NHL Scoring, Is It Back?

[WildCard]

There was one player last year with 90+ points. There are 7 this year, and if Wheeler gets one more, there will be 8.

 

The NHL goals/game went from 2.77 goals/team last year, to 2.97 goals/team this year; the highest since 2005-2006.

https://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/stats.html

 

So, did the goalie pads work? Are they calling more penalties? Is Gary Bettman still an insufferable ass?

[Stoner]

There was one player last year with 90+ points. There are 7 this year, and if Wheeler gets one more, there will be 8.

 

The NHL goals/game went from 2.77 goals/team last year, to 2.97 goals/team this year; the highest since 2005-2006.

https://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/stats.html

 

So, did the goalie pads work? Are they calling more penalties? Is Gary Bettman still an insufferable ass?

Maybe a lot of little tweaks are working. Defensive player puts stick down first, not the visiting player. Crackdown on slashing has been huge I think, not just for the power plays but for the freeing up of offensive talent not getting hacked. No timeout after icing. Threat of a penalty if you challenge an offside and lose. Perhaps this will mean something to Sabres hockey one day.

[darksabre]

I think the slashing calls are a big contributor.

[matter2003]

There was one player last year with 90+ points. There are 7 this year, and if Wheeler gets one more, there will be 8.

 

The NHL goals/game went from 2.77 goals/team last year, to 2.97 goals/team this year; the highest since 2005-2006.

https://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/stats.html

 

So, did the goalie pads work? Are they calling more penalties? Is Gary Bettman still an insufferable ass?

 

Depends what era you are talking about.  If you are talking about the early to mid 80's then no, it isn't even close and never will be again. Hockey does more to stifle its offense than any other sport.  While other sports place huge value on scoring and increasing it via rule changes, hockey places huge value on defense, goalies and reducing it via rul changes and allowing the God awful Left WingLock/Trap to be played routinely.

 

Even going back to the early '90s there were routinely 9-12 players scoring over 100 points in a season with 7-10 more above 90 points---as late as '92-'93 there were 20!!!! players who scored at least 100 points that year.  The fact we have set the bar so low for what constitutes lots of points in a season is ridiculous.  I mean for Christ's Sakes Benn won the scoring title the one year without even hitting 90 points...that is ludicrous.

Edited April 4, 2018 by matter2003

[WildCard]

Depends what era you are talking about.  If you are talking about the early to mid 80's then no, it isn't even close and never will be again. Hockey does more to stifle its offense than any other sport.  While other sports place huge value on scoring and increasing it via rule changes, hockey places huge value on defense, goalies and reducing it via rul changes and allowing the God awful Left WingLock/Trap to be played routinely.

 

Even going back to the early '90s there were routinely 9-12 players scoring over 100 points in a season with 7-10 more above 90 points.  The fact we have set the bar so low for what constitutes lots of points in a season is ridiculous.  I mean for Christ's Sakes Benn won the scoring title the one year without even hitting 90 points...that is ludicrous.

With goalies and defense being so much better these days, I don't think we'll ever get back to that level. When I say back, I'm talking about post-lockout 2005-2006

[Sabres Fan in NS]

I don't know about any of that stuff other than Bettman is still an ass of the highest order.

[Winston]

There were 7349 PP opportunities in the NHL last season. That was 245/team. Almost exactly 3 chances per game.

 

There have been 7556 opportunities in the NHL this season. That's 244/team so far. Again, right around 3 per game, but slightly up.

 

The average PP% is up though, from 19.11% to 20.08%. Still not drastic though.

[woods-racer]

3.5 goals a game.

 

Reach that level and the game will be much more exciting than it is now.

[shrader]

There was one player last year with 90+ points. There are 7 this year, and if Wheeler gets one more, there will be 8.

 

The NHL goals/game went from 2.77 goals/team last year, to 2.97 goals/team this year; the highest since 2005-2006.

https://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/stats.html

 

So, did the goalie pads work? Are they calling more penalties? Is Gary Bettman still an insufferable ass?

 

Would you happen to know if the goal credited to a team that wins in a shootout is included in those goals/game stat?  I know at some point the NHL used to include those when they displayed their standings, but I have no idea if they ever changed that.

[WildCard]

Would you happen to know if the goal credited to a team that wins in a shootout is included in those goals/game stat?  I know at some point the NHL used to include those when they displayed their standings, but I have no idea if they ever changed that.

Na sorry, I have no idea. I've always wondered who gets credited that goal though; does the player get it? does it count towards team totals? is it a special teams goal?