On December 21st Sidney Crosby broke a record that many thought could never broken. That night he registered point number 1,724, surpassing Mario Lemieux as the Penguins franchise leader in points and also moving him into eighth place in NHL history in total points.
If Crosby would have played for almost any other franchise, he would have topped that franchise’s points list long ago, but the Penguins have been blessed with generational talents over the past three decades. Consider that Evgeni Malkin’s 1,375 career points would be the franchise best for 25 of the NHL’s 32 teams. However, he plays for the Penguins and those 1,375 points are only good enough for third all-time in franchise history. Even Jaromir Jagr’s 1,079 points with the Penguins would rank first for 14 of the NHL’s 32 teams. For the Penguins, he ranks fourth.
Just like any sport, some NHL franchises have had much greater overall success than others. However, each franchise has had an individual player that has risen above the rest, sitting atop of that franchise’s total points list. With Crosby recently passing Lemieux, now seemed like a good time to examine franchise points leaders across the NHL.
Of the NHL’s 32 franchises there are seven whose all-time points leader is currently active with that team: Crosby (1,727) with Pittsburgh, Alex Ovechkin (1,656) with Washington, Mark Scheifele (849) with Winnipeg, Roman Josi (740) with Nashville, Aleksander Barkov (782) with Florida, Jared McCann (251) with Seattle, and Clayton Keller (122) with Utah; remember, Utah is considered a new franchise, their past history from Arizona/Winnipeg did not transfer with them to Utah.
There are also some active players looking to join this exclusive list. Anze Kopitar of the Kings, in his final season, is less than 10 points behind Marcel Dionne’s franchise-leading 1,307 points. Vegas’ William Karlsson is less than 15 points behind Jonathan Marchessault’s 417 for the top spot in the relatively brief history of the Golden Knights. While Nathan MacKinnon is still more than 550 points away from Joe Sakic’s Avalanche/Nordiques record of 1,641and Connor McDavid is still more than 500 points away from Wayne Gretzy’s Oiler record of 1,669, there is the distinct possibility that both will someday sit atop their respective franchise’s points list before their careers are over.
Speaking of the Oilers, Gretzky is the NHL’s all-time points leader, so many might assume that he leads both the Oilers and Kings in all-time points. As mentioned above, he does rank first for the Oilers, but he actually ranks fifth for the Kings with 918 points in 539 games played. The others that rank ahead of him in Kings history are the aforementioned Dionne (1,307) and Kopitar (1,298), Luc Robitaille (1,154), and Dave Taylor (1,069).
As mentioned, Gretzky sits atop the Oilers all-time points list with 1,669 in just 696 games! That is an average of 2.40 points per game during his time with Edmonton. The only other player that even comes close to that points per game average with one franchise is Lemieux at 1.88 points per game for Pittsburgh. Crosby’s 1.24 points per game with the Penguins is the highest points per game total amongst all active players. Crosby is also looking to catch his idol Steve Yzerman for second-most points with one franchise. As of the time of this article, Crosby is 28 points behind Yzerman, but still 82 behind Gordie Howe’s 1,809 with Detroit, which is the all-time mark with one team.
While names like Crosby and Gretzky immediately invoke images of greatness, there are some names atop the franchise all-time points lists that are surprising. For instance, Roman Josi is Nashville’s all-time points leader with 740 points in 987 games played. Another surprising name among franchise leaders is Bernie Federko for the St. Louis Blues. While Brett Hull is synonymous with the Blues and prolific offense, his 936 points rank second behind Federko’s 1,073. It is also surprising that the franchise leader for the Maple Leafs is Mats Sundin. The name Sundin is not a surprise, but the 987 points is a bit of a surprise. In fact, the Maple Leafs are the only Original Six franchise whose all-time points leader has less than 1,000 points.
Whether it is Mikko Koivu for the Wild or Patrik Elias for the Devils; Jarome Iginla for the Flames or Rod Gilbert for the Rangers; leading one’s franchise in overall points is quite an accomplishment. While Rick Nash’s 674 total points for Columbus might not be as lofty as Gordie Howe’s 1,809 with the Red Wings, only 32 players in NHL history can lay claim to being the best in their franchise’s history.
The complete list is below.
| FRANCHISE LEADER as of 12/30/25 | ||||
| Team | Name | Total Points | Games Played for that Franchise | Points per game for that franchise |
| Detroit | Gordie Howe | 1809 | 1687 | 1.0723 |
| Pittsburgh | Sidney Crosby | 1727 | 1390 | 1.2424 |
| Edmonton | Wayne Gretzky | 1669 | 696 | 2.3980 |
| Washington | Alex Ovechkin | 1656 | 1530 | 1.0824 |
| Colorado/Quebec | Joe Sakic | 1641 | 1378 | 1.1909 |
| Boston | Ray Bourque | 1506 | 1518 | 0.9921 |
| Chicago | Stan Mikita | 1467 | 1396 | 1.0509 |
| Dallas/Minnesota | Mike Modano | 1359 | 1459 | 0.9315 |
| New York Islanders | Bryan Trottier | 1353 | 1123 | 1.2048 |
| Buffalo | Gilbert Perreault | 1326 | 1191 | 1.1134 |
| Los Angeles | Marcel Dionne | 1307 | 921 | 1.4191 |
| Montreal | Guy Lafleur | 1246 | 961 | 1.2966 |
| Philadelphia | Bobby Clarke | 1210 | 1144 | 1.0577 |
| Carolina/Hartford | Ron Francis | 1175 | 1186 | 0.9907 |
| Tampa Bay | Steven Stamkos | 1137 | 1082 | 1.0508 |
| San Jose | Patrick Marleau | 1111 | 1607 | 0.6914 |
| Ottawa | Daniel Alfredsson | 1108 | 1178 | 0.9406 |
| Calgary/Atlanta | Jarome Iginla | 1095 | 1219 | 0.8983 |
| St. Louis | Bernie Federko | 1073 | 927 | 1.1575 |
| Vancouver | Henrik Sedin | 1070 | 1330 | 0.8045 |
| New Jersey | Patrik Elias | 1025 | 1240 | 0.8266 |
| New York Rangers | Rod Gilbert | 1021 | 1065 | 0.9587 |
| Anaheim | Ryan Getzlaf | 1019 | 1157 | 0.8807 |
| Toronto | Mats Sundin | 987 | 981 | 1.0061 |
| Winnipeg/Atlanta | Mark Scheifele | 849 | 915 | 0.9279 |
| Florida | Aleksander Barkov | 782 | 804 | 0.9726 |
| Nashville | Roman Josi | 741 | 988 | 0.7500 |
| Minnesota Wild | Mikko Koivu | 709 | 1028 | 0.6897 |
| Columbus | Rick Nash | 547 | 674 | 0.8116 |
| Vegas | Jonathan Marchessault | 417 | 514 | 0.8113 |
| Seattle | Jared McCann | 252 | 328 | 0.7683 |
| Utah | Clayton Keller | 123 | 121 | 1.0165 |
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