Is it accurate to consider the current NHL the same as the 2005-06 season?

[McPoyle]

The 2005-06 season is an obvious demarcation point in NHL history. It followed a season long shutdown, the implementation of significant rule changes, and the influx of a new generation of superstars into the league (Ovechkin, Crosby, Malkin, etc.).

And yet it is now nearly 20 seasons since the 05-06 season. Hockey has continued to change and evolve. I still see articles written talking about the "cap era", considering the current league the same as the 06 league. I think its obvious that the NHL of 2025 is in a different era than the NHL of 2006. But what season marks the change?

I think the most obvious point in time would be the Covid shutdown, between the 2019-20 season and the 2020-21 season. It resulted in a flat cap for several seasons, an introduction of various novel money making schemes, and a continued increase in league wide scoring.

Do others agree? Are we in a new era of the NHL? Or are we still in the cap era?

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[carolinacirclesfan]

Malkin didn't start playing until the season after. And the salary cap still exists. And it's not 2025 yet. What in the hell are you talking about?

 

[MadLuke]

2006 and 2007 were relatively unique, 2011 was already quite different than 2006 and 2018 quite different than 2011, but also quite similar, numbers of teams, salary caps, etc...

 

[Matsun]

I think there are 3 eras since the lockout. 06-10, 11-17, 18-now. After the lockout scoring was high and we had young superstars running the league. This is the post lockout era. In 2011 Crosby/Malkin/OV all got injured/stopped scoring and Boston won with alot of physicality which started the new low scoring period around the league. In 2018 McDavid won his 2nd Art Ross, we had multiple 100 point scorers for the first time since 2010, 9 guys with 90 for the first time since 07 and players like MacKinnon and Kucherov broke out. I think scoring went up because of Pittsburgh winning with speed, McDavid breaking out, Erik Karlsson bringing back the offensive defenseman. But maybe the biggest reason was shrinking the goalie gear which started happening around 18-19.

 

[VanIslander]

Joe Thornton was well into his Gretzky impression in 2006.

He led the league in assists three years in a row then, 8 times top 3... not quite even Adam Oates numbers, but close (and Oates went up against Gretz & Mario).

Crosby is sooo third tier.

Passing is a past skill.

 

[BraveCanadian]

If I'm not mistaken 05-06 was very PP driven making it an outlier in that way at least

 

[buffalowing88]

I think the cool part about 05-06 is that it gave a bunch of skilled guys who were probably never going to establish themselves in the DPE a second chance. As stated above, those guys didn't have much staying power and I agree that by 2011 the league was moving to a more physical style again and just from watching the games, there was a real shift. It's hard to say if that era has ended yet.

 

[MadLuke]

Passing is a past skill.

McDavid and Kucherov just had 100 assists this year, something even Oates never did, Lemieux only once.

McDavid just broke Gretzky most assists in a playoff run record (99 was winning the cup too quick)

I think there are 3 eras since the lockout. 06-10, 11-17, 18-now.

Roughly that, could be 2006-2009, 2010-2017, 2018 to now.

PPO / save percentage / GAA :
2006: 5.85 / .901 / 2.92
2011: 3.54 / .913 / 2.61

Than
2017: .913 / 2.59
2019: .910 / 2.81

 

[DitchMarner]

I think the cool part about 05-06 is that it gave a bunch of skilled guys who were probably never going to establish themselves in the DPE a second chance. As stated above, those guys didn't have much staying power and I agree that by 2011 the league was moving to a more physical style again and just from watching the games, there was a real shift. It's hard to say if that era has ended yet.

2005-2006 was a fun and enjoyable season, but I don't think the level of play was anything great.

I was a teen then and it was great seeing NHL hockey again and enjoyable seeing high scoring for the first time in years. There was some good young talent in the League. Crosby and Ovechkin certainly did not disappoint as rookies.

But in terms of actual play, though the change was exciting and a welcomed change from the DPE product, scoring was artificially inflated due to a large number of Power Plays and there were some defensemen who struggled badly with the rule changes.

 

[buffalowing88]

2005-2006 was a fun and enjoyable season, but I don't think the level of play was anything great.

I was a teen then and it was great seeing NHL hockey again and enjoyable seeing high scoring for the first time in years. There was some good young talent in the League. Crosby and Ovechkin certainly did not disappoint as rookies.

