Which NHL player was the first to score 50 goals in a season before turning 21?

Wayne Gretzky was the first NHL player to score 50 goals in a season before turning 21.

Gretzky achieved the feat in the 1979–80 season, his first NHL campaign with the Edmonton Oilers. He scored 51 goals at age 19, becoming the first teenager in NHL history to reach 50 goals in a season.

That rookie season established Gretzky as an elite scorer immediately: he finished with 86 assists and 137 points, won the Calder Trophy, and helped transform expectations for young NHL players. His 51 goals were later surpassed by other young stars, but Gretzky was the original under-21 player to reach the landmark.

This is different from the NHL rookie goal record, which belongs to Teemu Selänne with 76 goals in 1992–93. Gretzky’s distinction is specifically about age, not rookie scoring total.