Who has the most hat tricks for every NHL franchise?

Fortunately, for the sake of fun and intrigue, the hat-trick leader for the comfortable majority of NHL teams is not also the franchise’s goals leader. The Ducks…are not one of those teams. Selanne, the greatest player in Ducks history, give or take a Ryan Getzlaf, picked up 13 hat tricks en route to tallying 457 goals with the team.

The Coyotes’ goals leader, Shane Doan, is a legend in the desert. Hawerchuk, though, is a throwback to the days of the original Winnipeg Jets. A goal-scoring force in the 1980s, he won the Calder scoring 45 goals as a teenager, Hawerchuk notched 12 hat tricks for Manitoba’s finest hockey team.

David Pastrnak has more hat tricks than either Selanne or Hawerchuk, which is impressive. He also has a long way to go to catch Esposito. Espo is the guy who made scoring 60, even 70, goals in a season fashionable. He’s a member of the rarified 700-goal club. He also racked up a whopping 26 hat tricks with the Bruins, and he didn’t even play his whole career there.

The Sabres’ iconic “French Connection” line was centered by Gilbert Perrault, the franchise’s foremost legend. However, apparently he was also setting up his linemate Martin for plenty of hat tricks. Martin isn’t a Hall of Famer like his one-time center, but he did hit the three-goal mark 21 times to Perrault’s 18.

After a couple seasons in the WHA (he was the penultimate winner of its rookie of the year award, before some guy named Wayne Gretzky), Nilsson joined the Flames and hit the ground running. For a bit there, the Swede was racking up goals. In the high-flying ‘80s, Nilsson picked up 14 hat tricks, and he still has the most points in a season for the franchise.

Ron Francis, by dint of playing over 1,100 games with the Whalers/Hurricanes, leads most statistical categories for the team. He’s only second in hat tricks, though. Staal, who broke through with the Hurricanes after the lockout-lost season, the season where the team won the Cup, was a prolific goal scorer for several seasons. He notched 13 hat tricks in the process, and ended up the best of the Staal brothers.

One is left to wonder what would have happened had Hull not left the NHL for the WHA, poached away by the upstart league when he was 34. Still, he managed a ton of goals with Chicago, and also an abundance of hat tricks. Hull tallied 28 of them, the most of anybody on this list thus far.

Peter’s son Paul played for the Avalanche, but Stastny never did. No, the Hall of Famer’s time with the franchise came in the days of the Quebec Nordiques. He won the Calder in his first season with the team, and accumulated 16 hat tricks with the Nordiques, one more than Joe Sakic had in the Avalanche days.

A newer franchise, the Blue Jackets don’t hit the same level of hat tricks, cumulatively or individually. Atkinson, who spent a decade with the team before moving on to Philadelphia, is the leader with six hat tricks. That’s a number that can be surpassed relatively easily, but no current Blue Jacket has more than two with the team.

Ciccarelli became famous with the Red Wings later in his career for his ability to deflect pucks into the net, particularly on the power play. With the Minnesota North Stars, though, he had a penchant for scoring goals in all sorts of ways. Hey, you don’t total 608 goals in your NHL career solely off deflections. Ciccarelli had 332 goals with the North Stars, but a whopping 14 hat tricks.

“Mr. Hockey” is third in career NHL goals, and one of three players with over 800. He and Steve Yzerman are the two foremost franchise icons in Detroit. As such, it is fitting that Howe’s first in Red Wings history with 19 hat tricks, with Stevie Y right behind him at 18.

Now, you may be used to being wowed by Gretzky’s offensive numbers. Even so, brace yourself for this. Though Gretzky left for Los Angeles after nine seasons with Edmonton, he managed 43 hat tricks with the Oilers. Yes, 43. Nobody else has more career hat tricks.

Bure made the Hall of Fame by burning fast and bright. He only played in 702 NHL games but tallied 437 goals. Bure’s time in Florida is indicative of that. He only played two full seasons with the Panthers, but led the NHL in goals both times. “The Russian Rocket” is also the franchise's leader with 10 hat tricks.

Dionne is a name best known to those who enjoy digging into NHL stats, as he retired with 731 career goals, which used to be third behind Gretzky and Howe for many years. He’s just behind Luc Robitaille in goals for the franchise, but Dionne scored in bunches more often. The Hall of Famer had 24 hat tricks with the Kings.

The first star for the franchise, Gaborik seems likely to fall behind Kirill Kaprizov in terms of goals with the team. However, “Kirill the Thrill” has a long way to go until he catches Gaborik in terms of hat tricks. He tallied nine of them in only eight seasons with the Wild.

The first player to score 50 goals in a season, “Rocket” Richard got there because of his penchant to rack up goals with gusto. His 26 hat tricks are the most ever for arguably the NHL’s most-accomplished franchise.

