Is modern NHL hockey totally different than it was in 70's & 80's?

[Kshahdoo]

I didn't watch an old NHL hockey, save NHL vs Soviet one, so to me, it's changed a lot. But you can still see a lot of puck dumping and shoot-as-much-as-you-can shit. But as to top6 players, they do it way less offen, than bottom6ers. Sometimes it looks like they play different hockey on the same team.

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[brachyrynchos]

From the later part of the '70s up until the early '90s, teams understood the simple concept that you had to outscore the other team to win. The mid to late '90s saw much more emphasis on defense and systems, particularly the neutral zone trap, grinders, power forwards, and size. I think the modern era, as good as it may be, seems way too conservative and risk free, alot more importance put on possession and playing it safe. The entertainment factor was much higher when offensive skill and creativity were allowed to shine, players had more leeway to play their style. And contrary to what some may think, the goalies and defensemen of the '80s were better than they're given credit for.

 

[Canadiens1958]

I didn't watch an old NHL hockey, save NHL vs Soviet one, so to me, it's changed a lot. But you can still see a lot of puck dumping and shoot-as-much-as-you-can ****. But as to top6 players, they do it way less offen, than bottom6ers. Sometimes it looks like they play different hockey on the same team.

1970s until the mid 1980s you had a game featuring variable longer shifts. Mid 1980s into the nineties the short shift game seen today was phased in. Modern NHL is strictly a short shift game. This has eliminated the various skills required to manage longer shifts.

 

[Rygu]

I would say so. They actually took risks back then and had goon lines.

Although I still love today's NHL, the 80's NHL was a lot funner to watch as a whole.

 

[The Panther]

This is kind of what forward lines were like in the 80s as compared to today:

1980s:
1st line: scorers
2nd line: scorers
3rd line: checkers
4th line: goons (5-7 min. per night; start fights)

Today:
1st line: okay scorers who check
2nd line: okay scorers who check
3rd line: not very good scorers who check
4th line: not very good scorers who check

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

it's different in that the game is dominated by rigid systems now. There isnt as much improv and free wheeling like in the past. There is also next to no risk taking anymore. Everyone makes the safe play in the mindset that preserving a stale mate is better than taking a chance that could win the game, but could also lose it.

Basically, coaches dominate the game way too much and strangle the creativity and excitement out of the game.

 

[Thenameless]

This is kind of what forward lines were like in the 80s as compared to today:

1980s:
1st line: scorers
2nd line: scorers
3rd line: checkers
4th line: goons (5-7 min. per night; start fights)

Today:
1st line: okay scorers who check
2nd line: okay scorers who check
3rd line: not very good scorers who check
4th line: not very good scorers who check

Yup. That's why watching today's game sucks when compared to the 80's. The 1987 Canada Cup style of hockey will always be more fun to watch than the 2014 Olympics style of hockey.

 

[overpass]

This is kind of what forward lines were like in the 80s as compared to today:

1980s:
1st line: scorers
2nd line: scorers
3rd line: checkers
4th line: goons (5-7 min. per night; start fights)

Today:
1st line: okay scorers who check
2nd line: okay scorers who check
3rd line: not very good scorers who check
4th line: not very good scorers who check

Eh, I think your description of a 1980s 4th line of goons playing 5-7 minutes a game is more of a 90s phenomenon. 1980s 4th lines and goons actually skated a regular shift much of the time (and the goons weren't always on the 4th line).

 

[SealsFan]

it's different in that the game is dominated by rigid systems now. There isnt as much improv and free wheeling like in the past. There is also next to no risk taking anymore. Everyone makes the safe play in the mindset that preserving a stale mate is better than taking a chance that could win the game, but could also lose it.

Basically, coaches dominate the game way too much and strangle the creativity and excitement out of the game.

To a degree, this was also a strategy in the first couple of years after the 67-68 expansion (although of course the style of play was different). The Western Division expansion clubs would play for the one point if they found themselves tied in the third period, especially against an established club. Teams like Philly and Minnesota had 1/4 of their games end in ties some seasons and I do recall some discussion in hockey publications about a way to have fewer ties, and this may have been the impetus for the WHA to introduce the 10-minute regular season overtime (most ties by a team in the WHA was 9, and there were a few teams who had zero ties in a season). The WHA also had the awesome strategy of east coast teams playing consecutive road games against west coast/western Canada teams. It cut down on travel expenses and made for some rugged hockey when you had the chance to get revenge for a cheap shot only two nights later instead of two months later.

