List of NHL players with 500 goals For ice hockey players in the National Hockey League ( NHL ) , scoring 500 regular season goal s is considered a highly significant achievement . As of the completion of the 2009 - 10 season — the 92nd regular season of the National Hockey League — a total of 41 different players have scored at least 500 regular season goals in their NHL career . A 500 goal career was first achieved in 1957 – 58 , the 41st season of the NHL , when Maurice Richard scored his 500th goal in his 863rd game played . Season achievements . The 2006 – 07 NHL season saw the largest number of players ( five ) achieve their 500th goal . A total of four players scored their 500th goal in the 1995 – 96 season . Starting with Maurice Richard ' s achievement in the 1957 – 58 NHL season , the greatest stretch between 500 goal scorers was the eight seasons between Gordie Howe in the 1961 – 62 season and Bobby Hull in the 1969 – 70 season . Player achievements . Of the 41 players to score 500 goals , 32 are Canadian , four are American ( Joe Mullen , Mike Modano , Jeremy Roenick , and Keith Tkachuk ) , two are Finnish ( Jari Kurri and Teemu Selänne , one is Czech ( Jaromír Jágr ) , one is Swedish ( Mats Sundin ) , and one is Slovakian ( Peter Bondra ) . Jari Kurri , has the honour of being the first non - Canadian to score fifty goals , as well as the first European to do so . Of note , Stan Mikita was born in Sokolče , Slovakia , ( then Czechoslovakia , ) but immigrated to Canada when he was young and represented Canada internationally . The shortest number of NHL games required to reach the mark was 575 , set by Wayne Gretzky . Second quickest was Mario Lemieux , achieving the mark in his 605th game . Of the 41 players to score at least 500 goals in their career , 17 reached the mark in fewer than 1000 career games played . Of those on the list , Lanny McDonald came closest to ' not ' achieving 500 goals — reaching the mark with only four games remaining in his final NHL season . Similarly , Joe Mullen scored his 500th goal with only ten games remaining in his final season . Four players have scored their 500th goal on an empty net : Wayne Gretzky , Mike Bossy , Jari Kurri and Keith Tkachuk . Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender Patrick Roy is the only net minder to ' allow ' more than one opponent to tally their 500th career goal : Steve Yzerman in 1996 , Joe Mullen in 1997 and Brendan Shanahan in 2002 . A contributing factor for this statistical coincidence will be Roy ' s record for the second - most games played by a goaltender , at 1029 . Mats Sundin scored his 500th goal in overtime , winning the game for the Toronto Maple Leafs . In that one goal , he finished off a hat trick , scored one of his league - leading 15 overtime goals , while his team was short handed , and earned his 500th career NHL goal . Team achievements . A total of 20 different franchises have had a player score their 500th goal while playing for the franchise . The Detroit Red Wings have had five different players score their 500th goal while playing for the team . The Chicago Blackhawks and Montreal Canadiens both had four players achieve the mark while with the team . To date no team has had the coincidence of multiple players reaching 500 goals on the same team in the same season . The 2001 – 02 Detroit Red Wings were the first team to have three 500 + goal scorers on the roster ( Steve Yzerman , Brett Hull and Luc Robitaille ) , and would finish the season with four players in the exclusive club after Brendan Shanahan joined them at the 500 - goal plateau . Yzerman , Hull , Robitaille and Shanahan are four of only eleven players with 650 or more goals in NHL history . Active players who are close . There are no players who have a realistic chance to reach 500 goals during the 2010 – 11 NHL season . Sergei Fedorov who is still active but no longer playing in the NHL has scored 483 goals in 1248 games primarily with the Detroit Red Wings . Retired players who came close . These are players who are now retired that came within 50 goals of reaching 500 for their career .