One goal wonders: who has the most games played while scoring one goal with a single franchise

This post took me down an odd rabbit hole when it comes to statistics. After researching Brent Thompson, I wanted to find out which NHL player held the record for most games played with one career goal. Looking through my normal sources this turned out to not be the easiest record to determine. Deciding to take the easy route, I settled for most games played with a single franchise while scoring only one goal for said franchise.

Thanks to quanthockey.com, I was able to look at each current NHL franchise and determine the player that fits the above category. I was surprised that Brent Thompson’s 81 games with Los Angeles with only one goal isn’t that impressive; in fact, it isn’t even the record for the Los Angeles Kings franchise - that belongs to Tobias Bjornfot, with 117 games played as a King and only one goal. Below are the top five players in terms of most games played with a single franchise scoring only one goal:

1. Rob Zettler - San Jose, 196 games between 1991 to 1994. Zettler may have been aided in achieving this record by the 314 penalty minutes he racked up in this time. Overall he scored five goals in 569 career games.

2. Andrew Alberts - Boston, 184 games between 2005 and 2008. Only one goal, but he did have 18 career assists during this time. In 459 career games he scored eight goals.

3. Ken Baumgartner - NY Islanders, 175 games between 1989 and 1992. Like Zettler, Baumgartner spent a lot of time in the sin bin, with 678 penalty minutes. He did score 13 goals in 696 games, including four in the 1993-94 season with Toronto. And Holy crap I found a clip of his one goal with the Isles!

4. Matt Walker - St. Louis, 175 games between 2002 and 2008. Walker gets a season lost due to a lockout (2004-05). He scored four goals in 314 career games. 

5. Riley Cote - Philadelphia, 156 games between 2006 and 2010. The only player on this list to play for only one franchise in his career. During his four seasons with the Flyers Cote recorded 411 penalty minutes, including 202 during the 2007-08 season. He also scored his one goal with only 18.9 seconds left in the game.

6. Bert Marshall - Detroit, 155 games between 1965 and 1968. The leading scorer in this list, Marshall had 34 assists during his three seasons with the Red Wings. Marshall also scored a playoff goal during this time, in the 1966 playoffs where Detroit would lose in the Stanley Cup Finals to Montreal

   
   

605 - Jason Cirone

A centre, Cirone was drafted 46th overall by Winnipeg in 1989. Following the draft he played two seasons in the OHL, scoring 58 goals and 110 points during the 1990-91 season. Cirone made his NHL debut the following season, playing in three games for Winnipeg, recording zero points and two penalty minutes in what were his only NHL games. He finished the season in the AHL, then spent the 1992-93 season in Italy. 

Cirone returned to North America in 1993-94, playing for five teams in three leagues over the next three seasons. In 1996-97 he joined the Kansas City Blades, where he played for four seasons, the longest single stop in his pro hockey career. Cirone capped his professional career off with a season each in Germany and Italy, winning a league title with Asiago in 2002.

Born in Toronto with Italian heritage, Cirone represented Italy internationally from 2003 to 2008, playing in four world championships and twice being named one of the team’s top three players. His career highlight would come in 2006, representing Italy in the 2006 Olympics in Turin. Cirone briefly returned to pro hockey during this time, as a player-coach in the CHL and brief stint in the IHL before retiring a second time, and for good, in 2008.

From 2014 to 2022 he was the head coach of Midland University in Fremont, Nebraska. He passed away in October 2024 at the age of 53 following a battle with colon cancer.

606 - Kyosti Karjalainen

A right winger, Karjalainen was drafted 132nd overall by Los Angeles in 1987. He played two seasons in Sweden following the draft, coming to North America for the 1990-91 season. Karjalainen made his debut with the Phoenix Roadrunners in the IHL, scoring 49 points in 70 games.

1991-92 was his only season in the NHL, playing in 28 regular season games with the Kings, scoring one goal and nine points. He also appeared in three playoff games, earning one assist. Karjalainen returned to Sweden in 1992-93, where he played for a variety of teams over the next six seasons. He spent 1998 to 2000 in Germany, returning to Sweden in 2000-01 for eight more pro seasons. Karjalainen’s most memorable season was in 2001, winning a league title with Djugarden and scoring 14 points in 16 playoff games.

YouTube clip: recycling this clip from the previous post, we have Karjalainen setting up Corey Millen with a beauty backhander against the Devils.

