Wayne Gretzky is the NHL’s all-time regular-season points leader with 2,857 points. Jaromir Jagr ranks second with 1,921, and Mark Messier is third with 1,887. The totals in this guide come from the NHL’s official career statistics and are current through the 2025-26 regular season, checked August 2, 2026.
Career points combine a skater’s goals and assists. They do not include Stanley Cup Playoff statistics, and they are different from the points awarded to teams in the standings.
NHL all-time career points leaders
The table ranks regular-season totals only. Points per game is calculated from the official points and games-played totals, then rounded to two decimals. It adds useful rate context, but the ranking itself is based on total points.
| Rank | Player | Games | Goals | Assists | Points | Points/game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wayne Gretzky | 1,487 | 894 | 1,963 | 2,857 | 1.92 |
| 2 | Jaromir Jagr | 1,733 | 766 | 1,155 | 1,921 | 1.11 |
| 3 | Mark Messier | 1,756 | 694 | 1,193 | 1,887 | 1.07 |
| 4 | Gordie Howe | 1,767 | 801 | 1,049 | 1,850 | 1.05 |
| 5 | Ron Francis | 1,731 | 549 | 1,249 | 1,798 | 1.04 |
| 6 | Marcel Dionne | 1,348 | 731 | 1,040 | 1,771 | 1.31 |
| 7 | Sidney Crosby | 1,420 | 654 | 1,107 | 1,761 | 1.24 |
| 8 | Steve Yzerman | 1,514 | 692 | 1,063 | 1,755 | 1.16 |
| 9 | Mario Lemieux | 915 | 690 | 1,033 | 1,723 | 1.88 |
| 10 | Alex Ovechkin | 1,573 | 929 | 758 | 1,687 | 1.07 |
Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin are the two members of this top 10 who played during 2025-26. Their totals can change if they play again, so use the NHL’s official career stats feed for an in-season update. The NHL has described its digital records system as a daily-updated view of the League’s historical database.
What counts as a point in NHL statistics?
A skater receives one point for a credited goal and one point for a credited assist. A goal can have no assists, one assist or as many as two assists. The same player cannot receive more than one scoring point on a single goal.
The arithmetic is simple: a player with 30 goals and 50 assists has 80 points. The hard part is keeping the categories straight:
- Player points measure credited goals plus assists.
- Team standings points come from game results and determine playoff position.
- Regular-season points and playoff points are maintained as separate career totals.
The distinction matters when comparing lists. A story may quote a player’s combined regular-season and playoff production, while an official career regular-season table shows a lower number. This page uses the regular season, the same scope used for the standard all-time points leaderboard. For how that season creates each player’s opportunity total, see the guide to the NHL regular-season game format.
Why Wayne Gretzky’s points record is so far ahead
Gretzky’s lead is built on both sides of the scoring equation. He scored 894 regular-season goals, which remains second all time, and produced a record 1,963 assists. His assists alone are 42 more than Jagr’s 1,921 total points in second place.
He also sustained that production across 1,487 games. His career rate of 1.92 points per game is slightly higher than Mario Lemieux’s 1.88 in this top 10, while his much larger games total produced a gap of 936 points over Jagr.
Gretzky did not hold the record from the beginning of his career. He passed Gordie Howe for the all-time points lead in Edmonton on October 15, 1989. The NHL’s retrospective on Gretzky and Howe documents the milestone and the unusual scale of Gretzky’s assist total.
It is tempting to call the record impossible to break, but record guides should distinguish a huge lead from a guarantee about the future. Gretzky’s number is the target; future careers, rules and scoring environments will determine whether anyone can approach it.
NHL all-time goals leaders
Alex Ovechkin owns the regular-season goals record. He passed Gretzky by scoring goal No. 895 on April 6, 2025, then finished the 2025-26 season with 929.
| Rank | Player | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alex Ovechkin | 929 |
| 2 | Wayne Gretzky | 894 |
| 3 | Gordie Howe | 801 |
| 4 | Jaromir Jagr | 766 |
| 5 | Brett Hull | 741 |
Ovechkin’s first-place goals total does not put him first in points because points also reward playmaking. Gretzky has 1,205 more assists than Ovechkin in the August 2, 2026 snapshot. That difference more than offsets Ovechkin’s 35-goal advantage.
When the season resumes, the today’s NHL games page is the appropriate place to find the live game slate. This historical table should be treated as a dated record snapshot, not a live scoring widget.
NHL all-time assists leaders
Gretzky’s assist record is even more separated from second place than his points record. Ron Francis ranks second with 1,249 assists, 714 behind Gretzky.
| Rank | Player | Assists |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wayne Gretzky | 1,963 |
| 2 | Ron Francis | 1,249 |
| 3 | Mark Messier | 1,193 |
| 4 | Ray Bourque | 1,169 |
| 5 | Jaromir Jagr | 1,155 |
The order illustrates how goals and assists create different leaderboards. Francis is fifth in total points but second in assists. Bourque is fourth in assists and is the only defenseman in the top five, yet he sits outside the overall points top 10 because that list combines both categories.
Players still moving near the top of the points list
Crosby finished 2025-26 in seventh place with 1,761 points, six ahead of Yzerman and 10 behind Dionne. Ovechkin finished the season in 10th with 1,687, while leading the separate goals list at 929.
Those gaps are context, not forecasts. Games missed, retirement decisions and future production make exact passing dates uncertain. Ovechkin had not committed publicly to another NHL season immediately after 2025-26, so this guide does not assume that his total will rise. Crosby’s official total should likewise be refreshed when he next plays rather than projected in advance.
Use the full NHL schedule and the site’s NHL calendar tools to plan around the 2026-27 season. The static all-time table will be updated at major milestones and after the regular season.
NHL career scoring FAQ
Who has the most points in NHL history?
Wayne Gretzky leads with 2,857 regular-season points: 894 goals and 1,963 assists in 1,487 games.
Who has the most goals in NHL history?
Alex Ovechkin is the regular-season goals leader with 929 through the end of 2025-26. He passed Gretzky’s previous record of 894 in April 2025.
Who has the most assists in NHL history?
Gretzky holds the assists record with 1,963, ahead of Ron Francis at 1,249.
Do playoff points count in the career points table?
No. Standard all-time NHL points tables use regular-season statistics. Playoff points are tracked separately. For an example of postseason scope and completed results, see the 2026 playoff results and bracket.
What is the Art Ross Trophy?
The Art Ross Trophy goes to the player who leads the NHL in scoring points at the end of the regular season. It is a single-season award, not the name of the career points record.
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