Islanders top 10 goal scorers in franchise history

Looking over the New York Islanders 48 year history, here are the ten best goal scorers to ever put on the blue and orange sweater.

The New York Islanders desperately need a goal scorer. It’s why fans are clamoring for Lou Lamoriello to land coveted sniper Patrik Laine via trade from the Winnipeg Jets. Laine, who just turned 22 in February, has routinely found the back of the net since being selected second overall in 2016 by the Winnipeg Jets.

Since making his debut in 2016-17 Laine has scored 138 goals. Only six players have scored more than Laine in that time. It’s easy to see why New York Islanders could use the Finnish sniper.

As the Islanders look to find more goals for the 2020-21 NHL season, I wanted to look back at some of the greatest goal scores to ever wear the blue and orange.

I didn’t just want to look at total goals scored over their Islanders career. That would have been too easy. I decided to look at the number of goals per game. Who were the most prolific goal scorers to wear the blue and orange since 1972?

I also eliminated anyone who wasn’t around for more than a single season. If hadn’t I’d have guys like Wendel Clark and Shawn Evans in the mix.

Evans played two games for the Isles and scored a single goal. Wendel Clark scored 24 goals in 58 games played. Should either of them count as some of the greatest goal-scorers in Islanders history if their Islanders career was shorter than two-seconds? No. No, it shouldn’t count.

1. Mike Bossy

Games: 752
Goals: 573
Goals/Game: 0.762

Not only is Mike Bossy the best goal scorer in the franchise history but he’s the greatest goal scorer in NHL history. His 0.762 goals per game is better than some of the following legendary players:

• Mario Lemieux (0.754 GPG)
• Pavel Bure (0.623 GPG)
• Alex Ovechkin (0.613GPG)
• Wayne Gretzky (0.601 GPG)

When it comes to players who’ve worn blue and orange Mike Bossy is in a league of his own. The second-best goal-scorer in franchise history scored 0.186 goals per game less than Bossy did. It’s just not even close.

His record for goals in a season came in 1978-79 when he scored an astounding 69 goals in 80 games.

Between 1978-79 and 1982-83, Bossy scored 60 or more goals four times. His nine-straight seasons with 50-or-more goals has yet to be matched and likely never will. He is without question the greatest goal scorer to ever play the game.

2. Pierre Turgeon

Games: 255
Goals: 147
Goals/Game: 0.576

His time with the Islanders was unfortunately short but was it ever incredible.

From 1991 to 1995 Turgeon put on the blue and orange sweater for 255 games. In those 255 games, he scored 340 points with 147 goals. That’s a 0.576 goals-per-game pace. His most prolific season was in 1992-92 when he scores 58 goals and 132 points.

Those 58 goals in a single season are the most in an Islanders jersey for a player not named Mike Bossy. That 132 point season in 1992-93 is also the third most productive season in franchise history. He’d also finish fifth in Hart voting that season. Lemieux would get 99.20% of the votes with a 69 goal and 160 point season.

Turgeon never came close to scoring 50 goals in a single season over his remaining 13 years in the NHL.

3. Pat LaFontaine

Games: 530 
Goals: 287
Goals/Game: 0.542

It’s fitting to have Pat LaFontaine and Pierre Turgeon one after the other here seeing as how they swapped jerseys (Buffalo to Islanders) in the same trade in 1991.

Before leaving for Buffalo, LaFontaine was an absolute goal-scoring machine for the Islanders. In 530 games he scored 566 points and 287 goals. His greatest season in an Islanders uniform came in 1989-90 when he scored a career-high 54 goals and end the year with 105 points. He’d finish fifth in Hart voting that season.

LaFontaine was supposed to be the link between the dynasty years and the next wave of success. Unfortunately, bad ownership effectively pushed him out of town.

4. Ziggy Palffy

Games: 331
Goals: 168
Goals/Game: 0.507

If only he had quality around him. Palffy was a truly incredible player and put up incredible numbers on teams that had absolutely no quality what-so-ever.

