	2	3	3
Raw Goals, Top 5	5	5	6	6	8	5	5
Goals/Game, Leader	5	1	1	2	1	2	3
Goals/Game, Top 5	5	4	7	6	9	5	6

Conacher doesn't seem out of place in terms of number of seasons a top-tier scorer, and he clearly peaked higher (as of now; Matthews could change that moving forward).

 

[TheBig08]

can i get some of yhalls opinions on who the best goal scorer of all time is and your top 10 best goal scorer of all time order and if you have a reason/explaination or stats share them, whole point of why I made the thread.

 

[wetcoast]

Lemieux is 1 for me because of the variety of ways that he was an elite finisher. Wrist shot, one timer, backhand, breakaways, penalty shots, mid-long range/in close, early adapter to low angle and bank shots 20+ years before it became popularized, etc.

Also because of his elite playmaking prowess, as a balanced attacker, goalies can't purely commit to his shot.

I don't disagree although to play Devils advocate wouldn't a one dimensional player like say Ovi, Bure or Richard have a potentially harder time scoring goals since the other parts of their game weren't as developed?

Part of me when I see questions like this is to say and pick players who were known primarily for their goal scoring rather than overall play.

That's why it's hard to place all around elite players like Gretzky, Mario and Howe on these lists.

 

[TheBig08]

I don't disagree although to play Devils advocate wouldn't a one dimensional player like say Ovi, Bure or Richard have a potentially harder time scoring goals since the other parts of their game weren't as developed?

Part of me when I see questions like this is to say and pick players who were known primarily for their goal scoring rather than overall play.

That's why it's hard to place all around elite players like Gretzky, Mario and Howe on these lists.

who do you think is the best and your top 10 in order.

Also i think ovi is the best and here is my top 10 al time in order can you rate it.

1. Alex ovechkin
2. Mario lemuiex
3. Mike Bossy
4. Pavel Bure
5. Wayne Gretzky
6. Bobby Hull
7. Brett Hull
8. Maurice Richard
9. Gordie Howe
10. Auston Matthews

 

[wetcoast]

Who's arguing anyone over anyone else because of style?

Variance isn't about style it's the ability to score in multiple different ways, which is of great help if someone manages to lock one of your lanes down.

If whipping the puck like Devo works like a clockwork in the RS against bottom half teams, then yay that's great, but perhaps it is, I dunno, harder to do that in the playoffs against better and tighter teams.

Gave you a like because of this,

devo whip it - Google Suche

 

[wetcoast]

who do you think is the best and your top 10 in order.

I don't have a definitive list but all of your guys would be on my list of top 10ish with some projection for Matthews.

while I don't have an order and Bure would be on my list he certainly wouldn't be 4th in terms of "greatest" best is really hard to define and isolate IMO.

Also i think ovi is the best and here is my top 10 al time in order can you rate it.

1. Alex ovechkin
2. Mario lemuiex
3. Mike Bossy
4. Pavel Bure
5. Wayne Gretzky
6. Bobby Hull
7. Brett Hull
8. Maurice Richard
9. Gordie Howe
10. Auston Matthews

 

[TheBig08]

I don't have a definitive list but all of your guys would be on my list of top 10ish with some projection for Matthews.

while I don't have an order and Bure would be on my list he certainly wouldn't be 4th in terms of "greatest" best is really hard to define and isolate IMO.

who do u think is the best

Conacher, like Bure, dealt with a lot of injuries. Conacher fell off a cliff due to a broken wrist in 1937 and a dislocated shoulder in 1938, which limited him to just 34 games over the two seasons. Modern medicine likely would have seen him return to his high-scoring days.

In any case, here is how Conacher stacks up with several other bubble players mentioned in this thread. I'm only looking at top 5 finishes, since we are looking at the cream of the crop here.

