Could Mario Lemieux Have Broken 1,000 Goal Barrier?

Published on March 1st, 2026 8:26 pm EST
Written By: Dave Manuel


It's one of hockey's greatest "What If" questions.

What if Mario Lemieux had remained healthy for the entirety of his career?

Lemieux's career was plagued by sickness and injury, ranging from a battle with Hodgkin lymphoma to back issues to heart issues to hip issues.

Lemieux only played a total of 915 games over the course of his career. Despite that, Lemieux still managed to score nearly 700 goals and notched 1,723 points.

There is a reason why Wayne Gretzky said that Mario Lemieux was a better goal-scorer than he was.

Mario Lemieux had a dozen seasons in the NHL that were impacted by sickness or injury, and multiple entire seasons were lost.

So this begs the question - what kind of numbers would a healthy Mario Lemieux have put up?

We ran the numbers and modelled what a healthy Mario Lemieux would have put up over the course of a 20-year career. This takes into account the work stoppage shortened season in 1994-95, and accounts for Lemieux missing more games as he entered the twilight of his career.

In our model, Mario Lemieux plays a total of 1,517 games over the course of his career, and puts up a total of 1,041 goals and 1,588 assists, for a total of 2,629 points.

This assumes a gradual drop-off in goal production once Lemieux hits his 30s, with the numbers really falling off in his last two seasons with the Penguins.

A 1,041 goal total would be practically untouchable, as Alexander Ovechkin has the all-time record with 921 goals (and counting), though he is 40 years of age and will likely be retiring over the next year or two.

While Lemieux would fall short of Wayne Gretzky's point total under this model, the debate for the total of all-time NHL GOAT would be much closer, as Lemieux would finish his career with 150 more goals than Gretzky put up.

It's too bad that the world was robbed of so many prime Mario Lemieux years, as he truly was one of the best players of all time.

Source: What if Gretzky and Lemieux Stayed Healthy?