Goals scored comparision for CHL leagues

[Ryan Van Horne]

When comparing prospects playing in the CHL leagues (WHL, OHL and QMJHL) it's important to know the level of offence that exists, so I did a little research.

A lot of people think the QMJHL is "scorer's" league and that nobody plays defence. They also tend to dowplay the achievements of Q players and say their totals are "inflated." No one ever said Corey Locke's totals were inflated and look where he ended up. But I digress.

Anyway, this year, there were rule changes implemented in two of the three CHL leagues. The OHL and the QMJHL adopted the NHL's rule changes while the WHL did not from what I've heard. Anyway, this would explain the following:

Goals scored in the OHL in 2005-06: 4776 goals in 680 games=7.02 goals per game
Goals scored in the QMJHL in 2005-06: 4669 goals in 630 games=7.41 goals per game
Goals scored in the WHL in 2005-06: 4195 goals in 720 games=5.82 goals per game

When I have more time, I might go back a few years and compare the leagues when the played under the same rules.

Anyway, I think this disproves the myth of the Q as a pure offence league. Although it has the most, the difference isn't enough to grossly inflate the numbers of prospects from the that league compared to those in the OHL. Also, the QMJHL expanded by two teams this year. Expansion usually has an inflationary effect on scoring.

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[OHLArenaGuide]

Nice numbers.

People who don't watch the Q regularly have a lot of misconceptions about the league based upon the way it was fifteen years ago. Those same people probably are wondering why there isn't a "USSR" on maps anymore.

 

[Chelios]

the misconceptions about the Q still bother me. It is unbelievable how the league has changed since expansion into the maritimes. With the addition of a team in Newfoundland this year it should continue. There is now a team in every atlantic province and the influx of these atlantic players has drastically changed the face of the Q. It is no longer the highscoring no defense league of the 80s and early 90s. Today`s Q is much more rough and defensive than most outside the east believe.

 

[MS]

There was a stretch from about 1995-2002 or so where these notions were true. The QMJHL was *much* higher scoring than the other two leagues. OHL and WHL scoring fell roughly on par with NHL scoring post-1994, while that just didn't happen in the Q.

But these things move in cycles and historically that hasn't always been the case. In the late 1980s-early 1990s, the WHL was the highest scoring league, with a few teams averaging roughly 7 goals/game.

 

[paul99]

There was a stretch from about 1995-2002 or so where these notions were true. The QMJHL was *much* higher scoring than the other two leagues. OHL and WHL scoring fell roughly on par with NHL scoring post-1994, while that just didn't happen in the Q.

But these things move in cycles and historically that hasn't always been the case. In the late 1980s-early 1990s, the WHL was the highest scoring league, with a few teams averaging roughly 7 goals/game.

The overall goals per game average for the three CHL leagues and the NHL since 1970/71 are:

WHL/WCHL 8.49
OHL/OHA 8.47
LHJMQ 8.96
NHL 6.63

Here are some detailed data (point per game) per league at every five years.

70/71 75/76 80/81 85/86 90/91 95/96 00/01 05/06
WHL/WCHL 8.18 10.02 9.78 9.87 9.35 8.00 7.09 5.82
OHL/OHA 8.79 9.43 9.66 8.85 8.95 8.18 6.66 7.02
LHJMQ 9.19 9.68 9.40 10.29 7.74 8.03 7.70 7.41
NHL 6.24 6.82 7.69 7.94 6.91 6.29 5.51 6.17

 

[Ted Hoffman]

One interesting note is the dramatic decline in goal scoring in the WHL over the last 10-15 years. It's gone from being the highest scoring league to (by far) the lowest. I've got data by year on each of the leagues, and IIRC scoring really started to drop beginning with the '92-93 season.

 

[QcS]

note: the Q adopted the NHL new rules this year, BUT they did not adopt the enforcement of the penalties. There was a huge difference between watching a Q game and an NHL game this year in terms of what was called and not.

I heard a few times at the games when a bad call was made by the refs: "hey ref, we're not in the NHL here!"

 

[Transported Upstater]

I love the QMJHL. It's my favorite CHL league.