NyQuil
Big F$&*in Q
How many 1G have come in ? I can't recall any
They are getting lit up by the guys on your list.
How many 1G have come in ? I can't recall any
Those things contributed too, without much question. But skating has improved drastically. I don't care how much freedom you give them, no one in the 90s-2000 was skating like the top skaters today.
And the single best way to get the freedom to use your skating ability is by skating so well that no one can easily get close to you while you're maintaining puck possession. Make it risky to try to close the gap, because you can walk the defender even if he does everything perfectly. That's why guys are playing back a little more from the top guys, giving guys more space. Sure, the rules that make it easier to walk a guy without getting held/hooked/obstructed do absolutely contribute as well, but no one is reaching out to grab you or hold you if you can't get around them in the first place.
And then they nerfed goalie equipment.
There's no way just expanding the league to two teams (aka adding ~50 players) makes that big of a difference
I think the equipment and technique that goaltenders used improved so rapidly during the 90's that it effectively jumped 2 generations ahead of the offensive tactics and skills. It's taken this long for the skaters to begin to catch up. You add in the reduction in obstruction, headshots, illegal stickwork plus the restrictions placed on goaltenders pads size and you get what is happening now.I agree that there's more talent in the League than there was a decade ago and obviously the reduction in goalie equipment has contributed to the rise in scoring.
However, I think we are also simply at a point in time where offense is evolving faster than defense and goaltending. This may have been the case back in the 80s and early 90s as well. In the mid 90s systems like the trap became prevalent and it was common for players to use hooking, holding, obstruction etc to impede players.
I suspect that soon another Jacques Lemaire will come along and find a way to effectively neutralize offense and have success in the playoffs. Then teams will copy him, especially if the League continues to expand.
It may if we're looking at star players.
I haven't corroborated these numbers, but I'm not sure goal scoring is actually up.
NHL League Averages | Hockey-Reference.com
Check out the latest NHL League Averages including shots, saves, goal averages and more on Hockey-Reference.comwww.hockey-reference.com
It looks like the jump occurred in 2021-2022 (from around 3 goals a game to 3.1ish goals a game). 2021-2022 was the Kraken's first season.
The previous jump would have been in 2017-2018, where it 2.7ish goal per game to around 3ish goals per game). That doesn't line up with Vegas (first season being 2018-2019).
Now correlation doesn't equal causation, and I think the bigger impact is strategic trends (like playing elite players more frequently), development changes and goalie equipment changes, but expansion and dilution of talent probably does play a role, especially for elite players. Fewer teams have the depth to contain the top players.
There's a certain degree of causality.
You have an entire generation of players being brought up under the new rules. Part of it is due to the emphasis on skating development and training and part of it is prioritizing skating over potentially other qualities at all levels of amateur player selection up to and including the NHL draft.
All of a sudden, teams aren't drafting with such an emphasis on size anymore. With the two line pass still in place, the smaller offensive zone, you didn't need to be the best skater to get within an arm or stick's reach of another player, I don't care how good they were.
Puck moving defencemen and smaller finesse players are coveted because they can't simply be manhandled into irrelevance. Teams can't afford to put enforcers on the ice anymore if they can't keep up with the play, and if it means you are short a productive skating forward.
That only works if quite talented player on bad contract (they would be top 6 but at that price tag better bury them) or stay in Europe because the quality of life make it worth it to take a not so big pay cut, as team cannot offer them what they want them too contract wise because of the cap.The salary cap crunch is a big part of the cause. .. but on the same rosters you have players filling out the 3rd and 4th lines who probably should be in the AHL. Then you have teams like the Sharks and Hawks who aside from Bedard have no top end talent just a bunch of players that would be 3rd or 4th line or in the AHL on most teams. Same with the defense and goaltending....
It may if we're looking at star players.
I haven't corroborated these numbers, but I'm not sure goal scoring is actually up.
NHL League Averages | Hockey-Reference.com
Check out the latest NHL League Averages including shots, saves, goal averages and more on Hockey-Reference.comwww.hockey-reference.com
It looks like the jump occurred in 2021-2022 (from around 3 goals a game to 3.1ish goals a game). 2021-2022 was the Kraken's first season.
The previous jump would have been in 2017-2018, where it 2.7ish goal per game to around 3ish goals per game). That doesn't line up with Vegas (first season being 2018-2019).
Now correlation doesn't equal causation, and I think the bigger impact is strategic trends (like playing elite players more frequently), development changes and goalie equipment changes, but expansion and dilution of talent probably does play a role, especially for elite players. Fewer teams have the depth to contain the top players.
Vegas first season was 2017-2018. The same year there was a big jump in scoring. Also goalie equipment decreased that year as well.
Please god no more trap.I'm tired of the high scoring era, it's boring now, we want the trap again. 70 goals is the new 40, it's not even cool anymore.
#LaKings4Cup #Danault4Hart
I disagree and hate this take.Diluting of talent