On Monday’s edition of the DFO Rundown, my podcast partner Frank Seravalli asked if this was one of the easiest times to be a 30-goal scorer. I quickly looked and found that 47 players scored 30+ goals last season. But where did that rank among other years?  I didn’t know the answer, but assumed the 1980s had more, so I decided to dig in and see what we could find.

Let’s take a look.

I decided to look at numbers since the NHL expanded to 21 teams and when seasons had 80 games, which both began in 1979-1980. You will see how many goals/game there were along with how many 60 goal scorers, 50 goal-men, 40 goal scorers and how many scored 30. I also included the total number of empty-net goals in the NHL that season. It is interesting to see how much that has changed over the past 45 seasons.

This was the highest-scoring era. It should be pointed out that the five highest-scoring years also coincided with the Edmonton Oilers being on a different level than every other NHL team. In the 400 games from 1982-1986, the Oilers scored 2114 goals. The New York Islanders were second with 1716. Edmonton averaged 1.00 goals/game, more than every other team in the NHL. They averaged 1.25 more G/GP than 14 teams, 1.50 G/GP more than seven teams and more than 2.00 G/GP than Detroit, Pittsburgh and New Jersey.

The Oilers were the most dominant offensive team in NHL history and were led by Wayne Gretzky. I’m always amazed that when people talk about the NHL’s greatest goal scorers, you rarely hear Gretzky’s name, despite his having the most goals in NHL history, at least until Alex Ovechkin passes him.

Here’s a reminder of Gretzky’s dominance.

You will notice the Oilers played 400 games between 1982-1986 and scored 398 more goals than the Islanders, who were the second highest scoring team. Gretzky was the difference. He had 413 more points than second-place Mike Bossy, who led the Islanders. Gretzky had more assists than Bossy, who had 623 points. Bossy, who many have mentioned as one of the greatest goal scorers, scored 51, 58, 60, 61, and 64 in those five seasons but still had 81 fewer goals than Gretzky.

The rest of the league averaged 3.86 goals/game in those five seasons. The Oilers scored 5.29. The 1980s were the highest-scoring era, but Gretzky’s entrance into the league was the major reason for it. His wizardry, combined with the additions of Paul Coffey, Jari Kurri, Glenn Anderson and Mark Messier played a big role in the increase in offence.

The 1980s had an average of 56 players score 30+ goals each season.

The 1990s saw a significant drop in offence.

The 1993 season had the second-most 30-goal scorers in history with 67. They played 84 games that season, but they also played 84 the following year, and only 55 players reached 30 goals. Geoff Courtnall scored his 30th goal in game 82 and got his 31st in game 84 in 1992. But the extra two games didn’t really have much impact in the other 30 goal scorers. It was also the season with the most 50-goal scorers (14), but Jeremy Roenick was the only one who scored his 50th goal in game 83 or 84. The extra goals were likely due to adding Ottawa and Tampa Bay in the same season.

We saw quite a dip in offence after the lockout. The offence dipped in the lockout-shortened 1995 season, was back over 6.29 for 1996, but then dipped significantly for the rest of the decade due to the NHL allowing an endless amount of holding and interference.

The 1990s had an average of 39 players score 30+ goals each season.

We were clutching and grabbing and what some call the “dead puck” era.

The first decade of the 2000s still had lower scoring. The season-long lockout brought in the salary cap and new rules limiting obstruction. The NHL enforced those rules for one season, and we saw an increase in goals, but in typical NHL fashion, they didn’t uphold the standard, and slowly obstruction returned, and goals went down. The 2001 season was the first time the NHL had over 200 empty net goals.

Alex Ovechkin was the only player to score 60 goals this decade, and while goal-scoring overall was down, empty net goals started to increase. Interestingly, in the first season of the salary cap, we saw 47 players score 30 goals, but that number dropped almost in half to start the 2010s.  The 2000 year was a major outlier in 30 goal-scorers. Only 18 reached the plateau despite G/GP being higher than 1999, 2002 and 2003 and almost the same as 2001. There was a significant lack of snipers in the 2000 campaign.

The 2000s had an average of 33 players reach the 30+ goal mark each season.

We saw an increase in the offence in the first few seasons of the salary cap, but entering the 2010s, the offence became harder to produce. The five seasons from 2012-2016 averaged fewer than 5.50 G/GP and was the first time the NHL had produced such little offence over five years since 1953-57. Steven Stamkos was the only player to have a 60-goal season this decade, while Ovechkin (5x), Stamkos (2x), Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Corey Perry and Leon Draisaitl were the only ones to score 50 in a season.

