Ogrodnick scored 402 goals in a 14-year NHL career spent almost entirely with the Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers.

The Red Wings selected Ogrodnick, a forward born in Ottawa, in the fourth round (No. 66) of the 1979 NHL Draft after he scored 48 goals in his second full season with New Westminster of the Western Hockey League. He started 1979-80 with Adirondack of the American Hockey League but was called up by the Red Wings at midseason and had an assist in his NHL debut Jan. 12, 1980, against the Hartford Whalers. He scored his first NHL goal one week later against the Minnesota North Stars.

Ogrodnick blossomed as a scorer in 1980-81, scoring 35 goals and finishing with 70 points. It was the first of six consecutive seasons that saw Ogrodnick lead the Red Wings in goals; in 1984-85, he set a team record by scoring 55 goals and was named an NHL First-Team All-Star after finishing with 105 points.

But Ogrodnick dropped to 38 goals and 70 points in 1985-86, and despite averaging better than a point per game during the first three months of the 1986-87 season, the Red Wings traded him to the Quebec Nordiques on Jan. 17, 1987. Ogrodnick scored 11 goals in 32 games for the Nordiques, then had his first taste of success in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, scoring nine goals in 13 games to help the Nordiques win their first-round series and get to Game 7 of the Adams Division Final before losing to the Montreal Canadiens.

However, Ogrodnick's time in Quebec was brief. The Nordiques traded him to the Rangers on Sept. 30, 1987. He scored 22 and 13 goals, respectively, in his first two seasons with New York, then had a big season in 1989-90 under new coach Roger Neilson, scoring 43 goals to help the Rangers finish first in the Patrick Division.

Ogrodnick followed that with a 31-goal season in 1990-91, but after dropping to 17 goals and 30 points in 1991-92, the Rangers didn't re-sign him. Instead, Ogrodnick returned to the Red Wings, but saw limited playing time and scored six goals in 19 games, including the 400th of his NHL career March 20, 1993, against the Boston Bruins. He retired after the 1992-93 season with 827 points (402 goals, 425 assists) in 928 NHL games and 18 goals and 26 points in 41 playoff games.