But in terms of actual play, though the change was exciting and a welcomed change from the DPE product, scoring was artificially inflated due to a large number of Power Plays and there were some defensemen who struggled badly with the rule changes.

Completely agree. I was 17 that year and also really liked the emergence of skilled offensive guys who would have been afterthoughts just a couple years prior. But it definitely wasn't sustainable and teams just needed to figure out how to adjust for a few years before it shifted to more contained and controlled hockey that was comprehensively a better product.

 

[Michael Farkas]

I don't think it's the same because the years after the lockout were the start of a new way...it was flux. Not everyone understood where the game was going and how it was gonna get there.

2024 is closer to the prime of a product that's been developed for the last 3, 4, 5, 6 years...

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

not really.

2006 was artificial. The # of PP per game skyrocketed and you had some truly terrible rosters coming out of the lockout

This is more like the 80s. It's the result of the amount of top end talent, general direction the league is going and lack of equal top end D/G talent.

 

[connellc]

Since the lockout I saw 3 phases

1) Players adjusting to the new rules and salary cap. (2006-2010)

2) A mix of players who have adjusted, and players who grew up with the new rules. Players who could not adapt left the league and the focus was clearly on speed and hockey sense (2010-2018). Also coincided with the end of the goon (last was either Jody Shelley or John Scott).

3) All players now accustomed to the new rules (2018-present). Empasis on speed, skill and smarts. Less so on brawn, toughness and size.

 

[Nadal On Clay]

I’ve always thought the post 2005 lockout era ended at the exact moment Vegas had its expansion draft in 2017. It was the start of something new in the NHL with the expansion to the now 32 teams league. That also coincided with the scoring starting go up up noticeably, around 2018-2019.

Like some others have mentioned, 2006 and 2007 were anomalies given the high number of PP opportunities with team struggling to adapt to the new NHL. Other than those 2 seasons, I feel like the game was played the same way up until 2018 or so.

 

[The Panther]

Has anyone here done a close scoring-analysis comparing 2003-04 to 2005-06? My guess is that if we identified regular-time 5-on-5 scoring rates, that 2005-06 isn't higher scoring than the dreaded 2003-04 period. It's just that all the PPs plus the easier overtime "goals" (on shootouts) made scoring seem a lot higher.

 

[The Panther]

I feel like 2005-06 to 2016-17 was one 12-year period. It was almost a continuation of the low scoring of 1997-98 to 2003-04, except with more power-plays (esp. in the first couple of seasons after Lock Out) and more "easy" goals in overtime. Once we got to about 2010-11, scoring dropped off again anyway, back to DPE levels, and it stayed there through 2017-18. (Remember when McDavid reaching 100 points seemed like a special and noteworthy thing? That was seven years ago. Remember Jamie Benn winning the scoring title with 23 points? Neither do I; I've mentally blocked it.)

I feel like the current era -- whatever it is -- started in 2018-19, as scoring went suddenly up and outcomes of games became less predictable again. There were suddenly way more third-period comebacks and occasionally wild scores. Young stars started dominating scoring, and we saw 130-150-point type seasons, previously thought to be impossible.

 

[MadLuke]

Has anyone here done a close scoring-analysis comparing 2003-04 to 2005-06? My guess is that if we identified regular-time 5-on-5 scoring rates, that 2005-06 isn't higher scoring than the dreaded 2003-04 period. It's just that all the PPs plus the easier overtime "goals" (on shootouts) made scoring seem a lot higher.

I think they started to change goaltender equipment here... making scoring higher in all situations

At least when we look at all the even strength goals scored, save percentage look like this:

2003-2004: .9215, 4196 EV goals in
2005-2006: .9146, 4441 EV goals in

 

[Michael Farkas]

Different emphasis on different skills in net as well. I don't know how to quickly find what MadLuke found (or calculated himself) - but I'd imagine that the bottom tier goalies in '06 are decently lower than the bottom tier in '04. Especially from guys that didn't have the skills to adjust (Lalime, John Grahame was a starter around this time for some reason, Aebischer, etc.)

While the top is probably fairly similar to what it was in '04 in terms of individual goalie performance. (Brodeur and Kiprusoff should be up there, I'd think...)