Crazy rise in scoring the last three years

[WeThreeKings]

Price
Lundqvist
Rask
Rinne
Quick
Luongo

All of them better than Shesterkin, Vasilevskiy, and Oettenger. The top 3 right now.

Fixed your list as to who would be better than Shesterkin. Vasilevskiy played in the NHL with Price and a lot on that list. He's third on that list behind Price and Lundy.

 

[mcdingdong]

It's combined both an increase in league wide scoring, and a higher concentration of that scoring amongst the league's top stars.

THIS. League wide scoring in general has only slightly increased. The thread should really be discussing why it has become so concentrated amongst the very best players. I mean, just look at how the OP was stated - counting 100pt players instead of team average goal rates for the time periods selected to exaggerate this "dramatic" rise in scoring.

EDIT: I would guess that PP efficiency (and ice-time for the #1 units increasing relative to previous time periods as coaches finally figure out that this leads to better PP results overall) and 3v3 OT are 2 of the main reasons the scoring is more localized to the stars.

 

[Based Anime Fan]

Fixed your list as to who would be better than Shesterkin. Vasilevskiy played in the NHL with Price and a lot on that list. He's third on that list behind Price and Lundy.

Yeah, seeing Bishop on that list was clownshoes. Bishop wasn't exactly a marquee goaltender.

 

[Cursed Lemon]

I don't believe smaller goalie equipment has a lot to do with it. You'd have to systematically show that the same danger level chances are going in at a significantly higher percentage than before and I don't think that's true.

I think it's an on-ice culture shift toward a speedier, more skill-oriented game.

 

[x Tame Impala]

Agreed. I’m just responding to several posts on the first page, which suggest NHL players got bitten by radioactive spiders circa 2018.

What those people think workout regimens were like in the early 2010's...

 

[PaulD]

Maybe related, the Leafs fell from a franchise high team at 115 points to a 111 point team to a 102 point team over the last 3 seasons.

to wild card to missing play offs ...... trending that way

 

[RandV]

I do wonder about present day goalies though. I have to recognize through 8 years of Jim Benning and losing interest in the league-wide knowledge has slowly deteriorated to the point that when the Gauthier/Drysdale trade happened I had no idea who either player was, a concept that would be shocking to me 10 years ago. But I look at rosters going into the season and I don't know it just seems like half the teams don't have what should be considered a legit starting goalie. Not just basement teams but legit playoff teams like Toronto or Vegas.

 

[dgibb10]

Price
Lundqvist
Rask
Rinne
Quick
Luongo
Crawford
MA Fleury
Anderson
Bishop

All of them better than Shesterkin, Vasilevskiy, and Oettenger. The top 3 right now.

Who put Jake Oettinger top 3.

And anyone who thinks Corey Crawford is better than Shesterkin should get their speaking privledges taken away

 

[Offtheboard412]

I don't believe smaller goalie equipment has a lot to do with it. You'd have to systematically show that the same danger level chances are going in at a significantly higher percentage than before and I don't think that's true.

I think it's an on-ice culture shift toward a speedier, more skill-oriented game.

I feel like that short side top corner shot from along the goal line has opened up more. Although that may just be players focusing on it more, but I definitely noticed that trend beginning after the pad changes. Also, save percentages dropped immediately following those equipment changes. It's almost certainly a combination of multiple factors driving the increase in scoring, but the pads definitely had a real effect. If the goalie is covering less net, then there is more space for the puck to get through. If that wasn't a significant factor in goaltending, then we wouldn't have seen the shift towards larger goaltenders that has happened the past 20+ years.

 

[Cursed Lemon]

If that wasn't a significant factor in goaltending, then we wouldn't have seen the shift towards larger goaltenders that has happened the past 20+ years.

This is what I'm talking about, though. You can sit there and say, "goalie equipment got huge in the 90s", which is true, but also at the exact same time goalies figured out en masse that they didn't have to stand straight up all the time (as well as the game being polluted with big, slow players).

 

[SheldonJPlankton]

to wild card to missing play offs ...... trending that way

I think they'll bottom out as a bubble team. A 95ish point team...similar to their past teams. Most likely Leaf-lucky and make the playoffs...unlike teams like the 2018 Panthers who missed out with 96 points.

