Crosby will become 13th player since 2005 to score No. 500

Sidney Crosby’s next goal will mark the 500th of his career.

The active NHL player next-closest to No. 500 after Crosby (499 goals) is Steven Stamkos (459), so all bets are on the Penguins captain being next to the milestone. Who will he be joining in the modern 500 club?

Using data from Stathead Hockey, here’s the breakdown of the 12 milestone 500th NHL goals scored during the Crosby era (since the 2005-06 season).

• The youngest 500-goal scorer was Alex Ovechkin (age 30) and the oldest was Mark Recchi (who would turn 39 six days after his milestone tally.) At 34 years old, Crosby would be the third-youngest player (after Ovechkin and Jarome Iginla) to reach the milestone during this era.
• 11 of the 12 milestone tallies were scored for the winning team (sorry, Teemu Selanne.) Six of the goals (Mats Sundin, Peter Bondra, Mark Recchi, Mike Modano, Jeremy Roenick, Iginla) stood as game-winning markers.
• Only one (Sundin) was scored in overtime.
• Only four came at even strength. Six were scored on power plays, while two were shorthanded (Sundin’s overtime strike and Keith Tkachuk’s empty-netter.)
• Only two (Sundin, Roenick) were recorded as unassisted markers.
• Of the 12 players to have scored No. 500 during this era, only one (Ovechkin) is still currently playing in the NHL (a second, Patrick Marleau, has yet to officially retire.)

Below are all 12 of these milestone No. 500 goals scored since Crosby first stepped onto NHL ice in 2005. Watch the videos below for some crazily impressive plays— and some even crazier puck-luck.

November 11, 2005: Pierre Turgeon (COL)

The 34th player in league history and first since Crosby entered the NHL to reach the milestone, Turgeon scores No. 500 from the blue paint on a power play.

October 14, 2006: Mats Sundin (TOR)

In one of the flashiest, and perhaps most memorable, 500th goals of the Crosby era, Sundin launches a shorthanded bomb from the high slot in overtime.

November 22, 2006: Teemu Selanne (ANA)

Selanne skates nearly 200 feet to set up a give-and-go power play rush, then taps in the finisher.

December 12, 2006: Peter Bondra (CHI)

Bondra capitalizes on a defensive-zone giveaway to score his milestone goal.

January 26, 2007: Mark Recchi (PIT)

Recchi may have spent 10 years in Philadelphia, but it was in Pittsburgh that he notched the 500-goal milestone when he crashed the crease on a Penguins power play.

March 13, 2007: Mike Modano (DAL)

A bomb from the point left a juicy enough rebound for Modano to slam in No. 500.

November 10, 2007: Jeremy Roenick (SJS)

Just the third American-born player to reach the milestone, Roenick scores what may be the strangest goal on this list when his dump-in takes a crazy carom off the corner boards.

April 6, 2008: Keith Tkachuk (STL)

Tkachuk launches the puck from center ice toward an empty net— and hits the target to seal a Blues win with his milestone tally.

January 7, 2012: Jarome Iginla (CGY)

Iginla’s shot from the right-hand boards careens off a skate and into the net.

January 10, 2016: Alex Ovechkin (WSH)

It’s a milestone Ovechkin tally, do we even have to say where it came from? Stop us if you’ve heard this one before— it’s a power-play snipe from the left circle.

October 18, 2016: Marian Hossa (CHI)

Hossa backhands the puck through the blue paint on the power play, where it bounces off a goaltender pad and in.

February 2, 2017: Patrick Marleau (SJS)

Marleau decisively finishes off a man-advantage two-on-one rush and becomes the most recent player to clear the milestone.

Which milestone goal stands in your mind as the most memorable tally— and will Crosby top all of them when he finally notches No. 500?