NHL has a problem - Lack/style of scoring

[Miroslav Klose*]

If anyone says the NHL scoring is down, they have no idea what they're talking about. What other league has 29 goals in ONE GAME? Jesus Christ Almighty!

http://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/en/boxscore?id=2014040060


AHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Bending and Tending]

I'd rather see an increase in goals as a result of increased scoring opportunities. Not an artificial increase where there are the same amount of scoring opportunities, but the nets are just bigger.

 

[MessierII]

Make the nets slightly larger and for the love of god please just call the game. Just flat out call penalties. No more who, what, when, where just call penalties.

PS please call penalty shots when breakaways are obstructed. It's like 1 out of 3 times it's actually called a penalty shot the other 2 thirds it's just a regular 2 min.

 

[kitsel]

If anyone says the NHL scoring is down, they have no idea what they're talking about. What other league has 29 goals in ONE GAME? Jesus Christ Almighty!

http://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/en/boxscore?id=2014040060


AHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even as someone who loves where the NHL is at right now as I do that's a silly example to use and holds no real relevance.

What I think this game *did* show however is that it's not as simple as just going down any which way and blocking every shot like a lot of people here are making it out to be. Give players open looks and open ice without obstruction and players will make goalies look absolutely silly. It's more the defensive systems, forcing shots from the outside, and obstruction than it is the butterfly or pad size that is causing the high sv% and low scoring. You give good players a wide open shot from between the circles like the "good old days" and they'll still put it in. The goalies looked helpless at the ASG even on some of the longer shots, and it seemed like most of them were actually trying.

 

[Shockmaster]

I think it's time for the owners to start running the NHL instead of the GMs. All the GMs are concerned about is watching out for their own jobs. Turning hockey games into sludgefests helps the GMs because it keeps games close and allows them to get away with subpar roster assembly.

I'm not going to say owners don't care about winning, I'm sure most do. But they also care about the bottom line, which is money. A boring product turns fans and their money away. Goals and scoring in general bring out excitement. I know the purists here don't like hearing that, but that's the reality of sports. Entertainment = more money. That's something the owners can relate to, not the GMs.

 

[Cawz]

Actually it's significantly down compared to the 1980s. The average NBA team scored about 112 points a game back then. The biggest difference between then and now is the TV networks complained about how long the games were lasting so the NBA had the officials put away the whistles. The result was fewer free throws, but also fewer open shots since you could pretty much mug the guys on offense without fear of sending him to the line and noticeably lower shooting percentages. Oh, and they legalized zone defenses to force teams to shoot jumpers instead of driving to basket. In other words scoring went down.....but the games finished up quicker so the TV networks were happy.

True, but we also saw 6 of the last 8 year with a score of 99.6 or higher, which is the highest streak in 20 years. The NHL has had 4 years straight with goals under 2.75. Thats the lowest streak in 60 years.

 

[Morgoth Bauglir]

True, but we also saw 6 of the last 8 year with a score of 99.6 or higher, which is the highest streak in 20 years. The NHL has had 4 years straight with goals under 2.75. Thats the lowest streak in 60 years.

That has more to do with teams compensating for being forced to shoot jumpers by putting of a lot of three point shots. You'll find the relatively slight rise in scoring over the last ten years goes hand in hand with the number of threes being tossed up compared to before. The league didn't actually address the issues that stagnated the game in the first place: Namely, the "let them play" attitude that came in with the 1990s.

 

[Cawz]

Well, naturally, yes. But I don't feel that's the crux of the argument. No one is debating that scoring is in a bit of a decline. It's more the statement of whether the league actually has a problem that is up for debate. It's not one side claiming that scoring is down and the other side claiming that scoring isn't down.

Basically, if you say "scoring is down, and it's bad for the game because X" then it's the second part of that statement which we're discussing. Likewise if you say "scoring is down, and we need to fix it by doing X," it's the second part of that statement we're going to discuss.

I'm with you as far as penalties go. Interference has made a comeback, and it stifles scoring chances when they let that go. What's interesting, though, is that just from observation, hooking is still being called way more than it was pre-lockout.

Well, I'd say scoring is down, and thats not necessarily bad, but if you couple that with penalties being down, it will generally point to less offense in the game, which lowers the entertainment value for most. Offense is more entertaining than defense, strawman arguments aside that people love to use to debate that.

Not at all. The league changed the rules in 2005 and played had to adapt and as a result we saw record high powerplays per game. If the league simply made more of an effort to call the obstruction that is there now, we would see an increase in PPOs but not to record levels, just to normal levels (considering we are at an all time low now). I thought I made that pretty clear: middle ground rather than polarizing things.

I see what you are saying, but I just think if that called the obstruction, we would get to near record levels. Theres that much of it. If you called 2 more penalties per team, we are near record territory. I see more than 2 penalties per game being ignored.

 

[Cawz]

That has more to do with teams compensating for being forced to shoot jumpers by putting of a lot of three point shots. You'll find the relatively slight rise in scoring over the last ten years goes hand in hand with the number of threes being tossed up compared to before. The league didn't actually address the issues that stagnated the game in the first place: Namely, the "let them play" attitude that came in with the 1990s.

I dont really see that as stagnating the game though. 3-pointers are a good part of the game. But once again, we are talking about now, not 25 years ago. I dont see a "let them play" attitude. If anything, its a "stars get the calls" attitude.

 

[DekeLikeYouMeanIt]

I propose removing goalies and faceoffs after goals. Pucks go in, pucks come out, play resumes.

Just have a guy in the stands flip a puck rafter high as soon as it gets out of bounds.

 

[lawrence]

as close as it gets to the dead puck era. Leage wide scoring is down, heck even to a point. No wait. this is worst then the dead puck era. Even Bure was able to almost score 60 goals.

League leaders as follows.

1 Tavares with 72 points in 72 games?
2 Ovechkin 71 points in 70 games
3 Crosby 65 points in 70 games
4 Backstrom 71 in 71
5 Voracek 69 in 72.

out of the 5 only Crosby has a good point per game, and of course... he's sidney Crosby other then him, it's pretty much point the top guys are point per game.

this is a huge concern. Even if the mist of the dead puck era you will have 3 or 4 guys with over a 100 points, (Sakic Naslund, St.Louis, etc etc)

Defensive system are well back in full force. Props to improved goaltending, but to be honest, it's NHL resorting to defensive systems that are stifling defence that has caused this. It's really sad.

 

[Anglesmith]

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?p=99362091