 

[Big Phil]

Definitely the coaches and systems are responsible more now than ever. When you see a player go to the bench and look on an iPad to see what mistake he made - in game - I think that can get distracting. Leave it to after the game. Guy Lafleur was known for never wanting to practice things like the power play. He didn't like things to be rigid, he was more of the go with the flow type. It isn't as if Lafleur didn't take care of his own end when needed, just that his focus was on offense and more of a natural way of scoring.

The question is, how can you argue with the results? Mario too, you really think his game was rigid? Gretzky? Even McDavid I think has a free flowing game that is rare for today, but much more needed. I've always said Crosby would be a better player in NHL history if he hung onto the puck longer and was more creative, and this is Sidney Crosby we are talking about too!

I think we over-analyze things. Things have become a little too robotic. Even in the early 1990s with the Pens winning the Cup the game was free flowing and more "go by the seat of your pants". It worked. We get glimpses of that in the NHL today, but usually it is when it is 4-on-4 or something. Hockey needs that mood back where you try and outscore the other team and you aren't afraid to lose.

 

[Killion]

Definitely the coaches and systems are responsible more now than ever. When you see a player go to the bench and look on an iPad to see what mistake he made - in game - I think that can get distracting. Leave it to after the game. Guy Lafleur was known for never wanting to practice things like the power play. He didn't like things to be rigid, he was more of the go with the flow type. It isn't as if Lafleur didn't take care of his own end when needed, just that his focus was on offense and more of a natural way of scoring.

The question is, how can you argue with the results? Mario too, you really think his game was rigid? Gretzky? Even McDavid I think has a free flowing game that is rare for today, but much more needed. I've always said Crosby would be a better player in NHL history if he hung onto the puck longer and was more creative, and this is Sidney Crosby we are talking about too!

I think we over-analyze things. Things have become a little too robotic. Even in the early 1990s with the Pens winning the Cup the game was free flowing and more "go by the seat of your pants". It worked. We get glimpses of that in the NHL today, but usually it is when it is 4-on-4 or something. Hockey needs that mood back where you try and outscore the other team and you aren't afraid to lose.

Yep, good post. Things grossly micro-managed & have been for over 30yrs now. Frankly, I had a problem with where much of it started, with Sacred Cow Roger Neilson, Captain Video himself. Gone way beyond what even he couldve imagined back in the analog age to being vastly over-used. The poor players just screwed down tighter than a coffin lid out there & its suffocating the game.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Definitely the coaches and systems are responsible more now than ever. When you see a player go to the bench and look on an iPad to see what mistake he made - in game - I think that can get distracting. Leave it to after the game. Guy Lafleur was known for never wanting to practice things like the power play. He didn't like things to be rigid, he was more of the go with the flow type. It isn't as if Lafleur didn't take care of his own end when needed, just that his focus was on offense and more of a natural way of scoring.

The question is, how can you argue with the results? Mario too, you really think his game was rigid? Gretzky? Even McDavid I think has a free flowing game that is rare for today, but much more needed. I've always said Crosby would be a better player in NHL history if he hung onto the puck longer and was more creative, and this is Sidney Crosby we are talking about too!

I think we over-analyze things. Things have become a little too robotic. Even in the early 1990s with the Pens winning the Cup the game was free flowing and more "go by the seat of your pants". It worked. We get glimpses of that in the NHL today, but usually it is when it is 4-on-4 or something. Hockey needs that mood back where you try and outscore the other team and you aren't afraid to lose.

textbook case of a coach coaching the creativity and “flow” out of a player’s game: the sedins, 2011 and later. they go from fewer o-zone starts than toews, backstrom, and malkin (and within 1% of crosby) to 70+%, then almost 80% and leading the league by double digits. and they went from regularly scoring off the rush (and finishing 2, 3 in points/game) to basically doing pp-style set plays at es.

 

[Big Phil]

textbook case of a coach coaching the creativity and “flow” out of a player’s game: the sedins, 2011 and later. they go from fewer o-zone starts than toews, backstrom, and malkin (and within 1% of crosby) to 70+%, then almost 80% and leading the league by double digits. and they went from regularly scoring off the rush (and finishing 2, 3 in points/game) to basically doing pp-style set plays at es.

For some reason the Sedins have always at least had the "look" of a robotic player on the ice.

Yep, good post. Things grossly micro-managed & have been for over 30yrs now. Frankly, I had a problem with where much of it started, with Sacred Cow Roger Neilson, Captain Video himself. Gone way beyond what even he couldve imagined back in the analog age to being vastly over-used. The poor players just screwed down tighter than a coffin lid out there & its suffocating the game.

I don't think Roger knew that what he was doing in an innovative way was going to turn out like this though.

 

[Killion]

I don't think Roger knew that what he was doing in an innovative way was going to turn out like this though.