607 - Garry Galley

In January 1992 defenceman Garry Galley was traded by Boston with Wes Walz and a third round pick (Milos Holan) to Philadelphia for Gord Murphy, Brian Dobbin, a third round pick (Sergei Zholtok), and a fourth round pick (Charles Paquette).

Garry Galley: played parts of four seasons in Philadelphia, scoring 172 points in 236 games. His best season came in 1993-94, scoring 10 goals and 70 points and representing the Flyers in the all-star game. The Flyers never made the playoffs during his time with the franchise and Galley was traded in April 1995 to Buffalo for Petr Svoboda.

Wes Walz: played 2 games for Flyers in 1991-92, spending most of the season in the AHL. He signed as a free agent with Calgary in 1993.

Milos Holan: played 8 games for the Flyers in 1993-94, scoring 2 points. In March 1995 he was traded to Anaheim for Anatoli Semenov.

Gord Murphy: played in 106 games over three seasons with the Bruins, scoring 28 points. He was part of the Bruins-North Stars swap of Andy Moog for Jon Casey in June 1993, and was then selected by Florida in the expansion draft.

Sergei Zholtok: played 25 games with the Bruins over two seasons, scoring four points. In the 1996 off-season he signed with Ottawa as a free agent.

Charles Paquette: never played for Bruins, spending five years in the AHL/ECHL, then QPSHL.

Brian Dobbin: scored one goal in seven games for the Bruins in the 1991-92 season. He played in the minors for the balance of career.

The trade boils down to Galley for Murphy, as none of the other players made much impact or resulted in any impact players coming back. Galley had individually better seasons, although that ultimately did not help the Flyers achieve any playoff success. I’ll give to the Flyers, but really no one wins.

608 - Brent Thompson

A defenceman, Thompson was drafted 39th overall by Los Angeles in 1989. He played two more seasons in the WHL following the draft, turning pro in 1991-92. In the first three years of his pro career he played in 81 games with the Kings, scoring one goal and 10 points along with earning 246 penalty minutes.

In the 1994 off season Thompson was traded to Winnipeg for a second round pick and a prospect. He played in 39 games with the Jets over two seasons, recording one assist and 99 penalty minutes. He moved with the franchise to Phoenix, appearing in one game for the Coyotes in 1996-97.

From 1997 to 2005 Thompson played for four different AHL franchises, captaining three of them and recording 300 or more penalty minutes twice in a season. During the 2003-04 season he was a player coach with Colorado of the UHL. During this time he signed with the New York Rangers, Florida and Colorado but never appeared in NHL games.

In six NHL seasons, Thompson played in 121 games, scoring one goal, 11 points and recording 352 penalty minutes. From 2005 to 2009 he was an assistant coach with Peoria in the AHL, then spent two seasons as head coach of Alaska in the ECHL. In 2011 Thompson joined the New York Islanders franchise as the head coach of Bridgeport, leaving that role after a season to become an assistant coach with the Islanders. He returned as Bridgeport’s head coach from 2014 to 2023 and has since become an assistant coach with Anaheim. Thompson’s two sons, Tyce and Tage, are both pro hockey players. 

YouTube clip: fighting Tie Domi during an October 1993 game between the Kings and Jets. 

609 - Alexander Godynyuk

I screwed this one up, researching and writing an entire bio of Godynyuk's career before realizing he was already featured in a September 2023 post. And I know for sure I've already talked about the Doug Gilmour trade to Toronto, which Godynyuk was involved in. Thankfully a quick rewrite on the December 1993 trade that saw him shipped from Florida to Hartford for Jim McKenzie can be written now.

Alexander Godynyuk: played in 115 games over four seasons for the Whalers, scoring four goals and 15 points. In June 1997 he was traded from the new Carolina Hurricanes franchise to St. Louis with a sixth round pick for Steve Leach.

Jim McKenzie: never suited up for the Panthers, as he was flipped to Dallas the same day for a fourth round draft pick in 1995. Florida traded that pick to Ottawa in January 1994 as part of the package for Bob Kudelski, which included Evgeny Davydov, Scott Levins, a sixth round pick (Mike Gaffney) and the fourth round pick received from Dallas (Kevin Bolibruck). Kudelski scored 20 goals in 83 career games with the Panthers.

From what seems like a nothing trade comes an NHL record, however. As Kudelski was traded in the middle of the season, he ended up playing in 86 games between the Senators and Panthers in 1993-94. As a result, he shares the record with Jimmy Carson (set the season prior) for most games played in a single NHL season by an individual with 86.