It took a few years for him to not only get to the Island but to become the player we know now. Drafted in 1991, he didn’t hit the ice until the end of the 93-94 season. He didn’t hit his stride until 1995-96 when he scored 43 goals and 87 points in 81 games.

If you just consider the period from 1995 through to 1999 Palffy skated in 293 games scoring 314 points and 158 goals. That 0.539 goals-per-game pace doesn’t beat out Pat LaFontaine at 0.542 but it’s pretty close.

Just imagine what Palffy could have done with a bit more quality on his team?

5. Bryan Trottier

Games: 1123
Goals: 500
Goals/Game: 0.445

You knew Bryan Trottier would make the list at some point. But finding him fifth was perhaps a surprise for some considering he scored 500 goals over his Islanders career (only 45 players have ever scored 500 NHL goals). But when you’ve got Mike Bossy on your wing you tend to become the set-up man.

But even though he was the playmaker, he wasn’t bad when it came to putting pucks in the net. His best goalscoring season was in 1978-79 when he scored 134 points with 47 goals and 87 helpers. He’d win the Art Ross and the Hart Trophy that season.

Across his 15-year Islander career, Trottier hit the 50 goal mark just once, which was in 1981-82. He’d score 40 or more goals in a season on five occasions.

Trottier was a terrific passer and playmaker, but his goal-scoring abilities were top-notch as well.

6. Steve Thomas

Games: 275
Goals: 118
Goals/Game: 0.429

Thomas played his best hockey in the four short years he spent with the Islanders. Across 275 games for the Islanders, he scored 258 points and 118 goals.

His best goal-scoring season came in 1993-94 when he put up 42 goals. It was only the second time in his career (and last) where he scored 40 or more. In fact, he’d never score even 30 goals over his next ten NHL season after that 42 goal year.

Between 92 and 94, Thomas would score 79 goals in 157 games. It’s incredible to think he also had back to back seasons with 100+ penalty minutes to go with that production. Not bad for a kid from Stockport, UK.

9. John Tavares

Games: 669
Goals: 272
Goals/Game: 0.407

Look, I know what he did and how things went down. But it’s impossible to deny how good John Tavares was while he was here.

From the moment the Islanders drafted him first overall in 2009, John Tavares scored a ton of goals. Just like Brent Sutter and Benoit Hogue before him, Tavares was consistent. In his nine seasons with the team, he never scored fewer than 24 goals in a season. The only years he hit 24 was his rookie season and the 13-14 season that was cut short due to an injury he picked up at the Olympics.

His best goal-scoring year (for the Islanders) was 2014-15 where he put up 38 goals in 82 games. He’d finished third in Hart Trophy voting that year.

John Tavares was a lot of things and being a consistent goal scorer was certainly one of them.

10. Matt Moulson

Games: 304
Goals: 118
Goals/Game: 0.388

It’s kind of fitting that Matt Moulson comes after John Tavares on this list. Mainly because you wouldn’t think that Matt Moulson would belong on this list until you consider he played the vast majority of his Islanders career on John Tavares’s wing.

From 2009 to 2013 Moulson scored 118 goals over 304 games with the Islanders. In the four full seasons with the team, Moulson put up no less than 30 goals in three. The only season he didn’t was the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season where he scored 15 in 47 games.

Moulson was very much a product of Tavares. After he left via trade to the Buffalo Sabres that became abundantly clear. He was a fine NHL’er, but without Tavares, he wasn’t a top-line 50-60 point player in the NHL.

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Honorable Mentions:

How about some players that just fell short of the list or who were eliminated from the list for whatever reason? Here are some of the other greatest goal scorers in Islanders history with the number of games they played, goals scored, and goals/game.

• Shawn Evans: 0.500 G/GP (2 GP, 1 G)
• Wendel Clark: 0.414 G/GP (58 GP, 24 G)
• Ray Ferraro: 0.367 G/GP (316 GP, 116 G)
• Thomas Vanek: 0.362 G/GP (47GP, 17 G)
• Michel Bergeron: 0.36 G/GP (25GP, 9 G)