	Conacher	Bure	Jagr	Stamkos	Bossy	Selanne	Matthews
Raw Goals, Leader	5	3	0	2	2	3	3
Raw Goals, Top 5	5	5	6	6	8	5	5
Goals/Game, Leader	5	1	1	2	1	2	3
Goals/Game, Top 5	5	4	7	6	9	5	6

Conacher doesn't seem out of place in terms of number of seasons a top-tier scorer, and he clearly peaked higher (as of now; Matthews could change that moving forward).

who do you think is the best and your top 10 in order and if you have a reason/explaination or stats share them.

Also i think ovi is the best and here is my top 10 all time in order can you rate it.

1. Alex ovechkin
2. Mario lemuiex
3. Mike Bossy
4. Pavel Bure
5. Wayne Gretzky
6. Bobby Hull
7. Brett Hull
8. Maurice Richard
9. Gordie Howe
10. Auston Matthews

Talking about Conacher? You may be right, and I'm certainly more prime than I am longevity (more than most on here, in my experience).

But... with Conacher, yes, he's got 5 out of 6 years as the #1 goal scorer. But he falls off the cliff at age 26, which is rather young. For the next five years (mostly in his late-20s), he was 45th in goals scored, and was at 0.20 goals per game.

It's not a stick to beat him with because his 1931 to 1936 seasons are amazing and speak for themselves. I would be interested in the thoughts of others who know more about Conacher / this era than I do...

who do you think is the best and your top 10 in order and if you have a reason/explaination or stats share them.

Also i think ovi is the best and here is my top 10 al time in order can you rate it.

1. Alex ovechkin
2. Mario lemuiex
3. Mike Bossy
4. Pavel Bure
5. Wayne Gretzky
6. Bobby Hull
7. Brett Hull
8. Maurice Richard
9. Gordie Howe
10. Auston Matthews

 

[TheBig08]

Why is Kurri overlooked

who do you think is the best and your top 10 in order and if you have a reason/explaination or stats share them.

Also i think ovi is the best and here is my top 10 all time in order can you rate it.

1. Alex ovechkin
2. Mario lemuiex
3. Mike Bossy
4. Pavel Bure
5. Wayne Gretzky
6. Bobby Hull
7. Brett Hull
8. Maurice Richard
9. Gordie Howe
10. Auston Matthews

One name is missing that should definitely be there which is Boris Mikhailov.

who do you think is the best and your top 10 in order and if you have a reason/explaination or stats share them.

Also i think ovi is the best and here is my top 10 all time in order can you rate it.

1. Alex ovechkin
2. Mario lemuiex
3. Mike Bossy
4. Pavel Bure
5. Wayne Gretzky
6. Bobby Hull
7. Brett Hull
8. Maurice Richard
9. Gordie Howe
10. Auston Matthews

Greateast goal-scorers ever: (greatest is a mix between pure ability and actual accomlishments):

Tier 1:

1. Ovechkin
2. Gretzky
3. Lemieux
4. Bobby Hull

Tier 2:

5. Maurice Richard
6. Goride Howe

Tier 3:

7. Mike Bossy
8. Brett Hull
9. Phil Esposito
10. Auston Matthews
11. Pavel Bure

If we were ranking "best" instead, I'd have Lemieux #1. Bossy might go up too (if not for injuries/half a career, he'd rank highest on greatest too). Ovchkin is probably #2.

Regarding Auston Matthews - I'm not sure exactly how high he will reach. But he's off to a fantastic start. I used to think his ceiling was tier 3 - now I think he could reach tier 1. You can never predict decline - some players fall off a cliff unexpectedly, and some dont, so we'll see how his career shapes out.

who do you think is the best and your top 10 in order and if you have a reason/explaination or stats share them.

Also i think ovi is the best and here is my top 10 all time in order can you rate it.

1. Alex ovechkin
2. Mario lemuiex
3. Mike Bossy
4. Pavel Bure
5. Wayne Gretzky
6. Bobby Hull
7. Brett Hull
8. Maurice Richard
9. Gordie Howe
10. Auston Matthews

Lemieux is 1 for me because of the variety of ways that he was an elite finisher. Wrist shot, one timer, backhand, breakaways, penalty shots, mid-long range/in close, early adapter to low angle and bank shots 20+ years before it became popularized, etc.

