It’s hard to be an NHL goalie these days. Or at least, it’s harder than it used to be.
As of this moment, there are 12 NHL teams averaging 3 goals a game or more. In 2003-2004, there were precisely two teams who could claim that feat by the end of the season – Ottawa and Detroit. As of this moment, there are only 8 teams averaging less than 2.5 goals a game. In 2003-2004, that number was 13.
Now, we’re not yet back to the way things were in 1984, when 12 teams scored over 300 goals on the season. (For reference, last year the Buffalo Sabres were the only team to break that mark, and only by 8 goals.) But take a look, for example, at the scoreboard for October 13 (two Sundays ago). 13 games were played, and of those 13, five of them saw 10 or more goals scored:
Buffalo 7, Washington 3
Pittsburgh 6, Toronto 4
Florida 6, Tampa Bay 4
Calgary 7, Nashville 4
New Jersey 6, Atlanta 5
I’ve been avidly watching hockey games since 1996, and upon looking at the ticker at the bottom of the screen on ESPN, I couldn’t remember the last time I had seen that many goals scored in one night. To me, this is proof that the new rules implemented after the 2004-2005 season was cancelled due to the lockout are working:
a) Legal two-line passes. For those familiar with the sport prior to 2005, you might remember the two-line pass rule. For the uninitiated, the rule stated that a player could not pass to a teammate who had between him two of the major lines on the ice. Here’s a diagram:
The two blue lines and the red line made it impossible, or at least very difficult, to frequently clear the defensive zone and get an odd-man rush going the other way. Watch a game tonight on Versus, and see how the new ability to make such passes makes the game a lot more free-flowing.
b) Tag-up offside. Pre-lockout, a player could not pass the blue line into his opponent’s zone until the puck had passed the line. This is still the case. The difference is that in 2003, as soon as that happened, the referee blew the play dead. Now, in 2007, the player has the opportunity to jump back across the blue line, putting himself back onside, and then continue to go after the puck. Not only does this eliminate a great deal of whistles that unnecessarily elongate the game, but they allow for creative play and good passing to mitigate the result of an offside call and make for more scoring opportunities.
c) Obstruction penalties. By 2003-2004, the league had become a haven for gritty, grinding players who had their way with the more offensively-talented, faster-skating players. Hooking, slashing, interference and tripping all went unnoticed by referees. The post-lockout crackdown on such penalties has had its effect. There are those who would argue that the crackdown loses steam as each season progresses. I’d recommend you watch a New Jersey Devils game from 2001, followed by a New Jersey Devils game from 2007. The crackdown is working. The game has been European-ized, if you will, but that’s not a bad thing. Longtime favorites like Jaromir Jagr and Joe Sakic gave crowds another glance at their scoring capabilities once the ice opened up a bit. Younger players, too, like Pittsburgh phenom Sidney Crosby, Joe Thornton and Dany Heatley displayed their prowess when referees made appropriate calls.
There are certainly other reasons, like requirements decreasing the size of goalies’ pads. (Former Canuck Dan Cloutier was famous for his sofa-like legpads. Although, he once gave up a goal on an infamous shot from half-ice by Red Wings defenseman Niklas Lidstrom.) But the aforementioned differences in the game are the three main reasons why scoring is up. And that plays a large role in why attendance is up, too, higher than pre-lockout levels.
But I wanted to get to one more thing before ending. And that is the reprehensible offenses by Philadelphia Flyers players Steve Downie and Jesse Boulerice.
Downie’s hit on Dean McAmmond last month cost him a 20-game suspension, which he deserved. His feet left the ice to deliver the hit, which is explicitly illegal in the league. The suspension was appropriate.
Boulerice’s 25-game suspension for his cross-check to the face of Vancouver’s Ryan Kesler, however, was far too lenient. Some background: In 1998, Boulerice played in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) with the Plymouth Whalers. April 17 was the exact date. In a playoff game, behind the opposing team’s net, Boulerice was hit by fellow OHLer Andrew Long. Taking offense to the hit, Boulerice responded in a way that anyone present at that game most certainly has had seared permanently into their minds.
Boulerice raised his stick, holding it with two hands, and like a lumberjack about to bring down a redwood, swung the stick directly into Long’s face. Long went down, hard. The result?
Long was knocked unconscious, suffered a seizure, a Grade 3 concussion, a brain contusion, multiple facial fractures and two black eyes. He needed 20 stitches, had a crushed nasal cavity and was left with a blood spot on his brain.
That was 9 years ago. Boulerice served 15 games of a one-year suspension and pleaded no contest to aggravated assault with intent to harm less than murder, before picking right back up in the AHL. And now this? The hit on Kesler? After the Marty McSorely, Todd Bertuzzi and Chris Simon incidents? (N.B.: none of these hits, particularly the Bertuzzi hit on Steve Moore, are for the faint of heart.)
25 games? How about life?
