What’s the deal with all these hat tricks in the NHL this season?
Everyone loves a hat trick.
Well, maybe not opposing teams. Or the arena maintenance crew. But everyone else does. When that avalanche of caps, buckets, and lids spontaneously showers the ice, that’s hockey in its purest form.
January 2026 was officially the Month of the Hat Trick. In 31 days, NHL talent delivered 31 hat tricks — the most ever recorded in a single month. There’s something about a hat trick that brings joy. We can all remember our favorite, whether it was your own or someone else’s.
Alex Tuch scored the League's 30th hat trick of January, the most in a calendar month in NHL history. 🎩 #NHLStats: media.nhl.com/public/live-up…
But what’s driving this hat trick blitz?
We know it’s not a notably high-scoring era. Are players today unusually streaky? Is the condensed Olympic-year schedule adding that many more games to certain months? Is it just a happy accident? Or is there more to this historic hat trick bender? Today, we’re going to find out.
🎩 A Brief History of the Hat Trick
Despite how ingrained hat tricks are within hockey culture, few know the origin story. The first credited hat trick is believed to date back 168 years. A cricket bowler in England in 1858 tossed three consecutive wickets, which remains an extremely rare feat. The crowd was so impressed that it passed around a collection plate to buy the bowler, H.H. Stephenson, a new hat.
A cool-sounding sports feat was born.
When it comes to hockey, Toronto hatter Sammy Taft commonly gets credit for making hat tricks go mainstream. In 1946, Chicago Black Hawks forward Alex Kaleta had his eyes on a new fedora. But there was a problem… he didn’t want to pay the listed price. Taft told Kaleta if he scored three goals that night at Maple Leafs Gardens, the hat was on the house. Kaleta scored four times and returned for his free hat. Taft used the media attention to extend the offer to anyone scoring a future hat trick at the Gardens. The rest is history.
📼 December 1985 vs. January 2026
Back to January 2026. The month’s 31 hat tricks broke a 40-year old record from December 1985. Among active players, only Brent Burns, Corey Perry, and Alex Ovechkin were born yet. 1980s NHL hockey is known for standup goalies, violence, and the highest goal count in league history.
Here are the details (and fun pop culture references) of the two most hat trick-heavy months ever.
A few things stand out. On top of the unlikely mustache renaissance, of course.
First, we notice the goal-scoring climate. December 1985 featured an inconceivable 8.4 goals per game. Today’s NHL is a full two goals per game behind, an unrecognizably tighter sport with a fraction of the penalties that boost power play goals. The size of the NHL, however, is also unrecognizable.
Reason #1 for so many hat tricks: Way more games played
There were only 21 teams in December 1985. That means the NHL’s schedule featured 138 December games — 102 fewer than in January 2026. A massive edge for modern players to bank hat tricks. And that condensed Olympic year schedule? It’s a real thing.
Games Played in January, Last 5 Seasons
| January | Total NHL Games |
| 2022 | 202 |
| 2023 | 217 |
| 2024 | 208 |
| 2025 | 224 |
| 2026 | 240 |
Every game counts if you’re chasing history. But last month only had 16 more games than January 2025, which also provided few off days to accommodate the 4 Nations Face-Off. January 2025’s hat trick count? A measly 14. Clearly, there’s more to this phenomenon…
🥅 Hunting Hat Tricks
Even with so many more games, it still doesn’t add up that we could see a 1980s scoring record shattered in 2026. Why? Here’s some perspective on the December 1985 hat trick games:
- Wayne Gretzky had 17 assists in Jari Kurri’s three hat trick games that month. Yes, really. That’s two more assists than Connor McDavid had in the entire month of January 2026.
- One of Kurri’s hat tricks was in a 12-9 win.
- Michel Goulet had a natural hat trick on the power play.
- Craig MacTavish had a natural hat trick in 6:38.
- In one Pittsburgh Penguins‘ game, there were seven power play goals and a shorty. Mario Lemieux scored four times and teammate Mike Bullard also had a hat trick.
- Kurri, Goulet, Lemieux, Brian Bellows, and Lindy Ruff each had four-goal games. That’s as many four-goal games as there’s been in the last two NHL seasons combined (five).
These are video game numbers… while teaching your great-grandfather how to play. So, how were there more hat tricks in January than in this offensive paradise?
Here are the goal breakdowns from the respective hat tricks that reveal another edge in today’s NHL.
Reason #2 for so many hat tricks: Empty netters and 3-on-3 overtime
Empty net goals completed nine of the 31 hat tricks in January. That’s huge. Another two hat trick goals ended overtime games. Both situations offer perfect conditions. We know empty netters have blown up in recent years. Overtime — which has risen significantly this season — is also a great canvas for star players to complete hat tricks with time and space for days. In 1985, no hat trick featured either type of goal.
Make no mistake, it was much, much harder to score a goal in January 2026 than December 1985. But with players hunting hat tricks into empty nets, the achievement has a major shortcut now. Goalies get pulled earlier. Given their accuracy, players aren’t discouraged from trying to end games from their own halves anymore. And coaches keep their goalie out down two goals, a tactic previously reserved more for one-goal games. Combine that with more overtime than we’ve seen in a decade and hat tricks are gettable.
But much of the above was true last season. And the season before that. And in November and December. Even with empty netters and overtime, 31 hat tricks is a wild number.
🪄 A Little Magic
Sometimes that cold, musty arena air has a little magic in it. The shot off the post goes in. The goalie whiffs on a point shot. A teammate successfully forces a sauce pass with the empty cage yawning.
Reason #3 for so many hat tricks: Statistical fluke (or karma, good luck, magic… you decide)
In the previous four Januarys combined, there were 70 hat tricks in 851 games, or roughly a hat trick every 12 games. Based on that frequency, how many hat tricks should we expect in a 240-game month?
The answer? 19.
We just witnessed 31 hat tricks. The odds? About 117 to 1, or 0.86%.
Given an Olympic year is needed for this kind of game count and only the months of November, January, and March typically have a full slate of 30-plus game days, this record could stand for another 40 years.
The most likely ways we’ll ever see 32 hat tricks in a month?
Future expansion would add more games. That would help. The planned Olympic and World Cup rotation will condense the schedule every second season, another win for monthly output. But the trend that would most benefit hat tricks is simply more scoring. December 1985 had 29 hat tricks in 102 fewer games — it’s much easier to pot three in a 7-4 game than a 4-2 win, of course.
🎩 Closing Thoughts
Whether a good, old-fashioned hat trick, a natural hat trick, a Gordie Howe hat trick, or the Florida Panthers‘ famous rat trick, any form of hat trick remains a fun and memorable slice of hockey.
While jammed schedules, empty netters, and 3-on-3 overtime were great for January’s record-setting hat trick explosion, nothing beats a little luck magic.
Data from Hockey-Reference; NHL.com
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