Also because of his elite playmaking prowess, as a balanced attacker, goalies can't purely commit to his shot.

your top 10 in order and if you have a reason/explaination or stats share them.

Also i think ovi is the best and here is my top 10 all time in order can you rate it.

1. Alex ovechkin
2. Mario lemuiex
3. Mike Bossy
4. Pavel Bure
5. Wayne Gretzky
6. Bobby Hull
7. Brett Hull
8. Maurice Richard
9. Gordie Howe
10. Auston Matthews

I'm not sure I'd have Matthews above Stamkos or Selanne yet.


Top ten finishes in goals:

Matthews: 1, 1, 1, 2, 3

Selanne: 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 10

Stamkos: 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 4, 7, 9


Ovechkin is the most accomplished. Best is more subjective - I personally don't care at all about things like shot volume and diversity of goals when assessing goal scoring, but some do.

who do you think is the best and your top 10 in order and if you have a reason/explaination or stats share them.

Also i think ovi is the best and here is my top 10 all time in order can you rate it.

1. Alex ovechkin
2. Mario lemuiex
3. Mike Bossy
4. Pavel Bure
5. Wayne Gretzky
6. Bobby Hull
7. Brett Hull
8. Maurice Richard
9. Gordie Howe
10. Auston Matthews

 

[wetcoast]

who do u think is the best


who do you think is the best and your top 10 in order and if you have a reason/explaination or stats share them.

Also i think ovi is the best and here is my top 10 all time in order can you rate it.

1. Alex ovechkin
2. Mario lemuiex
3. Mike Bossy
4. Pavel Bure
5. Wayne Gretzky
6. Bobby Hull
7. Brett Hull
8. Maurice Richard
9. Gordie Howe
10. Auston Matthews



who do you think is the best and your top 10 in order and if you have a reason/explaination or stats share them.

Also i think ovi is the best and here is my top 10 al time in order can you rate it.

1. Alex ovechkin
2. Mario lemuiex
3. Mike Bossy
4. Pavel Bure
5. Wayne Gretzky
6. Bobby Hull
7. Brett Hull
8. Maurice Richard
9. Gordie Howe
10. Auston Matthews

Are you a bot?

I mean you can ask all you want but for myself I don't have a definitive list or order and frankly there is some fluidity to it as well since you are asking us to isolate just one metric out of many that we use to evaluate hockey players.

 

[TheBig08]

Of my awareness, Lemieux and Brett Hull the best, Gretzky and Ovechkin have more right to be called greatest given records and longevity and all that but at their bests, shift by shift, can't top Brett Hull and Mario

who do you think is the best and your top 10 in order and if you have a reason/explaination or stats share them.

Also i think ovi is the best and here is my top 10 all time in order can you rate it.

1. Alex ovechkin
2. Mario lemuiex
3. Mike Bossy
4. Pavel Bure
5. Wayne Gretzky
6. Bobby Hull
7. Brett Hull
8. Maurice Richard
9. Gordie Howe
10. Auston Matthews

Variance of how and when you score your goals is obviously absolutely crucial. I saw a stat from some season back where Auston Matthews had 6 hat-tricks in the RS, all of them on non-playoff teams.

Hate on Bure as a fun player all you guys want, but guy scored multiple hat-tricks on Patrick Roy and had streaks in the playoffs where he was an absolute beast. This is not something either Matthews or Stamkos has been even close to replicate.

For all the stereotypes of Brett Hull being just a big shot, guy actually had a sneaky ability to score in all kinds of different ways, whether Brian Holzinger was dancing by the play or not.

I agree with Mike up thread about Lemieux being the best all-time goal scorer, btw.

your top 10 in order and if you have a reason/explaination or stats share them.

Also i think ovi is the best and here is my top 10 all time in order can you rate it.

1. Alex ovechkin
2. Mario lemuiex
3. Mike Bossy
4. Pavel Bure
5. Wayne Gretzky
6. Bobby Hull
7. Brett Hull
8. Maurice Richard
9. Gordie Howe
10. Auston Matthews

I'd say that Lemieux is the best, Ovechkin and Bobby Hull are in the conversation and possibly Richard too if I squint.

