People thought Wayne Gretzky's goal-scoring record would never be broken, and Alex Ovechkin proved them wrong in 2024-25. But the record books are home to numerous benchmarks that will stand the test of time for many years to come, and possibly forever. Here are five of the most unbreakable NHL records.
Most penalty minutes in a season: Dave Schultz
As the NHL moves away from rock-em-sock-em hockey and towards a safer, more skills-forward game, it's unlikely that any player will come close to touching Dave Schultz's record for most penalty minutes in a single season.
As a member of the Philadelphia Flyers' Broad Street Bullies squad in 1974-75, Schultz recorded an enormous 472 penalty minutes thanks to his affinity for fighting. Nicknamed "The Hammer," he earned that moniker through his gritty, aggressive playing style that was signature to the team and helped the Flyers win their second straight Stanley Cup that very season.
Only three players since then have topped 400 PIM: Paul Baxter in 1981-82, Mike Peluso in 1991-92, and Schultz himself in 1977-78. In the post-lockout era, Daniel Carcillo is the player to come closest to the record. He posted 324 PIM with the Phoenix Coyotes back in 2007-08. The kicker: that barely cracks the Top 50 in NHL history, coming in at 47th-most.
Most consecutive playoff series wins: New York Islanders
There has not been a dynasty quite like the New York Islanders ever since the team won four straight Stanley Cup championships from 1980 to 1983. The Isles even came within three wins of a fifth straight trophy, before ultimately being defeated by the powerhouse Edmonton Oilers in 1984.
But with 19 straight playoff series victories from the franchise's first Cup win to the Finals loss in 1984, the Islanders will likely hold that record permanently. The Tampa Bay Lightning had a dominant run, winning back-to-back championships and 11 series in a row from 2020 to 2022 before the streak came to an end at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche in the 2022 Stanley Cup Final. That is the most any team has won since the Isles.
As the league continues to expand and grow more competitive, it will be nearly impossible for another club to have a string of success the way the 1980s Islanders did. No team has won three Cups in a row since then, let alone four straight, and especially in a league with 32 teams and counting, this record will likely stand for good.
Five goals, five different ways: Mario Lemieux
Mario Lemieux owns a number of NHL records, but perhaps his most impressive accomplishment came in 1988 against the New Jersey Devils. In an 8-6 Pittsburgh Penguins win, Lemieux scored five goals in five different ways: even-strength, power play, shorthanded, penalty shot, and empty net.
It's only happened 60 times in history that a skater has scored five or more goals in a single game, something Lemieux did three separate times in his decorated career. Since the NHL lockout in 2004-05, just six players have lit the lamp five times in one outing.
Penalty shots are incredibly rare in and of itself, but to score a penalty shot goal plus another in every possible on-ice situation? The chances of that ever happening again are nearly nonexistent.
Oldest player: Gordie Howe
The longevity of Gordie Howe is legendary and unlikely to ever be matched. He played in five different decades, 1,767 NHL games (plus another 419 WHA games), and skated in his final pro matchup at the age of 52 years and 11 days.
Chris Chelios is the next oldest player besides Howe to skate in an NHL contest, doing so at 48 years and 71 days old in 2010. We still see NHLers regularly play into their 40s, like Alex Ovechkin will this upcoming season. Jaromir Jagr and Zdeno Chara each retired from the NHL at age 45. But there will likely never be another player who can skate and be competitive so late in his career the way Mr. Hockey did.
Most consecutive games by a goalie: Glenn Hall
Gone are the days of a single goaltender carrying his team night after night. With the rise of backup goalies and a much more reasonable rotation that sees the starting tendies get some much-needed rest, no netminder will ever appear in as many full contests as Glenn Hall did from 1955 to 1963.
The Hall of Famer played in 502 straight games without a break -- and he did so with very little equipment, as many of those games came in the pre-mask era. Grant Fuhr and Martin Brodeur played 79 and 78 games apiece in a single season, which ranks first and second in that category, but we will never see another goalie play an entire 82-game season -- let alone seven straight seasons.