The Stanley Cup was first awarded on March 17, 1893 to the Montreal Hockey Club. The NHL was not formed until November 26, 1917, 24 years after the first Stanley Cup was awarded. The NHL is now close to108 years old, one of the oldest professional leagues in North America.
It started as an original six team league with the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers and the Detroit Red Wings as we all know. Not all teams joined at the same time in 1917 as the Canadians were formed in 1909, the Maple Leafs formed in 1917, the Bruins in 1924 and the Red Wings, Blackhawks and Rangers in 1926.
So, in reality, there were only formally two teams in the NHL as of 1917. Since 1917 we have seen many years of expansion, with many teams folding and relocating as well. In total, the league has grown from it's original six teams to 32, today.
Expansion Years
The NHL has seen the number of teams expand greatly over the years with many different years of expansion over the past 108 seasons.
1967: The league doubled in size with six new franchises being added to the league: California Golden Seals, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota North Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins and St. Louis Blues, total was 12
1970: Buffalo Sabres and Vancouver Canucks for a total of 14
1972: Atlanta Flames and New York Islanders, the NHL was now 16
1974: Washington Capitals and Kansas City Scouts, totalling 18
1976: Kansas City Scouts became the Colorado Rockies but later went to New Jersey in 1993
1979: Four teams from the World Hockey Association (WHA) were added after the league disbanded; The Hartford Whalers, Quebec Nordiques, Winnipeg Jets, and the Edmonton Oilers, for a total of 21 as the league lost the California Golden Seals
1980: The Calgary Flames are formed from the Atlanta Flames of the WHA, total is now 22
1991: San Jose Sharks, the league was at 23
1992: Ottawa Senators and Tampa Bay Lightning, total was 24
1993: Florida Panthers and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, total was 26
1995: The Quebec Nordiques moved to become the Colorado Avalanche
1996: The Winnipeg Jets became the Arizona Coyotes
1997: The Hartford Whalers become the Carolina Hurricanes
1998: Nashville Predators, total was 27
1999: Addition of the Atlanta Thrashers that later became the now Winnipeg Jets, total was 28
2000: Both the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild, total was 30
2016: Vegas Golden Knights, total was 31
2018: Seattle Kraken, total was now 32
2024: Saw the movement of the Arizona Coyotes to the Utah Hockey Club that was recently renamed as the Utah Mammoth, total remained 32
The Great Multi-point players of the first 50 years of the NHL (1917 - 1967)
NHL rules have always influenced scoring statistics. Rules have been ever evolving due to the increasing skills of NHL players and changed rules are an attempt to reduce unfair advantages. The era of 1917-1943 requires its own special considerations regarding scoring statistics. It was a time that goalies were required to stand up at all times, players on the ice for the game's entirety, no red line was there, and many other rules allowed for a completely different kind of game.
Joe Malone and Syl Apps were prominent scorers for the first 5 years of the NHL from 1917 while Syl Apps (in the 30’s); Gordie Howe, Maurice “the Rocket” Richard, Henri Richard, Jean Beliveau, Jean Ratelle, and Bobby Hull to mention a few (in the 50’s); Phil Esposito, Stan Mikita and Bobby Orr to mention a few (in the 60’s) we the dominant players. Phil Esposito, Gordie Howe, Jean Ratelle, Johnny Bucyk, Jean Beliveau and Stan Makita all had over 100 3+ point games and over 400 2+ point games during this era.
So, the talent was there for multi-point games in the first 50 years since the birth of the NHL. Many of the aforementioned players are in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The Great Multi-point players of the next 50 years (1968-2018)
The next 50 years saw expansion to close to 32 teams, changed rules on the ice and the emergence of generational players that had their impact on the NHL both from a skill level and also influential in rewriting the NHL rule book again. The 70s saw the emergence of Guy Lafleur, Bobby Clarke, Denis Potvin, Daryl Sittler, Marcel Dionne and the late addition of a young 17 year old Wayne Gretzky in 1979 when the Oilers entered into the NHL in the 1979 expansion.
