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Goal Scoring in the NHL: Too Few, Just Right or Too many?


OrrFour

Scoring in the NHL  

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Mike Babcock definitely thinks there are too few goals being scored.

Babcock advocates bigger nets

Jason Brough

Mar 20, 2013, 11:16 AM EDT

Remember when goalies were really small? No? Well, you must be young then. Because they used to be a lot smaller.

Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock remembers those days. In fact, his boss, Detroit general manager Ken Holland, was one of those small goalies.

“My general manager used to be a goalie, have you seen the size of him?” Babcock told ESPN’s Craig Custance recently. “No really. Have you seen the size of the goalies?”

Babcock’s point: something has to be done to get goal-scoring back to the levels the NHL experienced in the days of the small goalie. Whether it’s shrinking the size of equipment or — gasp — increasing the size of the net.

“If the goalies [are] getting bigger then the net is getting smaller,” Babcock said. “By refusing to change you are changing. Purists would say you can’t do it because you’re changing the game but by not changing you are changing the game.”

NHL general managers, including Holland, are meeting in Toronto today to discuss, among many other things, the size of goalie equipment and how it may be reduced safely.

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How exciting is it when a goal is scored in hockey or soccer. Do yiu think that feeling is the same when someone drains one in basketball where they light up the scoreboard 50 times a game??? Absolutely not. What the nhl has done is separate skilled forwards from hard workers from plugs who fight

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It's fine the way it is now. More goals doesn't always mean better hockey.

In the playoffs for example, I dont think there is anything more exciting than a 1-0 multiple overtime classic.

If the league thinks that they can reincarnate the '80s then they're sorely mistaken. Teams will find a way to adapt to whatever changes are made, the days of 12-6 scores happening with regularity are never coming back.

Dont fix what isn't broken NHL.

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No one is saying more goals = better hockey.

I'm saying more goals =more entertaining hockey.

The playoffs are a different animal. The stakes are high so a 1-0 game can be inherently entertaining.

However, I remember our series with nashville being a total bore.

Yes we could go back to 80's level scoring. Just go to the rules change thread and you'll see lots of suggestions that would make a difference.

You are right, teams will find a way to adapt and players will keep getting bigger and quicker. This is the reason changes have to be made every yr.

If we keep the present rules for another ten years scoring will drop to about 3 goals per game.

No one is saying the nhl is broken, but it needs some cracks repaired and a new paint job.

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Here's my conspiracy theory regarding the reason the nhl doesn't want a return to 80's scoring.

The owners don't want to pay bigger salaries to all the players that would be scoring 50-60 goals and over 100 points a season.

The last thing they want is a player like crosby to threaten gretz's 212 points/season record.

BUT

Now with a hard cap that restricts team and individual salaries the teams shouldn't be afraid to let the goals flow. Unfortunately, they are so terrified of their own salary stupidity they won't do it.

I'm hoping that they slowly let the leash out so that in ten yrs some BC kid will join the canucks and score 93 goals and 213 points.

Wouldn't that be entertaining?

And the nhl is entertainment.

The nhl is so short sighted they don't see that more entertainment would mean more tickets sold, more tv viewers, more revenue.

I'm hoping they'll see the light.

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If somehow the NHL returned to '80s level scoring I dont think the owners would have to worry about paying larger salaries. Goals and points would be devalued as teams would be having 4th liners scoring 20 goals. The Crosbys and Stamkos' of the league would be challenging Gretzky records so they might command more money but other than that.

Goalie salaries probably wouldn't change either, except for the truly elite who's stats would be around a GAA of 2.75 - 3.25, Sv% .880 - .910, SOs 2 - 5.

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If somehow the NHL returned to '80s level scoring I dont think the owners would have to worry about paying larger salaries. Goals and points would be devalued as teams would be having 4th liners scoring 20 goals. The Crosbys and Stamkos' of the league would be challenging Gretzky records so they might command more money but other than that.

Goalie salaries probably wouldn't change either, except for the truly elite who's stats would be around a GAA of 2.75 - 3.25, Sv% .880 - .910, SOs 2 - 5.

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I did a little math based on the article below and Crosby would be on pace for about 192 pts if nhl average scoring was back to 80's levels. Purely speculative of course.

Crosby on Gretzky-like pace

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Forget the shortened season, what Sidney Crosby is managing this hockey year is stunningly comparable to anything anyone has accomplished in hockey history.

You can add it up.

Crosby is scoring at 1.62 points per game, a number that would give him 133 points were this a full season of play. And while that doesn’t seem anywhere near Wayne Gretzky’s record total of 215 points in a season or Mario Lemieux’s best number at 199 points, it does when you take into account the difference in the game Crosby is playing.

In Crosby’s current NHL, there are 5.57 goals scored in the average game. In Gretzky’s 1985-86 season, there were 2.4 more goals per game than currently are being scored. In Lemieux’s 1988-89 season, the average game had almost two more goals than today’s game does. And that’s not even take into account the difference in the quality of goaltending (and goaltending equipment) and the change in coaching.

What Crosby is producing may not be better than anything Gretzky and Lemieux managed, but it’s certainly historical and in the conversation: And it’s ahead, when factoring in the way the game has changed, of just about everybody other than Lemieux or Gretzky who has played before him.

Should Crosby do this in a full 82-game season, which now seems possible in the future, the gap from 200 to 135 may appear substantial: But it’s nowhere near as wide as the numbers show when the differences in the game are accounted for as well.

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