txpd
Registered User
Hockee said:You are wrong.
Players are better trained physically, but not mentally. There is no difference there.
The butterfly was around in the days of Gretzky and Kurri. They scored anyway.
Pads and equipment have had a huge effect. This is not debatable.
You're going to have to come back with a little more than you came with here, because frankly you are just talking out of your tailpipe.
I am not sure what you were watching in gretzky's 80's days. stand up goaltending was the style played by most goalies into the early 90's. watch some gretzky highlights and see how often the goalie is standing and waving his leg pad at the passing puck. Tony Esposito was about the only prominent Butterfly guy of that time. Fuhr was a standup, Billy Smith, standup.
Additionally there is a complete difference in philosophy between the stand up goalie and the butterfly goalie. The stand up goalie tries to move to stop the shot.
He reacts to the shot and tries to stop it. The butterfly goalie plays the net, not the shot. He gets in proper position then takes away all of the bottom of the net and leaves the top corners open. again...go back and look at those gretzky goals.
see how few of them were water bottle knockers.
You can cut down the pads, but goaltending will still be better. additionally in gretzky's time a team goaltending coach was a rare thing. now each team has one.
go ahead and contract all the teams you dont like, but i think the facts shoot down the theory that the talent is deluded from the 24 team days. Its seems you want to go back to a time when the league was 85% Canadian players. The fact is that as the NHL as grown so have its sources for players.
It used to be that American players in general and college players in particular were not given much of a chance at the NHL level. That was still the case when Adam Oates broke in...he was undrafted for god's sake. The Capitals got Peter Bondra in like the 7th round because they were the only team that scouted the guy in slovakia. THAT would never happen now. The fact is that European players and college players that were not given the chance for NHL careers in the past have filled those jobs created by expansion.
It wasnt long ago that russians were a rare in the NHL. its pretty obvious that there are a lot of outstanding russian players.
Lastly on that subject the 3rd line guys of 1985 couldnt keep up with the 3rd line guys of today. 3rd liners today are often defensive specialist that take top ice time. In 1985 they were just 3rd string and not that good.