... no, indeed not. probably be appalled.

 

[The Panther]

Unfortunately, I believe the change from "players decide the game" (c.1920s to early 1990s) into "coaches/systems decide the game" (c.mid-1990s to today) is largely down to money. The amount of money at stake, and the difference in pay-grade between minor-pro and NHL, became so vast in the free-agency era onward that NHL franchises cannot afford to take risks anymore. Everyone prefers to play it safe and just compete (probably losing almost every year) rather than go for broke, take chances, and try to win at all costs. Bettman and cronies have aided this "boring first" mentality by inventing the extra-point for games that go to extra time, thereby keeping more teams tighter in the playoff race.

 

[Boxscore]

Yes, the game is different.

Less entertainment, less characters, less violence, less spontaneity and creativity at the top. More sophisticated coaching schemes, better conditioning, worse (in terms of size and weaponry) equipment, more PC, more commercial, more marketed. Way better coverage and access today though. The players are definitely more robotic today. The average game is rather blah, compared to the 70s and 80s. In the 80s, the average game was an event. Goals, fights, hitting, mayhem, unpredictability, fun. Goalies with smaller equipment flopping around like acrobatic fish, making splendid kick saves... snipers beating goalies top shelf with slappers across the line, defensemen going out of position looking for a massive hit.

 

[pbgoalie]

I think, like basically every other sport, the athleticism from top to bottom is much closer. Even plugs today for the most part are very good athletes.
Guys are bigger and more powerful across the board, so everything gets more bunched up.
The spread in talent in the 70s-80s was greater and created more room for the gifted Imo

I'm a Ducks fan now, and to watch a guy like mcDavid able to separate himself from a huge group of very good athletes is pretty amazing. And yes, I recognize there are others, but CM is the one I've seen in person, and it is fun to watch!

 

[Puck Dogg]

Back in the days you had guys who weren't too shabby with they hockey skills. I think some ex- NHLer called it that "you had guys who couldn't skate backwards". Today, no room for enforcers or such. The fourth liner today is closer to second liner back then and that what makes it different.

Looking at old hockey games and comparing them on international level, it's more fast and intense now and there's very little time. Back in the puck era defenseman could actually carry a puck, it was a skating game. I remember seeing Fetisov doing this several times. No disasing great memories and games of each era, just saying that they are very different.

 

[cupcrazyman]

In the 70's & 80's almost every shot along the ice went in.

 

[VanIslander]

TOTALLY different!

Heck, the 70's vs. late 90's vs. today are three different games (not to mention the 80's, which was a fall-out of the 70's in a way).

 

[MaxV]

Guys, do you remember a short period when they referred to butterfly-style goalies as butterfly style goalies?

Notice that they no longer do that. Any guesses why?

Yes, the league, and the game in general, has undergone major changes.

 

[ICM1970]

The game nowadays is overdressed, overcoached, overprotected, overanalyzed, and overproduced compared to when I began seriously paying attention (1978-79 and certainly 1979-80). I can't see how someone would honestly be able to sit down on Saturday nights these days starting at 6:30 (Eastern time) and go on to well past midnight (with pre game, the games, Coach's Corner, After 40 Minutes, the first post game, then the Western game with it's intermission shows and post game analysis). And (as mentioned in numerous other threads here) I can't stand the loud music and sound effects whenever you go to a game in person.

All of that makes me miss how back even in a time like 1985 or 1990 even you could simply watch a game straight and enjoy it so (even if you had beefs about things like the helmets and shields detracting from fan-player identification and helping to increase stickwork and cheap shot related garbage, that being another ballpark/enchilada on it's own so to speak).

 

[Double]

To me, here are the most drastic differences between the late 70's / early 80's and today, in random order:

* More goalies are significantly better nowadays. Goalie training has evolved, resulting in more good goaltending than ever.
* Player conditioning / training. There used to be slow, fat guys in the NHL. Not anymore. These guys are all absolute fitness machines.
* Teams used to prioritize offense and scoring first. Now teams game-plan primarily around keeping the puck out of their net.
* Obviously, there are zero roster spots taken up by one-dimensional knuckle-draggers on skates. And fighting is no longer a strategic tactic.

To me, the single biggest evolution in the game is that the talent margin between the top players in the league and the rank-and-file is narrower than ever. I attribute this primarily to the things I mentioned above. There will always be outliers- Crosby, McDavid, etc- but there are fewer of them today and they aren't nearly as head-and-shoulders better than their contemporaries as say Orr, Gretzky, or Lemieux were.

 

[Jeffrey Pedler]

I think it's great know a days that you can still see high scoring games, even though the goalies pads have gotten bigger.