Chris Kreider's 2021-22 season was the highlight of his career to date, and he was on the verge on making it a historic one that would have only further solidified his status as a modern New York Rangers legend. His season, which was full of tremendous goal scoring, brought attention to the record for most goals in a regular season, and unless you are a diehard fan you would probably have a hard time guessing who holds it. To that point, Kreider's impressive season only further highlights how impressive this Rangers' legend's all-time record is.
Kreider scored 52 goals in 81 games for the Rangers and in doing so he took over the No. 2 spot on the list. He is technically tied with Adam Graves, but the 1993-94 Stanley Cup winner scored his 52 goals in 84 games. That season was a career highlight for Graves, but wasn't good enough to take the top spot.
The top spot on the list belongs to Jaromir Jagr, an absolute NHL legend who made such a tremendous impact on the organization despite only appearing in 277 games which just so happened to be the second-most he appeared in among the teams he played for. Jagr's tenure began during the 2003-04 season, and ended after the 2007-08 season. Jagr lost the 2004-05 season because of an NHL lockout, and he played in the KHL from 2008-09 to 2010-11.
The 2005-06 season was Jagr's first full season as a Blueshirt, and it was the first campaign the league played after the lockout. It was during this season that Jagr set two team records, one of which was the all-time single season goal record. That season Jagr found the back of the net 54 times, 30 of which came at even strength and the other 24 coming on the power play.
Jagr's 54 goals were second in the NHL that season, and the Rocket Richard Trophy went to Jonathan Cheechoo of the San Jose Sharks who scored 56. Cheechoo's excellence that season was assisted by Joe Thornton, a player who ultimately stole both the Hart and Art Ross trophies from Jagr.
Kreider led the league in power play goals in 2021-22, and his 26 were two more than Jagr had in 2005-06. He also scored just 23 even strength goals to Jagr's 30, but he also had three shorthanded tallies on the season. In any case, Kreider missed one game that season, and had he played that game there's a chance he could have tied or set a new record for himself.
That said, Kreider's 52 goals came in an environment where the NHL average 3.11 goals per game, which was higher than the 3.03 goals per game environment Jagr played in. When you take all of that into consideration, you can gain more appreciation for what Jagr accomplished 20 seasons ago, and it just creates a question of which Ranger might ultimately make the next big push?