2026–27 Pro Hockey Season Expected to Bring Many Records

The new season, which begins September 29, 2026, is forecast to be packed with personal achievements from some of the sport’s biggest names. In the coming part of the season several players and coaches could cross historic thresholds in goals, assists, points, games and wins as goaltenders or as coaches.

As NHL reports, among the most notable candidates is Alex Ovechkin, who has 929 goals in the regular seasons and is 21 goals away from the 950 mark; combined with the playoffs he has 1,006 goals, just 10 away from Wayne Gretzky’s records. Sidney Crosby, currently on 654 goals, could reach 700 with a strong season, while reaching the top of the Penguins’ list would take 36 goals to tie Mario Lemieux (690). In the 400-goal group are also Matt Duchene (387), Claude Giroux (379), Mark Scheifele (372), Tyler Seguin (376) and Filip Forsberg (358), all nearing that mark.

In assists, three big names could pass 900: Patrick Kane (892) needs 8 assists, Evgeni Malkin (874) needs 26, and Connor McDavid (811) needs 89. As for points, Crosby (1,761) is close to approaching 1,800 and could climb the all-time ranking during this season; Alex Ovechkin (1,687) is 13 points away from 1,700. Several players could enter the 1,000-point club this season, including Jamie Benn (992), Corey Perry (972), Artemi Panarin (954), David Pastrnak (933), Brent Burns (945), Matt Duchene (936), Erik Karlsson (936) and Mark Scheifele (907).

As for games played, Brent Burns (1,579) and Alex Ovechkin (1,573) are near historic highs among active players and have shown durability through their careers. For game number 1,000, 23 players enter the season within 84 games of the target; among the closest are Ian Cole (990), missing 10 games, and Taylor Hall (989), missing 11 games, while other names such as Casey Cizikas, Zach Bogosian, Elias Lindholm and Tyler Toffoli are also close.

Among goaltenders, Sergei Bobrovsky, with 456 wins, has an outside chance of reaching 500 career wins, while Andrei Vasilevskiy, with 370 wins, is expected to pass the 400 mark if he stays healthy and keeps up his recent winning pace. On the technical front, Lindy Ruff is near 2,000 games coached, with 1,938 so far, and could become the third in history to reach that mark; he and Paul Maurice also top the all-time rankings for wins as coaches.

According to NHL, these and other individual achievements are expected to dominate attention for the rest of the 2026–27 season, as fans and analysts watch with interest whether the big names will cross these historic thresholds.