The first player to score 50 goals in a single season was Maurice "Rocket" Richard in 1944-45. Just a few years prior the NHL had been reduced to a six-team league and increased its number of games in a season from 48 to 50. Richard picked up goals in bunches, including a five-goal effort against the Detroit Red Wings on December 28, 1944, and while those who defended him employed every manner of obstruction to slow his scoring rate down, he carried 49 goals into the last game of the regular season. With 2:15 remaining in a tilt at the old Boston Garden, Richard managed to notch number 50 and cement his legacy in the history of the league.
Gordie Howe would be the next to flirt with the 50-goal mark, compiling 49 in the 70 games of 1952-53, and Richard's 50 would remain unmatched until 1960-61 when Bernie Geoffrion reached that achievement in 64 games. The following year Bobby Hull hit 50 in 70 games and continued a roll in 1965-66 to be the first to amass at least 50 in multiple seasons, finally settling at 5 seasons of the accolade in 1971-72.
Phil Esposito joined Hull in 1974-75 after surviving 6 seasons as the league's top scorer with 5 50+ goal efforts. Guy Lafleur became the first to achieve it for 6 seasons in 1979-80. This so happened to be the same year some rookie named Wayne Gretzky managed his first 50+ goal season en route to 9 campaigns doing the same, an honour he shares with Mike Bossy who played only 10 seasons in the NHL.
Marcel Dionne and Mario Lemieux join the 6-seasons-or-more club and, with names like Steve Yzerman, Brett Hull, and Pavel Bure alongside Esposito and Bobby Hull, the 5-season crew is even pretty darn special company to be in.
