Forgot just how bad the stick technology was back then. Today, with the composites, the velocity of both passes and shots are so much quicker. The way we can now load up the stick and have the quick snap (and low kick-point), vs the old lumber is night and day.
Agree. People focus on the goaltenders' equipment changes so often, but what has startled me in the last ten years or so is the stick technology. It's night and day compared to anything before about 1990... and it's even a huge difference compared to the Lock-Out era.
The fact is, it's much easier for any NHL player today (incl. a lot of stay-at-home defencemen otherwise not known for offensive ability) to whip and zing missiles at the net, in a split-second. That was utterly impossible with wooden sticks.
I think this is why, for example, we rarely see today's younger stars (McDavid included, but also MacKinnon, Matthews, etc.) take slap-shots or shoot from distance. Their whole lives have been spent training with high-tech composite and 'artificial' sticks that allow them maximum control of the puck and pin-point accuracy. They don't see the point in winding up and cranking one from a distance. Even the point-men don't do it as much now (of course, it's damn hard to gets pucks through to the net now).