20 years since two-line offside: What's the state of the game, etc.?

[The Panther]

The two-line offside was axed in 2005 (along with other rule changes, such as adding the shoot-out after overtime). Twenty years have passed. How do y'all feel about the way offense and defence have evolved in the 20 years since then?

In general, how do you feel the NHL game today compares to 2005? To 1995? 1985? 1975? (Not many here will remember much before that, but some do and should chime in.)

By the way, I was thinking about this after watching this video where former NBA stars weigh-in on the state of basketball today:

It's quite interesting, as some of the things ex-NBA-ers dislike about today's NBA (excessive 3-point shooting, lack of physicality, porous defence, players not using size to their advantage) have parallels in today's NHL. (Of course, some things they talk about are completely different and can't be related to the NHL.)

Anyway, to make it easy to copy and paste my questions, here they are:

1) How do you feel about the no 2-line offside system? Is it fundamantally better? How has it changed the game?

2) How does today's NHL compare with 2005?

3) How does today's NHL compare with 1995?

4) How does today's NHL compare with 1985?

5) How does today's NHL compare with 1975?

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[rnhaas]

Can't help but respond to the video, sorry. Ant is cocky and says ridiculous things. People could just ignore him.

But old NBA players hate the new NBA, even the guys whose job it is to market the NBA. (Which is insane.) It's just a bunch of old guys complaining about how things were better when they were young. The talent level is insane right now and there are tons of different styles despite the increase in threes. Sure, there are guys who couldn't succeed in the past because of their skills - not strong enough, weak footwork, etc. - but some old guys would just get destroyed in the modern NBA because they couldn't move quickly enough. It's hardly perfect but some of the quotes in the video...it's obvious they don't actually watch many NBA games now. (Rick Barry says nobody passes and cuts! What is he talking about? Is he aware of the style of his own Warriors?)

That being said, the pro-offense rules are a problem - it's so hard to defend without fouling - and the calls are, as always, enforced completely unfairly based on how much of a star the offensive player is. (I suspect that has always been the case.)

/rant