Thankfully, offence increased in 2018, and it has remained above 6.00 most seasons since. The 2010s saw the first season with 300+ empty net goals (2016) and also the first season with 400+ empty netters (2019).

The 2010s had an average of 26 players score 30+ goals a season.

This decade began with two shortened seasons due to COVID-19, so the numbers are prorated. I don’t love prorating goals, because if a player scores at a pace for 56 games or even 70 games doesn’t guarantee they will continue to do that. Yet, on the flip side, another player might finish stronger than they started, so it might even out. But it is just a projection, not a guarantee.

The first half of this decade has seen a big jump in scoring and the first time the NHL has averaged more than 6.00 G/GP over five years since 1990-1994. It is great for the game to have an increase in scoring, which means more lead change and more come-from-behind victories. Last year, there were more than 200 third-period comebacks alone.

We’ve already had three players: Auston Matthews, David Pastrnak and Connor McDavid who have 60+ goal seasons. Another eight players — Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Chris Kreider, Nathan MacKinnon, Ovechkin, Brayden Point, Mikko Rantanen and Sam Reinhart have scored 50. Matthews and Draisaitl each have two 50-goal campaigns, and Matthews was on pace for four and Draisaitl three in the shortened seasons.

It is interesting to note how big of a jump there has been in 30+ goal scorers the past three seasons. Since 1980 only 15 times has there been 50 players score 30 goals, but the 2022 and 2023 season averaged the fewest G/GP at 6.29 and 6.36. Only the 1994 season (6.48) and 1992 (6.96) were under 7.00 G/GP. Maybe it was just luck, but I wonder if the 477 empty net goals in 2022 played a role.

Twelve of the 51 scorers in 2022 wouldn’t have reached 30 goals without empty net goals. Those 51 players had a total of 148 empty net goals.
Eleven of the 54 scorers in 2023 wouldn’t have scored 30 goals without empty netters. Those 54 players scored 136 empty net goals.

Here’s how the other seasons stack up with empty-net tallies.

In 1982 all 75 players had 30 goals without empty netters. Those 75 players had a combined 48 empty net goals.

Of the 67 players in 1993, 65 of them had 30+ goals without empty netters. They combined for 58 ENGs.

In 1984 57 of 60 skaters had 30 goals without and ENG. They had a total of 52 empty net goals.
In 1986 it was 56 of the 57. They combined for 35 ENGs.
In 1985 it was 50 of the 56. They had a total of 30 ENGs.
In 1990, it was 50 of the 55. They combined for 54 ENGs.
In 1994 52 of the 55. They had a total of 50 ENGs.
In 1981, 48 of the 55. They scored 52 ENGs.
In 1980, 50 of the 54. They had 38 ENGs.
In 1988, 49 of the 54. They scored 43 ENGs.
In 1989, 50 of 54. They had 50 ENGs.
In 1992, 46 of 52. They had 55 ENGs.
In 1983, 47 of 51. They scored 45 ENGs.

The 1980s had more overall goals, but recently, we’ve seen a massive jump in empty net goals. Part of it is due to coaches playing the odds and pulling their goalie earlier in games. It gives them more time to tie the game, but also provides the opposition with more opportunities to score into an empty net. Then combine that with how many teams have their best offensive players on the ice late in games and we are seeing more top scorers have empty net goals.

In 2022, seven players had six or more ENGs. Ovechkin (9), Andre Svechnikov and McDavid (7), Adrian Kempe, Jake Guentzel, Johnny Gaudreau and Kyle Connor each had six. All of them still would have had 30 goals, but those seven combined for 47 ENGs on their own. Which is more than more than six of the aforementioned seasons and with eleven of all of them. The strategy for pulling your goalie earlier has changed and is playing a role in the increase in total goals. I’m not knocking it, just pointing out it is a factor.

It is accurate to say we are seeing more 30-goal scorers now than since we’ve had in the mid 1990s.

I’d love to see more goals in the future, and hopefully we never revert back to averaging at least 6.00 G/GP. We saw a slight dip last season from 2023, but I hope that was just a small blip and we are back above 6.3 G/GP or even higher moving forward.

Through 55 games this season we are at 6.35 G/GP, and hopefully that increases before the inevitable reduction of goals late in the season.