if every year was played in 1981

[Ghostsof1915]

Why it will never happen again.

 

a> Butterfly goaltending style. Gone are the days of the stack the pads, stand up goalies. 

b> Defensive systems. The start with the weak side lock, was the beginning of defensive systems. Forwards and defensemen block shots. 

c> Minor effect. Goalies unless the are outstandingly athletic, tend to be bigger now. Even 7th round picks are 6'2". John Garrett was 5'8" They just take up more space which leads to...

d> Goalie equipment is bigger now, even with league mandated reductions in the size of equipment. They are far bigger, lighter and more movable than 1980's equipment.

 

In short, unless a coach develops a foolproof way to break defensive systems and get more shots on net. We will never see 1982 type hockey again.

The 80's and early 90's was a transition period. Entertaining as hell. But we won't see the likes of it again. 

[Bad_BOI_pete]

8 hours ago, Rubik said:

Joe Thornton played 81 games in the 2005-06 season, scoring 29 goals and 96 assists for 125 pts. (was traded from Boston to San Jose midseason)

 

also, in 1997 he had 7 pts in 55 games, but you put his penalty-in-minutes (19) there instead. Also also, same goes for his 2017 season, you put his PIM instead of his point totals, but I'll just stop. you might want to double-check everything though, this is sloppy.

 

you've got a good memory. Joe's was the first one i worked on, and was entering his numbers by hand and i didnt double check my work. everthing else was a copy paste job, with formulas calculated in excel doing the math for me. took a long time and i put a lot of effort into it.

[Bad_BOI_pete]

3 hours ago, Ghostsof1915 said:

Why it will never happen again.

 

a> Butterfly goaltending style. Gone are the days of the stack the pads, stand up goalies. 

b> Defensive systems. The start with the weak side lock, was the beginning of defensive systems. Forwards and defensemen block shots. 

c> Minor effect. Goalies unless the are outstandingly athletic, tend to be bigger now. Even 7th round picks are 6'2". John Garrett was 5'8" They just take up more space which leads to...

d> Goalie equipment is bigger now, even with league mandated reductions in the size of equipment. They are far bigger, lighter and more movable than 1980's equipment.

 

In short, unless a coach develops a foolproof way to break defensive systems and get more shots on net. We will never see 1982 type hockey again.

The 80's and early 90's was a transition period. Entertaining as hell. But we won't see the likes of it again. 

i think your right, well probably never see that again unless they make the net bigger or something silly like that.

 

another big factor of the goal differential was the amount of power play oppurtunities there was close to 5 a game, compared to now its like 3 a game. thats almost half a goal right there.

 

the good news is scoring is trending up in the last 4 years, we havent seen this many goals since 1996. the power plays are so good, and the game is very fast and is fun to watch. 6 out of the top ten scorer's last year were 24 or younger and 19 out of the top 40. i really would like to see 50 goals in 50 games again, but maybe thats untouchable

 

[-AJ-]

It's fun to do these comparisons and the differences in eras are very noteworthy. A player's scoring from the 80s is not at all the same as the scoring in the early 2000s, for instance. That said, the mathematical relation obviously doesn't tell the whole story. There are a lot more factors to consider and it's obviously not as simple as a simple pro-ration. I think it's good to use league-wide goals-per-game as a rough tool, but as a supplementary resource in comparing eras, not as a primary resource. Honestly, the best tool is probably a more exhaustive look at the league over the years. Who was winning awards? Who was getting All-Star Team votes? Who were the top five in scoring for defensemen? These are the kinds of metrics that can also be helpful as well.

[Bad_BOI_pete]

9 hours ago, -AJ- said:

It's fun to do these comparisons and the differences in eras are very noteworthy. A player's scoring from the 80s is not at all the same as the scoring in the early 2000s, for instance. That said, the mathematical relation obviously doesn't tell the whole story. There are a lot more factors to consider and it's obviously not as simple as a simple pro-ration. I think it's good to use league-wide goals-per-game as a rough tool, but as a supplementary resource in comparing eras, not as a primary resource. Honestly, the best tool is probably a more exhaustive look at the league over the years. Who was winning awards? Who was getting All-Star Team votes? Who were the top five in scoring for defensemen? These are the kinds of metrics that can also be helpful as well.

i couldnt agree more. this was more of a fun thing to look at, a what if situation.

 

There is a few things you can decifer from the data though. As long as you believe hockey is a team sport, then this data show's some player's points totals were greatly benefited due to the era the played in and other's were not. Bossy had the greatest advantage and Thornton the least.  

[IBatch]

Cool thread.   I think 81 was the leagues high water mark - but close enough.  One thing about Gretzky was a quote by another star of his day “while we were all scoring around 100 points, he was getting over 200”.... which really stuck with me.    Something like 7 times he lapped the next best  by over 70 points.. that’s crazy stuff.    Mario, Gretzky, and Orr were definitely in a league of their own.    Another term should be coined for them, generational doesn’t quite fit.    
 

Crosby and Ovi have run the table like other greats - and think they will get the same reverence upon retirement as Howe, Hull, Lidstrom and a few others.    At some point you have to think another Gretzky/Mario/Orr type will come along and do it all over again though.  

 

Scoring is on the rise for sure.   The remanants of the old guard  from the early 2000’s is almost gone.   Players back then were drafted differently.   Size mattered more, skating wasn’t the main metric at all.   Skill and speed are going to keep this trend going up.   No red line changed everything, as did obstruction calls cleaning up that stuff - it’s all but gone.   Players know what they won’t get away with - watching video of Lindros and Mario ... times have changed for sure.   Hitting too for the matter, there is more space for guys that can skate, pass and score.   Kind of an equalizer for the butterfly - and of course ruined the nuetral zone trap game. 
 

It’s pretty exciting that offense reached the highs it did last season.   It was fun to watch.   5-4 games have always been my favourite ones - with apologies to all goalies out there ha ha.   When your fifth highest scorer almost got 100 points in around 70 games ... that’s great for hockey.   And with the amount of young talent on the blue line coming in...this trend doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon.    Orr is considered one of the best skaters ever,  sped up with little motion - Heiskanen was recently compared to him by THN as a guy that skates like Orr did, and bravely said he’s already the best defensive skater in the league.  
 

Sure beats the days when a few guys were managing a PGP...1994 was the last year we had a dozen or so guys surpass 100...think Gretzky won his last Art Ross with over 130 in LA...Federov won the Hart and Pearson...NJ won the next cup and all bets were off.   Obstruction had already been complained about for years by Mario, Roenick, Hull and a few others ... between that, all the 80’s stars in their mid 30’s and the butterfly/big equipment and the trap it really did squish scoring.   Not the leagues brightest hour.