Disclaimer: Hardyvan, my comment below is offered in no way to incite or frankly change your or anyone else's mind. So please take it in the friendly spirit intended:
You are unfortunately guilty directly above of the same type of generalization you accuse of others.
True, if one watches YouTube videos of goaltending from the 70s and 80s, the style, the equipement, etc. clearly favored shooters much moreso than today. No debate there.
But to stereotype all of that period under "the State of Goaltending" pays no homage - which is richly deserved - to the very few GREAT goaltenders of that era. To wit:
Has any goaltender this side of Domick Hasek put up consecutive seasons to rival that of Bernie Parent, circa 1974-76? Now the stats (adjusted or otherwise) may not support that premise, but those around at the time (and still around today
) will rightly put up a good debate.
Has any goaltender since put up a more impressive four consecutive postseason goaltending run than Billy Smith, 1979-83? (Has any goaltender had a single greater SCF playoff game than Smith in Game One of '83?)
Each of the examples above were in that period of goaltending you ridiculed. And while one can argue if they were the "very best" it is indisputable that they were among the best ever ...and, perhaps most impressively, they occured in a period that favored shooter and a timeframe of goaltending that you ripped in its entirety, out of hand. (Not uncommon here.)
Exceptions to the rule? Fair enough. But for the sake of accuracy, we need best steer away from blanket stereotypes, lest we become, to borrow your own word "lazy".
One can mock all of the above as an overdose of "nostalgia," but is such labeling any
less boorish and disrespectful than one who dismisses adjusted stats out of hand?
Again, nothing personal, and perhaps, ironically, I'm bolstering your earlier point about "no right and wrong"(!)