First NHL Goals This Season So Far

I'm going to do these, I assure you.  It might take a while to do all of them, and some of them might be pretty low on information, but they'll be making a comeback in the next day or two in full force.  

I figured it might be interesting to look at a simple list of all the first goals scored so far this year, which teams have the most, and the rate at which they occur.  Perhaps I'm a bit naively surprised at the distribution of them so far...  I figured they would slow down a bit, but that hasn't really happened.

#	Player	Date	Team	Against	Nat.
1	Jordan Eberle	Oct 7	Oilers	Flames
2	Derek Stepan	Oct 9	Rangers	Sabres
3	Tyler Seguin	Oct 10	Bruins	Coyotes
4	Nick Leddy	Oct 11	Blackhawks	Sabres
5	Nino Niederreiter	Oct 13	Islanders	Capitals
6	Eric Tangradi	Oct 15	Penguins	Islanders
7	Matt Taormina	Oct 15	Devils	Avalanche
8	Jordan Caron	Oct 16	Bruins	Devils
9	Magnus Paajarvi	Oct 16	Oilers	Flames
10	Cam Fowler	Oct 17	Ducks	Coyotes
11	Marcus Johansson	Oct 19	Capitals	Bruins
12	Jeff Skinner	Oct 20	Hurricanes	Kings
13	Andrei Loktionov	Oct 20	Kings	Hurricanes
14	John McCarthy	Oct 23	Sharks	Oilers
15	Kyle Wilson	Oct 25	Blue Jackets	Flyers
16	Dana Tyrell	Oct 27	Lightning	Penguins
17	Taylor Hall	Oct 28	Oilers	Blue Jackets
18	Matt Martin	Oct 29	Islanders	Canadiens
19	Alex Burmistrov	Oct 29	Thrashers	Sabres
20	David Liffiton	Oct 30	Avalanche	Blue Jackets

21	Mattias Ritola	Oct 30	Lightning	Coyotes
22	Brad Marchand	Nov 3	Bruins	Sabres
23	Jon Matsumoto	Nov 3	Hurricanes	Islanders
24	Bradley Mills	Nov 3	Devils	Blackhawks
25	Kyle Palmieri	Nov 3	Ducks	Lightning
26	David Van Der Gulik	Nov 4	Avalanche	Canucks
27	Phillippe Dupuis	Nov 6	Avalanche	Stars
28	Theo Peckham	Nov 11	Oilers	Red Wings
29	Mario Bliznak	Nov 11	Canucks	Senators
30	Alexander Vasyunov	Nov 12	Devils	Oilers
31	Mattias Tendenby	Nov 12	Devils	Oilers
32	Deryk Engelland	Nov 12	Penguins	Lightning
33	Greg Mauldin	Nov 12	Avalanche	Blue Jackets
34	Kevin Shattenkirk	Nov 17	Avalanche	Sharks
35	Mike Moore	Nov 17	Sharks	Avalanche
36	Alec Martinez	Nov 24	Kings	Canadiens
37	Brandon McMillan	Nov 27	Ducks	Coyotes
38	Justin Braun	Dec 2	Sharks	Senators
39	Luke Adam	Dec 7	Sabres	Bruins
40	Johan Harju	Dec 7	Lightning	Flames
41	Jeremy Morin	Dec 8	Blackhawks	Stars
42	Michael Sauer	Dec 9	Rangers	Senators
43	Kyle Clifford	Dec 9	Kings	Flames
44	Nick Spaling	Dec 13	Predators	Islanders
45	Derek Joslin	Dec 13	Sharks	Stars
46	Mark Fayne	Dec 15	Devils	Coyotes
47	Evgeny Dadonov	Dec 15	Panthers	Hurricanes
48	Tommy Sestito	Dec 15	Blue Jackets	Canucks
49	Linus Omark	Dec 16	Oilers	Blue Jackets
50	Aaron Volpatti	Dec 20	Canucks	Blues
51	Andrew Gordon	Dec 21	Capitals	Devils
52	Ben Lovejoy	Dec 22	Penguins	Panthers
53	Ryan O`Marra	Dec 26	Oilers	Canucks
54	Steven Kampfer	Dec 28	Bruins	Lightning
55	Mike Weber	Dec 28	Sabres	Oilers
56	Luca Sbisa	Dec 28	Ducks	Coyotes
57	Brett MacLean	Dec 29	Coyotes	Kings
58	Tomas Tatar	Dec 31	Red Wings	Islanders
59	Daryl Boyce	Jan 1	Maple Leafs	Senators
60	Zac Dalpe	Jan 1	Hurricanes	Devils
61	Alexandre Bolduc	Jan 2	Canucks	Avalanche
62	Clayton Stoner	Jan 4	Wild	Devils
63	Mats Zuccarello	Jan 5	Rangers	Hurricanes
64	Patrice Cormier	Jan 7	Thrashers	Maple Leafs
65	Matt Calvert	Jan 8	Blue Jackets	Kings
66	Jan Mursak	Jan 10	Red Wings	Avalanche
67	David Desharnais	Jan 12	Canadiens	Penguins
68	Ryan Reaves	Jan 12	Blues	Ducks
69	Trevor Gillies	Jan 13	Islanders	Senators
70	Vladamir Zharkov	Jan 17	Devils	Islanders
71	Oilver Ekman-Larsson	Jan 17	Coyotes	Sharks
72	Sergei Shirokov	Jan 18	Canucks	Avalanche

Breakdown by nation:  Canada - 35; USA - 18; Sweden - 7; Russia - 6; Switzerland - 2; Slovakia - 2; Norway - 1; Slovenia - 1.

Breakdown by month:  October - 21; November - 16; December - 20; January - 14 (in 20 days).

Teams with most First NHL Goals for:  Edmonton Oilers and New Jersey Devils (6 each), Colorado Avalanche (5). 

Teams with most First NHL Goals against:  Phoenix Coyotes (6), Colorado Avalanche, New York Islanders, Ottawa Senators (5 each).

Teams with no First NHL Goals for:  Calgary Flames, Dallas Stars, Ottawa Senators, Philadelphia Flyers.

The country breakdown reflects the reality of today's NHL:  most of the rookies coming up are North American, with Swedes and Russians leading the European pack.  That might surprise some people, but chances are if a Russian skater has been signed, he's close to playing at the NHL level.  Five of the Russians spent some time in the AHL this year, with only Alex Burmistrov having stuck full-time at the NHL level.  No Czechs have scored their first NHL goal, but their only hope is either for a goalie to score, or the sparingly used Red Wings defenseman Jakub Kindl.  The Finns might have to wait for the call-up of a player like Oskar Osala or Ilari Filppula for this year. 

The pace of goals definitely surprised me, but I suppose it makes sense.  Most First NHL Goals are scored by AHL call-ups, as most 'rookies' that crack opening day rosters had an audition with the team the year before, and may have gotten their first NHL goal already.  The Devils, who have had a lot of injuries in addition to being a terrible team, have been forced to use players without much NHL experience, so they lead the way along with the Oilers, who had a number of players on their roster that hadn't played a NHL game before.

The AHL is even more North American than the NHL is, so expect even a greater skew towards North American first time goal scorers as the season rolls on.  Although it might be noteworthy that we could easily have two Norwegian first time goal scorers without any Finnish first timers, as Colorado blueliner Jonas Holos is currently awaiting his breakthrough goal.  And although it may be a little to point out, good on tiny Slovenia for producing their second ever NHL player, Jan Mursak of the Detroit Red Wings.

EDIT:  Added Andrew Gordon; did I miss anyone else?