 

[Offtheboard412]

This is what I'm talking about, though. You can sit there and say, "goalie equipment got huge in the 90s", which is true, but also at the exact same time goalies figured out en masse that they didn't have to stand straight up all the time (as well as the game being polluted with big, slow players).

I was not referring to goaltender's pads increasing in size. I was referring to the actual stature of the goaltenders. They've gotten taller over the years.

 

[Cursed Lemon]

I was not referring to goaltender's pads increasing in size. I was referring to the actual stature of the goaltenders. They've gotten taller over the years.

Oh, well that's also true.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

I don't believe smaller goalie equipment has a lot to do with it. You'd have to systematically show that the same danger level chances are going in at a significantly higher percentage than before and I don't think that's true.

I think it's an on-ice culture shift toward a speedier, more skill-oriented game.

The main reason I think it's the goalie pads are because pp efficiencies are through the roof league wide. League culture shouldn't affect it that much, powerplays by definition have always been about being on the attack.

 

[kingsholygrail]

Scoring hasn't been this easy since the 80s.

So the 2020s will be looked back on as an era of inflated numbers?

 

[Offtheboard412]

So the 2020s will be looked back on as an era of inflated numbers?

I'm hoping it will be the late 90's through the mid 2010's being looked back at as a low scoring era. I think where scoring is at now is perfect. The elite guys can put up very impressive numbers while goaltending and strong defensive play can still win playoff series.

 

[Svencouver]

I will never get over people who legit believe that speed, strength, shooting, coaching, and training all got wildly better between 2017 and 2019.

Out of all of those, I think that coaching and training did get better. The digitization of information and the rise in analytics has dramatically changed how every sport is modeled, trained, and taught, and hockey is no exception. All of football, basketball, and hockey have dramatically changed in the past decade as a result. Rule changes, equipment changes, and league expansion are the "big 3" in my eyes in terms of increasing offense in any given league, but advances in analytics, coaching, and training (and how all 3 intertwine) are probably #4.

 

[Fatass]

Diluted league. Stick technology. Smaller goalie equipment. Interference rule changes. All, and others, combine for more scoring. Imagine McDavid with an old wooden stick, crappy skates, on soft ice, with guys hanging on him on and off the puck. He’d still be fabulous but his point totals would be a lot less.

 

[Video Nasty]

Whatever answer preserves the dull Crosby/Ovechkin era as the pinnacle of hockey.

 

[PaulD]

So the 2020s will be looked back on as an era of inflated numbers?

could be

 

[Offtheboard412]

Out of all of those, I think that coaching and training did get better. The digitization of information and the rise in analytics has dramatically changed how every sport is modeled, trained, and taught, and hockey is no exception. All of football, basketball, and hockey have dramatically changed in the past decade as a result. Rule changes, equipment changes, and league expansion are the "big 3" in my eyes in terms of increasing offense in any given league, but advances in analytics, coaching, and training (and how all 3 intertwine) are probably #4.

You see it on the power plays now. More 4 or even 5 forward power play units. Gone are the days of running the power play through the big slapper from the point.

 

[Cursed Lemon]

The main reason I think it's the goalie pads are because pp efficiencies are through the roof league wide. League culture shouldn't affect it that much, powerplays by definition have always been about being on the attack.

Maybe but that's not something I'd be willing to take on faith. Someone should do some science and shit about it

 

[JPT]

I don't believe that players suddenly became more skilled and goalies became worse, the rules, equipment and officiating just gave players more opportunity to display their skills and equipment made it harder for goalies to display theirs. Expansion makes a difference too obviously. It's kinda crazy when you think about 2023 where the vezina winner put up a .940 and the art ross winner had 153 points

Goalies can still display their skill with the smaller equipment. We just have to adjust how we perceive good goaltending in a higher scoring era.

 

[blundluntman]

Goalies can still display their skill with the smaller equipment. We just have to adjust how we perceive good goaltending in a higher scoring era.

Yeah that's a much better way of putting it

 

[daver]

Lmao, the last 3 years? The NHL has seen a steady rise in scoring for almost 7 seasons, if you look at the amount of 100pt players, it's comical at this point and it's a high scoring era. Makes what players did from 2005-2017 incredible really.

Incredible how? I don't think it adds anything to the legacies of those players other than putting things into perspective.

Clearly the very best offensive players have a better environment to put up points so one needs put context on their numbers.