The NHL's modern era

[overpass]

In the recent coverage of the 4 goal game by Auston Matthews, I saw reference to him being the first player to score 4 goals in his NHL debut in the modern era of the NHL, where the modern era started in 1943-44.

Wikipedia confirms this definition of the modern era and sources it to the NHL Guide and Record Book.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1943–44_NHL_season

"For the start of this season, the NHL added the centre red line, which allowed players to pass the puck out of their defensive zone into their half of the neutral zone. This was done in an effort to increase the speed of the game by reducing off-side calls. "This rule is considered to mark the beginning of the modern era in the NHL,†according to the NHL's Guide and Record Book."

I've thought about this topic in the past but wasn't aware of an official definition of the modern era, so I thought this was interesting.

Where do you date the start of the modern NHL?

 

[MXD]

In the recent coverage of the 4 goal game by Auston Matthews, I saw reference to him being the first player to score 4 goals in his NHL debut in the modern era of the NHL, where the modern era started in 1943-44.

Wikipedia confirms this definition of the modern era and sources it to the NHL Guide and Record Book.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1943–44_NHL_season

"For the start of this season, the NHL added the centre red line, which allowed players to pass the puck out of their defensive zone into their half of the neutral zone. This was done in an effort to increase the speed of the game by reducing off-side calls. "This rule is considered to mark the beginning of the modern era in the NHL,†according to the NHL's Guide and Record Book."

I've thought about this topic in the past but wasn't aware of an official definition of the modern era, so I thought this was interesting.

Where do you date the start of the modern NHL?

30-31.
There were changes afterwards, but not as drastic as the ones before that season, plus MOST teams, if not all teams, were icing three lines then.

 

[Sens Rule]

For me it is the 43/44 definition or just post WWII.

To me Rocket and Howe are modern era and Shore and Morenz are not modern era.

I don't know if that is fair. But it is what I think.

 

[Hawksfan2828]

I think a few players have had 4 goal debuts.... I think 5 is the record, and yet it was post expansion...

I don't remember the names because their careers weren't good... Just the right night for them.

 

[MXD]

For me it is the 43/44 definition or just post WWII.

To me Rocket and Howe are modern era and Shore and Morenz are not modern era.

I don't know if that is fair. But it is what I think.

Well, 42-43 is the start of the O-6.
That can make sense too, from a certain perspective.

 

[Sprague Cleghorn]

I think a few players have had 4 goal debuts.... I think 5 is the record, and yet it was post expansion...

I don't remember the names because their careers weren't good... Just the right night for them.

The other guys were Joe Malone, and Harry Hyland, both HOFers. I'm pretty sure guys that have bad careers don't make the HOF...

But, those two guys had been playing in the NHA for quite a while until it ceased operations and turned into the NHL. The NHA and the NHL are not considered the same league but, they pretty much were as after the NHA folded due to political bickering, the other teams with the exception of Toronto (the guys that started the dispute) formed the NHL.

So, it's kind of disingenuous to call their 4 goals games debuts. It is true that they did score 4 goals in their "debuts" but that's the same as saying Cheechoo has more Rockets than Gretzky if you get my drift. Basically, it's just semantics.

 

[overpass]

I think the 1943-44 definition of the modern era is pretty good. The addition of the red line was the last major rule change in a series of changes.

1943-44 is also an interesting start time in that it essentially starts with Maurice Richard...and popular hockey history also starts with Maurice Richard.

I agree with MXD that the time around 1930 was a key change with the changes to roster sizes, the adoption of regular lines and defence pairings, and the rule changes legalizing forward passing in all zones. But it's hard to draw a line as clearly as 1943-44.

I'm also a fan of baseball history so it's interesting to look at how baseball records are handled. When they don't go back to the founding of the National League in 1876, I've seen them presented as post-1900 or post-1920.

1901 was the founding of the American league and the beginning of the World Series era, which doesn't really have an analogue in hockey. Since it's related to league structure rather than the gameplay, similar NHL dividing points could be 1926-27 (the Western players join the NHL and the Stanley Cup is awarded to the NHL champion), 1942-43 (beginning of the Original 6 era), or even 1967-68 (expansion).

1920 was a major change in the way the game was played (the live-ball era as opposed to the dead-ball era). Caused by a change to the ball, and also in part by the spitball being banned. Similar changes in hockey could be 1929-30 (goalie stats before this time are completely different, much like pitcher stats before 1920), or even 1967-68 with the key change being the offensive defencemen revolution led by Bobby Orr (like Babe Ruth launched the home run era in baseball).

Some would also say that the integration of baseball in 1947, allowing black players to play in the major leagues, was the beginning of modern baseball. The comparable point in hockey would be 1989-90, when the great players from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe finally joined the NHL.

 

[Glaciers]

30-31.
There were changes afterwards, but not as drastic as the ones before that season, plus MOST teams, if not all teams, were icing three lines then.

I would perhaps say 1929/30 because forward passing for all zones of the ice had such a massive influence on scoring.

 

[Johnny Engine]

The phrase I use in my own head is "the fuzzy edge of history", where before a certain point, you lose trust in your own memory of how the timeline went, and you can't easily visualize what everyone looked like, or remember what teams they played for.
When I was just one guy with an interest in the history of the game, without a dedicated community to talk about it with, 1941 was the fuzzy edge of history. I knew all about the original 6, but also loved that last year with the Americans because of the Leafs' reverse sweep in the final. Now, my understanding of what happened between then and around 1900 or so is a lot more filled in, but you could say my mental picture darkens slightly as it passes certain milestones:
- the "new NHL" year, where I had an enforced year off before that, but also found myself in a TV situation where I could watch many more games.
- the first Pat Quinn/CUJO year, which rescued me from dropping the Leafs and hockey altogether as girls and guitars entered the picture
- 1992, before which none of the memories are my own
- the former "fuzzy edge" of 1941
- and around the turn of the century, with the first few players who seem descriptively fleshed out to me start to appear (Bowie, Stuart, McGee, etc)

A lot of people will use the 1967 expansion as a cutoff for modern hockey (and it's odious counterpart, "real hockey"), but I'm more inclined to find contractions and disruptions in pro hockey to create something of a fire break in the growth of the game. The most obvious example is 1942, and 2005 offered something similar, with no Sid and Ovi before and lots of Sid and Ovi after, just as it was with Rocket and Gordie.
But what about 1979? You've got this unstable situation with 2 not-really-equal North American pro leagues, and then it's suddenly gone. Only 3 teams got the chop that particular year, but both the NHL's Barons and the WHA's Aeros fell the year before, and a half dozen more the year before that. And then you have this double cohort draft that's wall to wall with the faces that are going to define the next two decades, and the most important one gets to skip the draft and join one of the new teams. All 21 of the teams left over have their descendants in the NHL today, even if a few of them changed cities. 15 teams that were active just 3 years before have nothing of the sort.