Finally, a player who is still active, and active with the franchise he’s affiliated with on this list at that! Forsberg is going to go down as the clear best offensive player in Nashville history when he retires. He’s already the franchise leader in goals, and his eight hat tricks double any other Predator.

Elias is sneakily on the Devils’ proverbial Mt. Rushmore. He leads the team in goals, assists, points, and, indeed, hat tricks. His 408 goals with New Jersey include eight hat tricks. While Elias is not quite Hall of Fame caliber, he had a great career.

You likely know the story. Bossy is one of the best goal scorers in NHL history, with injuries cutting his career short and keeping him from accumulating truly remarkable totals. The Islanders icon actually leads all qualified players in goals per game. He played in 752 career games, but managed 39 hat tricks. That’s how you score 0.76 goals per game in the NHL.

This name may not be familiar to you, but Cook is in the Hall of Fame. The thing is the Rangers are an Original Six franchise, and he’s an old-school player. Like, pre-WWII. Cook played with the Rangers from 1926 through 1937, and he picked up nine hat tricks.

The Hall of Famer Alfredsson spent 17 seasons with the Senators, which is how he achieved so many franchise records. Nobody is close to Alfredsson in terms of being iconic in Ottawa. Although, relatively speaking, he didn’t have a ton of hat tricks. His 426 goals with the Senators include only eight of them.

Bobby Clarke? He has the most points in Flyers history. Bill Barber? He’s tops in goals. The leader in hat tricks, though, is not a Hall of Famer, but Kerr. A power-play specialist, Kerr had four 50-goal seasons in a row for the Flyers, and finished his time with the team with 17 hat tricks. Injuries started to take a toll on Kerr’s career, which may be why he missed out on the Hall.

No surprise here. Lemieux spent his entire incredible career with the Penguins. In that time, he managed a whopping 40 hat tricks. That is the second most of all time, behind only Gretzky. Nobody else in franchise history has even hit 15, not even Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin.

For a brief moment there, thanks to the passing prowess of Joe Thornton, Cheechoo was scoring goals in bunches. In fact, improbably, one time he led the NHL with 56 goals. Thanks to all those great passes, Cheechoo tallied nine hat tricks with the Sharks, which is the franchise record.

If you think hat tricks are relatively common, the Kraken are an example of that not necessarily being the case. Seattle is in the midst of its third season, and it has seen two hat tricks total. Yes, McCann and Eberle are tied atop the franchise list with a single hat trick apiece.

Brett, like his father Bobby, had a penchant for lighting the lamp. Though he spent many years with other teams, Hull is far and away the leader in hat tricks for the Blues. With his lethal shot, Hull tallied 27 hat tricks. Nobody else has more than 11.

The Lightning have had a few great players in their history, but nobody is emblematic of the franchise like Stamkos. A first-overall pick and a longtime captain, he’s led the NHL in goals twice in his career. He’s the franchise’s first 500-goal and 1,000-point player. Naturally, his 12 hat tricks also lead the Lightning.

Sittler is best remembered for his 10-point game, an NHL record. He’s also the leader in hat tricks for the Maple Leafs. The Hall of Famer had 18 of them in Toronto, so even Auston Matthews will have a hard time catching him.

This is the only tie on this list not featuring a franchise that has existed for over a decade. Interestingly, the record is not held by Bure or a Sedin (Daniel the goal scorer, specifically). No, it’s Naslund and Tanti, who both have 10. Now, Naslund is a key figure in Canucks history, in the top five in goals, assists, and points. Tanti, though? You may not remember him, but in the high-scoring 1980s he had three 40-goal seasons with Vancouver.

Well, at least more than two Golden Knights have hat tricks. Also, the record is held by two guys who have multiple hat tricks, three each in fact! Marchessault and Karlsson are, unsurprisingly, both original Knights, and both still with the team. In fact, Marchessault won the Conn Smythe when Vegas lifted the Cup.

The only question here was how many hat tricks Ovechkin has, and how far ahead of the competition he is. Well, pour one out for Petr Bondra. He had 19 hat tricks with the Capitals, which would top many franchises. Unfortunately, arguably the greatest goal scorer of all time has played his entire career with Washington. Still playing (and chasing down Gretzky), Ovi has hit the 30 mark.

Well, modern Jets fans, at least you technically have Hawerchuk, the Coyotes’ franchise leader, to celebrate. Kovalchuk is, of course, a throwback to the days of the Atlanta Thrashers. He never played a second for the Jets, but with the moribund Thrashers he was usually the sole bright spot. Kovy had 328 goals in 594 games with Atlanta, notching 11 hat tricks.