Evolution Of The NHL Scoring Record

Wayne Gretzky’s record for most points in a single National Hockey League season has stood for nearly three decades. Some say it’s unbreakable, but as with any record in professional sports, it will seem unbreakable until the day it’s broken.  Through time, the record stood at an ‘unbreakable’ level 16 times since the creation of the NHL in 1917-18.

Joe Malone of the Montreal Canadiens held the mark first for most points in a single National Hockey League campaign. All he had to do to accomplish this was lead the league in scoring in its inaugural season. Assists were not recorded in that first year but Malone’s total of 44 goals in 20 games was in itself a pretty amazing feat and set the standard. To put that amount into perspective, applying that goal scoring pace over the present day 82 game schedule would produce 180 goals.

Malone broke his own record two years later while playing for the Quebec Bulldogs. Playing four more games than in 1917-18, Joe added four more points for 48 in 1919-20. This record would stand until the 1927-28 season when Howie Morenz of the Montreal Canadiens would total 51 points. However, Morenz’s total was accomplished over a much longer 43 game games.

Outside of Boston Bruins fans, the name Cooney Weiland is not overly well known. However, Weiland, while playing for the Boston Bruins during the 1929-30 season, shattered Morenz’s record with 73 points in 44 games. That season, six players would better the 51 point plateau. As for Weiland, he would go on to a respectable eleven season NHL career but would never get higher than the 38 point mark again in his career.

Over a decade would pass before Weiland’s mark would be surpassed. With the aid of an expanded 50 game schedule, Doug Bentley tied the record with 73 points in 1942-43. The following season, Herb Cain of the Boston Bruins would increase the record by nine points to 82 in 48 games. Just three short years later, Cain would be sent down to the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League where he would finish out his professional hockey career.

The legendary Gordie Howe would be next to set the mark. It would take Mr. Hockey 22 more games than Cain to add four points to the record. In 1950-51, Howe had an even 43 goals and 43 assists for 86 points. The following season, Howe would equal the mark and the season after that, 1952-53, Howe would increase the record by nine points to 95.

The record jumped just a single point in 1958-59 as Dickie Moore of the Montreal Canadiens would total 96 points in the same 70 games as Howe. The record would increase by the same increment in the mid 1960’s as teammates Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita of the Chicago Blackhawks would each get 97 points in 1965-66 and 1966-67 respectively.

The late 1960’s brought expansion to the NHL and doubling the size of the league overnight, increasing the length of the schedule and watering down the talent was catalyst to a new level of offense. Phil Esposito came into his own during the 1968-69 season and provided the Boston Bruins with 126 points. Two seasons later, Esposito would increase the record to 152 points, a number that most thought could never be broken.

Along came a kid from Brantford, Ontario, Canada and the league’s record books were never the same. Wayne Gretzky, in just his second season in the NHL, provided the Edmonton Oilers with 164 points. The following season, the impossible was accomplished with The Great One’s 92 goals, 120 assists and 212 points. The 212 points would be eclipsed by none other than Wayne Gretzky himself during the 1985-86 season when he had 215 in 80 games, but the 92 goals stands as an NHL record today.

Is the record breakable? Of course it is. The game has changed and the offensive numbers have dropped since the mid 1990’s but things can change on a dime. A simply amazing player could emerge. Rule changes could provide a more offensive game. Retraction or expansion could significantly affect the level of talent. Just as Joe Malone’s record was thought unbreakable ninety years ago, Gretzky’s might falsely be thought of as unbreakable today.

Hockey Trivia: NHL Goal Scoring Legend Joe Malone

Often over-looked when it comes to naming the greatest hockey players to ever play the game, Joe Malone is a name ever hockey fan should know. Because he played in the game’s infancy when there was a 24 game schedule, before the days of television broadcasts and in an age of whacky rules that would seem foreign to today’s fans and players, Joe Malone goes relatively unnoticed in the history of the National Hockey League.

The following four questions will test and expand the knowledge of the serious hockey fan and may even shock and amaze.

Q. Joe Malone still holds the NHL record for the highest goals per game average in one season after nearly a century has passed. With which team did Malone accomplish this feat?

A. Joe Malone, as a member of the Montreal Canadiens during the 1917-18 season, scored 44 goals in 20 games for an average of 2.2 goals per game. To put this into perspective, in today’s 82 game NHL schedule, that would equate to a 180 goal season. That was the first season of the NHL after the league transformed from the National Hockey Association. Therefore, Malone was the first ever scoring leader.

The 44 goals scored by Joe would remain a single season National Hockey League record until 1944-45. Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard scored 50 goals that year, but it took him 50 games to do it.

Q. In 1920, Malone set the record for most goals in a NHL game with seven, a record that still stands today. What team did he score his seven goals against?

A. On January 31, 1920, Joe Malone scored seven goals for the Quebec Bulldogs against the Toronto St. Patricks (predecessor to the Toronto Maple Leafs) in a 10-6 win. He also had a six goal game the same year.

To date, just six other players have scored six goals in a single game. Newsy Lalonde accomplished the feat in that 1919-20 season. Corb Denneny of Toronto St. Pats and Cy Denneny of the Ottawa Senators scored six each in games the following season. Syd Howe of the Detroit Red Wings had six in a game during the 1943-44 season. Red Berenson of the St. Louis Blues had six in a 1968-69 game. The last player to accomplish the feat was Darryl Sittler of the Toronto Maple Leafs, nearly 40 years ago, during the 1975-76 season.

Q. What Ontario, Canada based NHL team did Joe Malone play two seasons for?

A. Not the Toronto Maple Leafs or Ottawa Senators. Joe Malone played two years for the Hamilton Tigers, 1920-21 and 1921-22. The Tigers were the result of the Quebec Bulldogs relocating. Malone moved on to the Montreal Canadiens for 1922-23 but his magic was lost. Joe scored just one goal while playing just 29 games over the next two years, his last in the NHL.

The Tigers lasted until the end of the 1924-25 season. For the most part, the Hamilton franchise became the New York Americans for 1925-26. A hard luck story, the Tigers did not qualify for the post season in the first four of their five years of existence. In 1924-25, the team finished first overall in the six team NHL. However, the Hamilton players went on strike and the NHL suspended the team before they could play a single game in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Q. In what year was Joe Malone inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame?

A. Malone entered the Hall in 1950, five years after its creation and over 25 years after his playing career came to an end. Joe was part of a group of eight inducted that year. Included among the other seven was Malone’s teammate with the Canadiens in the first two years of the NHL, Newsy Lalonde.