The 1979-1980 season had Marcel Dionne tied with Gretzky for the scoring title at 137 points but Marcel won the scoring title with 53 goals vs Gretzky’s 51. Two years later Gretzky has 212 and 196, 205, 208 and 215 points by the 1985-1986 season.
He was establishing records at an amazing pace and some rules were changed to “slow” him down (such as the structure of 4 on 4 play) and reduce the unfair advantage the high scoring Oilers had. And the Great One was taking Mark Messier, Jari Kurri and Paul Coffey into the record books too.
At the end of his career, Gretzky had over 800 2+ point games, over 450 3+ point games, 217 4+ point games and 96 5+ point games. This was scoring at a great level that earned him the nickname, The Great One. He holds 61 NHL records and just lost the record for the most goals in a career to Alex Ovechkin in the 2024-2025 NHL season.
Thus, the bar is set high to get over 5 points per game as the second and third player with the most 5+ points is Mario Lemieux and Marcel Dionne/Steve Yzerman, respectively with 51 and 16. They have been retired for more than a decade to demonstrate how difficult it is to get 5+ points in a game and to have a repeat performance.
The Great Multi-point players of the next 50 years (1968-2018), the Post-Great One Era
Gretzky retired in 1999 with an incredible 2857 points and 1963 assists. Post Gretzky, there has been some amazing players with multi-point nights that include Jaromir Jagr, Sydney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Joe Thorton, Teemu Selanne, Evengi Malkin, Steven Stamkos, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, Nikita Kucherov, Nathan McKinnon and Cale Makar to mention a few.
These players are creeping into the record books of their respective clubs but also challenging or breaking some of Gretzky’s records.
Joe Malone, the first great scorer in the NHL, holds some interesting records including most five-or-more goal games (he had 5), the NHL record for seven goals in a game as well as a six-goal game (all happened in the first 3 years of the NHL). Gretzky has had two 8+ point games and seven 7+ point games for at total of 65 points in just 9 games.
In 1976, Daryl Sittler has 10 points in one game (6 goals and 4 assists). Only 14 players have had 8 points in one game and Edmonton’s Sam Gagner is the second Oiler to do that besides #99.
The night Sam Gagner Scored 8 points in one game
The stars aligned for Sam Gagner against the Chicago Blackhawks on February 2, 2012 at the age of 22, when he scored 4 goals and 4 assists to get a win of 8-4 for the Oilers against the Chicago Blackhawks. He had helped out on every goal on a line with Taylor Hall and Jordon Eberle and ended up earning 17% of his points for that year in just this one game.
Gagner had 1 goal in the second period and a hat trick in the 3rd period with 2 assists for 5 points in the 3rd period. Only Bryan Trottier in 1978 had more points in one period to date in 2012 with 6 and Gagner was the first to get 5 points in one period since Cliff Ronning did it in 1993.
Sam Gagner had an elite night on February 2, 2012. It will be a game remembered by all Oilers fans and by Sam Gagner for the rest of his life. The game was in Edmonton and Rexall Place in front of 16, 839 screaming fans.
The next generation of superstars
It is not easy to get multi-point nights and with the tight checking performances that teams present, it will be very difficult to get multi-point nights in this current era for the NHL, let alone over 5 points per game. Mika Zibanejad had 6 points in one game in 2021 vs the Philadelphia Flyers (3 goals, 3 assists) and Tage Thompson had 5 points on game in 2022 vs the Columbus Blue Jackets (4 goals, 1 assists). When they happen, it is a very special night and nights like what Sam Gagner had in 2012 will always be remembered and consider yourself fortunate if you were in the building to witness that.
Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Nikita Kucherov, Nathan McKinnon, Cale Makar, David Pastrnak and Austin Mathews are scoring at a consistently high pace and are the premier talents of the new millennium that will certainly get multiple multi-point nights before they retire.
New generational players have appeared in the past 5 years such as Connor Bedard, Lane Hutson, Macklin Celebrini and many think that the top prospect in the 2026 draft, Gavin McKenna, will be a generational player. These new talents will most definitely rewrite the records of their respective clubs and maybe, just maybe, can challenge some existing NHL records during their careers. It will interesting to read new stories from the next 50 years in the NHL.