I used to follow the NHL extremely closely for years but haven't been as much into it over the last fifteen years or so although I have found myself getting sucked back in a bit more this season. For the first time in years probably, I just looked at the scoring leaders in the league here: http://www.nhl.com/ice/playerstats.h...=nav-sts-indiv
I have to admit that this shocked me. Likely, only one player will score more than 100 points this season and only one or two will have fifty goals or more. When I think back to the 1980s, it is like hockey is a completely different game today compared to that time with so much less scoring today than we saw back then. Even the late 1970s and early 1990s were more wide open than what we see today. Also, the much-maligned Phil Kessel is fourth in scoring in the league. I am not sure what more Leaf fans can expect from him.
Can this game ever get back to what it once was regarding offensive excitement? I remember people complaining in the 1980s that there were too many goals and I am not asking that we see 11-9 games every night but it would be nice to see the average number of goals per game in the 7 or 8 range rather the 5 (I believe) that we see today.
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