As this is about who is best at a skill and not just comparing resumes, I have no problem with Bure ranking pretty high on someone's list. I wouldn't put him at 4 but he's among the best ever at this particular thing.

your top 10 in order and if you have a reason/explaination or stats share them.

Also i think ovi is the best and here is my top 10 all time in order can you rate it.

1. Alex ovechkin
2. Mario lemuiex
3. Mike Bossy
4. Pavel Bure
5. Wayne Gretzky
6. Bobby Hull
7. Brett Hull
8. Maurice Richard
9. Gordie Howe
10. Auston Matthews

 

[TheBig08]

Goalscoring lists always seem very skewed to the 90s. Lemieux and Hull, no argument. Bure, Selanne, Jagr. 5 of the top 15 all in their prime within 10 years? If you go back to 1985 and add Gretzky and Bossy too. Does it make sense that 50% of the top 15 have their primes from 1985-2000? Does it make sense to only have one pre 1950 prime player? 1890-1944 produces no one, 1995 has 5, and 2005-2025 only has 3?

The early era guys definitely get missed. Conacher leading 5 times in 6 years.

Bill Cook came to the NHL at 30 and still lead the league in goals twice while finishing second twice. He lead the WCHL twice too. By contemporary opinion, an absolute goal scoring monster.

Edit: that's not even getting into Russell Bowie, who should absolutely be in the conversation

who do you think is the best and your top 10 in order and if you have a reason/explaination or stats share them.

Also i think ovi is the best and here is my top 10 all time in order can you rate it.

1. Alex ovechkin
2. Mario lemuiex
3. Mike Bossy
4. Pavel Bure
5. Wayne Gretzky
6. Bobby Hull
7. Brett Hull
8. Maurice Richard
9. Gordie Howe
10. Auston Matthews

Ovechkin / Gretzky
Hull Sr / Howe / Richard
Lemieux / Bossy / Esposito / Hull Jr
Bure / Selanne

who do you think is the best and your top 10 in order and if you have a reason/explaination or stats share them.

Also i think ovi is the best and here is my top 10 all time in order can you rate it.

1. Alex ovechkin
2. Mario lemuiex
3. Mike Bossy
4. Pavel Bure
5. Wayne Gretzky
6. Bobby Hull
7. Brett Hull
8. Maurice Richard
9. Gordie Howe
10. Auston Matthews

I feel like not something they replicated was about the playoff (or Olympics...) beast part, not scoring hat trick on Roy.

Greatest Ovechkin, the one you want to receive that Gretzky pass in 1987 Mario Lemieux, the one you want to be able to send in an playoff overtime Maurice Richard.

Pavel Bure feel perfectly legitimate to have in this conversation, eye test, numbers, "longevity" in the sense 1988 world junior, 1992 rookie season, the 2000 panthers to the 2002-2003 Rangers, it is not a short amount of time to be really good at scoring goal at that level.

who do you think is the best and your top 10 in order and if you have a reason/explaination or stats share them.

Also i think ovi is the best and here is my top 10 all time in order can you rate it.

1. Alex ovechkin
2. Mario lemuiex
3. Mike Bossy
4. Pavel Bure
5. Wayne Gretzky
6. Bobby Hull
7. Brett Hull
8. Maurice Richard
9. Gordie Howe
10. Auston Matthews

I gotta go with Ovechkin for his consistency of production in a very hard to score goal scoring era (big pads, defensive systems, etc.) and how badly he ran away from his own era in terms of goal scoring.

who do you think is the best and your top 10 in order and if you have a reason/explaination or stats share them.

Also i think ovi is the best and here is my top 10 all time in order can you rate it.

1. Alex ovechkin
2. Mario lemuiex
3. Mike Bossy
4. Pavel Bure
5. Wayne Gretzky
6. Bobby Hull
7. Brett Hull
8. Maurice Richard
9. Gordie Howe
10. Auston Matthews

 

[TheBig08]

Nothing to do with "style", everything to do with adaptability. Then we have to balance the juxtaposition of player evaluation and the team concept.

