Detroit Red Wings’ Patrick Kane on his biggest fan (and critic)
Detroit Red Wings’ Patrick Kane, Dec. 30, 2025 in Detroit.
Detroit Red Wings forward Patrick Kane is on the verge of a milestone – one that not many NHL players have ever reached.
The 37-year-old heads into the final game of the 2025 calendar year – Wednesday, Dec. 31, against the Winnipeg Jets (and old teammate Jonathan Toews) – with 498 goals, two short of joining an elite group.
But there are many more Red Wings on that list than you might realize.
Kane is looking to become the 50th NHL player ever to reach 500 goals, as well the fifth U.S.-born player with at least 500 goals scored (and the first American since Keith Tkachuk reached that mark for the St. Louis Blues in 2008).
And when Kane reaches 500, he will become the 13th player who wore the Winged Wheel to reach that mark.
Here are the rest of those Wings, listed in chronological order from when they scored their 500th goal.
Gordie Howe (1962)
It’s fitting we start with Mr. Hockey, who was the second NHL player to reach the 500-goal mark (the first being Montreal Canadiens legend Maurice Richard in 1957).
Howe was the first of 12 Red Wings players to score 500 NHL goals (and the first of five to do it with the Red Wings), reaching No. 500 on March 14, 1962, in a game against the New York Rangers. He went on to play 16 more professional seasons (including a stint in the rival WHA) and is third all-time in NHL goals scored (801) behind only Wayne Gretzky (894) and Alex Ovechkin (912 as of Tuesday, Dec. 30).
Frank Mahovlich (1973)
Frank Mahovlich was probably best known for the time he spent with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens, for whom he recorded 425 of his 533 career goals. Even during his four seasons in Detroit (1967-71), he had to share a spotlight with franchise legends Howe and Alex Delvecchio, making him (at best) the third-most beloved forward on the team.
Mahovlich scored his 500th goal on March 21, 1973, while a member of the Canadiens, two seasons after he left the Red Wings.
Johnny Bucyk (1975)
Johnny Bucyk started his career in Detroit in 1955 and scored 11 goals for the Red Wings in two seasons before being traded to the Boston Bruins for future Hall of Fame goalie Terry Sawchuk. The trade worked out well for both clubs.
Bucyk played for the Bruins for the next 21 seasons and scored his 500th goal on Oct. 30, 1975. And even if you took out the two years he spent in Detroit, he would have easily cleared the 500-goal mark, with 556 career goals.
Marcel Dionne (1982)
Much like Bucyk, Marcel Dionne started his career in Detroit before making bigger waves elsewhere. Unlike Bucyk, however, Dionne was a top prospect, going No. 2 overall to the Red Wings in the 1971 NHL Draft.
Dionne scored his 500th goal while a member of the Los Angeles Kings on Dec. 14, 1982. Of his 731 career goals, which place him at No. 6 all time, 139 of them came over four brilliant seasons at the start of his career with Detroit.
Dino Ciccarelli (1994)
It took 32 years for another NHLer to score his 500th with the Red Wings after Howe became the first.
Dino Ciccarelli spent 19 seasons with five NHL franchises, most notably with the Minnesota North Stars where he accumulated more than half of his 608 career goals. But his 500th came with Detroit on Jan. 8, 1994, one year removed from a 41-goal season with the Red Wings.
Steve Yzerman (1996)
Ciccarelli may have been the second player wearing the winged wheel to score his 500th goal, but Steve Yzerman was the second Red Wings legend to reach that mark.
Yzerman, 10th all-time with 692 career goals, scored his 500th goal on Jan. 17, 1996. Fittingly, it was scored on goalie Patrick Roy of the Colorado Avalanche, who went on to win the Stanley Cup that season and were the Red Wings’ biggest rivals at the time.
Brett Hull (1996)
Yzerman wasn’t the only NHL player to score his 500th goal in 1996 … though when future Wing Brett Hull scored his 500th, for the Blues on Dec. 22, 1996, he was still a few years from signing with the Red Wings.
Hull signed a free agent contract with Detroit in 2001 and stayed with the Red Wings for three seasons, lifting his second Stanley Cup in 2002 and finishing his career as the No. 3 all-time goal scorer (and currently at No. 5 with 741 career goals).
(Hull, who famously teamed with Wings defenseman Chris Chelios for Team USA against Yzerman and Brendan Shanahan in the 2002 Olympics, isn’t among the five U.S.-born 500-goal scorers; the Belleville, Ontario, native grew up with dual citizenship as the son of Canadian NHL legend Bobby Hull and Los Angeles-born Joanne Hull-Robinson, and opted to play for Team USA in 1986.)
Luc Robitaille (1999)
Much like Hull, Luc Robitaille also scored his 500th goal before joining Detroit’s greatest team of the 21st century, notching No. 500 as a member of the Los Angeles Kings on Jan. 7, 1999. He came to Detroit as a 35-year-old three seasons later and immediately made an impact as one of four players with at least 30 goals on the 2001-02 Red Wings.
Man, that team was stacked, huh?
Pat Verbeek (2000)
Pat Verbeek played only two of his 20 NHL seasons in Detroit, but he timed his 500th goal just right for the Red Wings.
Scoring his 500th on March 22, 2000, Verbeek – also known as the “Little Ball of Hate” – finished his career in 2002 … with the Dallas Stars, after signing as a free agent just before the Red Wings won their 10th Stanley Cup.
Brendan Shanahan (2002)
Brendan Shanahan joined the Red Wings two games into the 1996-97 season in a blockbuster trade, already 10 years into his storied NHL career. He would then arguably play his best hockey in Detroit, scoring his 500th goal on March 23, 2002, against Roy and the Avalanche … much like his longtime teammate Yzerman six years prior.
Shanahan finished his career with 656 goals, standing at No. 14 on the all-time list.
Mike Modano (2007)
On the one hand, there may be no more fitting player on this list as Mike Modano, as the Livonia, Michigan, native is the most prolific goal-scorer from the Detroit area in NHL history. But on the other hand, Modano may be the least-fitting player for this list, as he only played in 40 games for the Red Wings, joining his hometown franchise for his final NHL season in 2010-11 but suffering a wrist injury midway through the season.
Modano spent the majority of his career in Dallas and scored his 500th career goal for the Stars on March 13, 2007. And as for his Red Wings career, he scored a whopping four goals (all in his age-40 season, to be fair).
Marián Hossa (2016)
Arguably the greatest Slovak player of all time, Hossa spent only one season in Detroit (2008-09) as part of a three-season run that saw him make three straight Stanley Cup finals. But with 40 goals over 74 games, it was one of the greatest seasons of his career.
Hossa scored his 500th goal as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks, where he played for his final eight seasons, on Oct. 18, 2016, marking the most recent former Red Wings player to reach the 500-goal mark.
Kane should be joining Hossa and the rest of the players on this list soon enough.
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You can reach Christian at [email protected].
