What is the biggest discrepancy from one season to the next in the NHL in terms of overall play/culture/scoring?

[Crosby2010]

So sometimes you look back and you say, "Man, 1997 was such a different league in the NHL than 1991 and that was only 6 years." Or you might say that about 1989 vs. 1982 or so. Or 1971 vs. 1965. Just having those few years can make a difference. The game can be more wide open, goalies can have bigger equipment, the game could be more defensive, less scoring, tighter checking, more fighting, etc. Or more 100 point scorers than the year before, or a lot less.

What year(s) are the most vastly different from one year to the next? For example I found that 1994 and 1995 had a very different feel to them. I also feel that 1996 to 1997 had a different feel to it. 2010 to 2011 had a shift to it that emphasized a return to the dead puck era hockey. Obviously 2004 and 2006 are different as there was the lockout and the rule changes in between. But can you think of one season after the other that seemed vastly different from one another? Could be the type of players that were dominating, could be the new teams that were at the top of the standings, or prominent players that retired, or busted out and hit their stride, etc. Could be a major rule change.

Or do you feel you have to go a couple of years down the road to notice a distinct difference? For example I found 1994 and 1997 to be much different styles of game.

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[Michael Farkas]

Yeah, I think that 1994 to 1997 window is a really interesting one. The 80's sort of finally died out by 1993. There was a lot of change in that period. Also, even intra-season...a lot of mandates came down to officials and what not, so you ended up with "this was a penalty at the beginning of the year, not now..." or "this was a tactic then, not now..." kind of stuff...

This might not be backed by science, and maybe it has to do with being a Penguins fan...but I thought 2001 to 2002 was a bit of a drop off. Whatever more open hockey was left from the 1996-1998 times was mostly gone or carried into embarrassing defeat by the West Coast Express.

I think 2007 to 2008 a little bit too...that's when we went from "NO TOUCHING!" to "Ok...SOME touching!" because without some interference, everyone died. Every dump in was like an NFL kickoff return in 1986...

 

[Hippasus]

03-04 to 05-06 was separated by a full season lockout and was a very significant difference in playing culture and style. It went from a dead puck era to another, albeit brief, offensive era (with lots of power plays). I think this might be as good of an example as any. Perhaps the expansion to 12 teams in 67-68, or the expansion to 21 teams in 79-80.

 

[Michael Farkas]

I'm not fully convinced that the difference from 67 to 68 was as massive as "double" would normally indicate.

 

[Crosby2010]

I'm not fully convinced that the difference from 67 to 68 was as massive as "double" would normally indicate.

Interestingly, league scoring didn't really go up from 1967 to 1968. Mikita led the NHL with 87 points. Perfectly normal during that time. Then bam, 1969 comes and Esposito gets 126, Hull 107 and Howe 103. And there has barely been an NHL season without a 100 point man since.