Example: Teams would sometimes just shadow Ovechkin in his one-timer spot to not allow it. Creates basically a 4 on 3 (bigger offensive advantage). Doesn't necessarily make Ovi a better goal scorer, might make the Caps more productive though.

who do you think is the best and your top 10 in order and if you have a reason/explaination or stats share them.

Also i think ovi is the best and here is my top 10 all time in order can you rate it.

1. Alex ovechkin
2. Mario lemuiex
3. Mike Bossy
4. Pavel Bure
5. Wayne Gretzky
6. Bobby Hull
7. Brett Hull
8. Maurice Richard
9. Gordie Howe
10. Auston Matthews

Are you a bot?

I mean you can ask all you want but for myself I don't have a definitive list or order and frankly there is some fluidity to it as well since you are asking us to isolate just one metric out of many that we use to evaluate hockey players.

no im not a bot. i was just asking it doesn't have be definitive but u can at least make general list of where u think people are at on the list. also it popped up multiple times because im asking everybody who replied but didn't answer the question.

 

[MadLuke]

who do you think is the best and your top 10 in order and if you have a reason/explaination or stats share them.

I would have no ground to judge Conacher vs peak Richard vs Bobby Hull, modern day my feeling would be Mario, but unlike Gretzky playmaking or Orr for 2 way defenseman play, no one really stand out enough to say.

Number wise career last time I looked it, would be around

Ovechkin
Richard
Lemieux
Hull and hull

When talking peak, Gretzky-Matthews-Bure would enter the conversation, for 2 others to round it to 10, Bossy-Selanne maybe, Esposito scored a lot and hard to keep out but so did Jagr, those 2 can be a bit underrated as goalscorer specially Jagr.

 

[TheBig08]

I would have no ground to judge Conacher vs peak Richard vs Bobby Hull, modern day my feeling would be Mario, but unlike Gretzky playmaking or Orr for 2 way defenseman play, no one really stand out enough to say.

Number wise career last time I looked it, would be around

Ovechkin
Richard
Lemieux
Hull and hull

When talking peak, Gretzky-Matthews-Bure would enter the conversation, for 2 others to round it to 10, Bossy-Selanne maybe, Esposito scored a lot and hard to keep out but so did Jagr, those 2 can be a bit underrated as goalscorer specially Jagr.

so u got ovechkin as the best and then your top 10
1. ovi
2. richard
3. lemuiex
4/5. brett/bobby
6. wayne
7. matthews
8. bure
9. bossy
10. selanne


if im reading right, is there a reason howes not up there?

 

[MadLuke]

if im reading right, is there a reason howes not up there?

Does not stand out enough:

NHL Stats

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NHL Stats

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NHL Stats

The official source for NHL Stats including skaters, goalies, teams stats and more.

www.nhl.com

But like Jagr he is easy to dismiss because of everything else he did so well, I can see him up there, 801 goals is 801 goals

 

[TheBig08]

Does not stand out enough:

NHL Stats

The official source for NHL Stats including skaters, goalies, teams stats and more.

www.nhl.com

NHL Stats

The official source for NHL Stats including skaters, goalies, teams stats and more.

www.nhl.com

NHL Stats

The official source for NHL Stats including skaters, goalies, teams stats and more.

www.nhl.com

But like Jagr he is easy to dismiss because of everything else he did so well, I can see him up there, 801 goals is 801 goals

so u got ovechkin as the best and then your top 10
1. ovi
2. richard
3. lemuiex
4/5. brett/bobby
6. wayne
7. matthews
8. bure
9. bossy
10. selanne


Im I reading it right. And i will say this jagr and howe had about the same amount of games played. jagr had 1733 games played, gordie howe had 1767, and jagr played in a higher scoring era but howe still had more goals than jagr. and even if jagr played an extra 34 he wouldnt have passed howe. now howe vs esposito and selanne for 10th is tough but i think either one of them over howe for 10th is agreeable but me personally i still got howe over them.

 

[TheBig08]

.