Sturminator
Love is a duel
This is an excellent point. Not just for Krutov, but in general. A lot of times players from the 80s and such will have their era held against them, yet players from older eras will have it used to elevate them. Not saying all eras should be considered equal or anything close to that, but, these types of things are aspects of those eras that get forgotten. For example, it'd be interesting to think how dominant Eddie Shore would be if his physical play had to be toned down a bit.
I also read once that Tony O(I think it was him) would stuff his pads before a game, and after the game, when they'd be checked, he'd take the stuffing out so they were legal. Thought that was kind of neat. But definitely another one of those things to think about.
The business about Tony O outright cheating is interesting, and I think it should be taken into account.
Your argument vis-a-vis the 80's confuses me. Scoring is relativized across the whole history of hockey and as the 80's are hockey's highest scoring era (besides very early hockey), of course players' raw numbers from that era will get adjusted. I don't consider this a punishment so much as I do perspective. A top-10 finish in the 80's is still a top-10 finish, so I'm not really sure what you're getting at here.