Where Has the Offence Disappeared to?
We are now two seasons into the New NHL and it only took one season for NHL scoring to decline. With still a week to go in the 2006/07 season the NHL teams are on pace for an approximate 7% decline in total goals score which might seem like a small percentage but it equates to approximately 550 goals plus.
The 2005/06 season saw five players reach the 50-goal plateau and there were another three players within five goals of 50. The 2006/07 currently has one player, Vincent Lecavalier, with 50 goals and there are only two other players within five goals of 50. Lecavalier will finish the season with 52 or 53 goals, last season there were four players who scored 52 goals and higher.
So what has happened? How, within one season and abiding by the same rules, does the NHL have a 7% decline in total goals scored?
The first area of the game that I looked at was power plays and I didn't need to look any further. When the regular season comes to a conclusion, the NHL would have seen an approximate decline of power plays from the 2005/06 season to the 2006/07 season of 16%. With less power plays comes less goals and of the approximate 550 plus goal decline, the power play is responsible for approximately 74% of the decline. So have the players adapted to the new rules? Have the officials been less vigilante in their calling of the rules this season? Who knows? All I know is that the NHL was more exciting last season and the primary reason why was goal scoring.
I am still concerned about the size of equipment that is used by both player and goalie. Reduced the equipment size to that of the '80s and early '90s and you will see more room on the ice and the goaltender will be required to make a save rather than have the puck just hit him and get credited with a save. Rather than entertain the notion of increasing the size of the nets, reduce the size of the equipment, again.
The 2005/06 season saw five players reach the 50-goal plateau and there were another three players within five goals of 50. The 2006/07 currently has one player, Vincent Lecavalier, with 50 goals and there are only two other players within five goals of 50. Lecavalier will finish the season with 52 or 53 goals, last season there were four players who scored 52 goals and higher.So what has happened? How, within one season and abiding by the same rules, does the NHL have a 7% decline in total goals scored?
The first area of the game that I looked at was power plays and I didn't need to look any further. When the regular season comes to a conclusion, the NHL would have seen an approximate decline of power plays from the 2005/06 season to the 2006/07 season of 16%. With less power plays comes less goals and of the approximate 550 plus goal decline, the power play is responsible for approximately 74% of the decline. So have the players adapted to the new rules? Have the officials been less vigilante in their calling of the rules this season? Who knows? All I know is that the NHL was more exciting last season and the primary reason why was goal scoring.
I am still concerned about the size of equipment that is used by both player and goalie. Reduced the equipment size to that of the '80s and early '90s and you will see more room on the ice and the goaltender will be required to make a save rather than have the puck just hit him and get credited with a save. Rather than entertain the notion of increasing the size of the nets, reduce the size of the equipment, again.
