NastyNick
Registered User
Lots of people try to transpose the NHL today onto the NHL of the 80s. As someone who watched hockey back then (through good fortune of having one of those giant satellite dishes) let me point out some big differences:
Talent was hyper focused onto a handful of teams. The Oilers and the Islanders were the class of their respective conferences. There were a few teams that could compete, but there were also very many which simply could not. Today this would be like having the Penguins and Capitals, and 29 AHL and ECHL teams. The Oilers of the 80s would be able to hang with NHL teams today, probably dominate. But the rest of the NHL was a pale comparison. This allowed guys like Gretzky and Bossy to put up ridiculous numbers. They'd wrack up 5 or 6 point nights against the bottom feeders, then get the normal 0-1 vs the normal competition.
Once the Soviet Union fell and Eastern hockey became a part of the NHL, the talent pool grew. American hockey started growing around the same time. Talent in the NHL is 30x what it was in the 80s.
Also, goaltending back in the 80s was hideous compared to today. Equipment and technique played a factor. Watch any Gretzky highlight reel and tell me if you think today's goalies would stop half of that. Most goalies struggled stopping low shots until the butterfly technique took hold.
This is why i hate these sort of comparisons. Gretzky was the best of his era. No question. But theres just too much variance to try and compare him to today's NHL. Just about every team has superstar caliber players and goaltending that puts the 80s to shame.
Talent was hyper focused onto a handful of teams. The Oilers and the Islanders were the class of their respective conferences. There were a few teams that could compete, but there were also very many which simply could not. Today this would be like having the Penguins and Capitals, and 29 AHL and ECHL teams. The Oilers of the 80s would be able to hang with NHL teams today, probably dominate. But the rest of the NHL was a pale comparison. This allowed guys like Gretzky and Bossy to put up ridiculous numbers. They'd wrack up 5 or 6 point nights against the bottom feeders, then get the normal 0-1 vs the normal competition.
Once the Soviet Union fell and Eastern hockey became a part of the NHL, the talent pool grew. American hockey started growing around the same time. Talent in the NHL is 30x what it was in the 80s.
Also, goaltending back in the 80s was hideous compared to today. Equipment and technique played a factor. Watch any Gretzky highlight reel and tell me if you think today's goalies would stop half of that. Most goalies struggled stopping low shots until the butterfly technique took hold.
This is why i hate these sort of comparisons. Gretzky was the best of his era. No question. But theres just too much variance to try and compare him to today's NHL. Just about every team has superstar caliber players and goaltending that puts the 80s to shame.