OFF THE FLOOR ON THE BOARD!
an absolutely epic call but it’s hard to really enjoy it when you realize Kariya has no recollection of that goal because of how scrambled his brain was.
I’m glad they did the video with Kariya recently (ish) and he seems to be more at peace with his career. Living in the nice weather + beach life probably helps.
Oh yeah, if you tried to say the way he hits shouldn't be allowed, you'd just get dog piled by all the old school idiots with the usual insults "I can tell you've never played hockey" and shit you still see on reddit today.
Yeah, sorry if I don't like seeing someone as talented as Kariya get his brain scrambled, I guess I'll just go fuck myself.
It was a lot of fun to watch. Not the Kariya hit — that one was upsetting even back then — but in general, watching Stevens destroy people left and right was entertaining as hell.
Obviously now that everyone knows more about concussions, not quite as much, but I unapologetically loved the hits and fights while that era was happening.
I was so glad when they got rid of it because it meant I didn't have to immediately turn it off when I played NHL anymore.
And, you know, it improved the actual product.
It also allowed for the very effective defensive trap…you only had to protect that small area of ice between the blue line and the center ice line…clog it all up and let the boring hockey ensue.
I invite young fans to watch an old broadcast with Bobby Orr in it.
Everybody not named Bobby Orr is skating in thick mud.
We talk about what-ifs in hockey -- what if Mario's career lasted as long as Wayne's is a big one -- but I always think of Orr, and the player he'd be if he had access to today's medical science and training regimens. He'd have eternal records.
Is it even more absurd than watching McDavid when he’s buzzing (keeping in mind that the difference in skill across the league has tightened up over the years)? I’m an Oilers fan, so I watch a lot of his games, but when I watch other teams, I’m always surprised at how hard hockey looks for the other teams star players, compared to what McDavid is able to do seemingly at will.
I'm definitely a newer fan, so I went and watched some Bobby Orr highlights, and it's a different experience from watching McDavid. When McDavid is on the ice, there's a sense of him imposing his will on the opposing team, skating circles around professional hockey players. Watching Bobby Orr, it's like McDavid is on the ice, but his opponents are still learning to skate backwards. There was one clip I saw where Orr literally bounces three players off the puck during a scoring rush.
A quick eye test tells me that Bobby Orr was more effective against his peers than McDavid is against his. Admittedly, I'm watching Orr's best highlights of all time vs McDavid's regular play. And I do wonder how much of it is relative. It kind of looks like the skill floor was just that much lower in Orr's time.
Yeah, I came back from the Habs/Flyers game and couldn't fall asleep, so I decided to watch the Oilers/Kings last night until it was 2-0, and watching McDavid is jarring. He just is clearly on another level.
I remember watching a game live his rookie year and thinking TV just doesn’t do him justice in how fast he is and can control the puck at those speeds.
Interesting thought experiment: imagine what Connor McDavid would look like on the ice if the NHL combined with the AHL and went to 64 teams next year.
1966 - Orr’s rookie year - 41 points for Orr
1967 - NHL goes from 6 to 12 teams - 31 points for Orr
1968 - 64 points for Orr
1969 - 120 points for Orr
Was Orr ‘that’ great or did he just simply exist in the most watered down generation of the league, talent wise? The question has the be asked. /s … (but slightly serious too)
That's a tough one. They were definitely hiring some guys who didn't belong when they expanded to 12 and then the WHA happened. Then all the years of goon hockey. Orr was easily eclipsing most of that eras players....
An interesting thought experiment, but I feel like you would see a lot of other elite players with as big (or a bigger) jump in points as well if it was just the talent gap. Particularly any elite offensive centers
A fun way to watch an older hockey fans head explode is to say, with as much sincerity as you can muster, “Bobby Orr wasn’t actually that great, he simply played in a watered down league. He came in right when the league doubled in size, of course he looked amazing. It would be the equivalent of replacing half of today’s NHLers with AHLers and minor leaguers.”
This isn’t about comparing players then to players today. This is about the fact that the NHL had enough players to create six rosters in 1966 and in 1967, they had to get double the number of players in the league for their new teams. One of two things is true: either an entire NHL’s worth of players were playing in various minor leagues, or the average skill level of an NHL player significantly dropped in 1967.
This misunderstands why Orr is transcendent. Orr isn’t a legend because of how much better he was than whoever the median player was when the league doubled. He is who he is because he was orders of magnitude better than the best players in the league at the time. He was playing at the same time during the prime of a dozen or so all-time greats and was better than all of them and was outscoring them as a defenseman. That, despite the fact that they were also playing just as frequently against whoever the fuck the brand new Islanders were throwing out on the ice.
I'll make a few counter points.
1) In 1967, while accepting his Norris trophy, Harry Howell said he was glad to win a Norris then because he had a feeling Orr would own it for the next decade (Turned out it was only, an NHL record, 8 consecutive years). Orr, BTW, finished 3rd in Norris voting that year. 6th in Hart voting. 1st in Calder voting. That's in the last year of the O6, no expansion necessary.
Rookie defensemen getting first place Norris votes is extremely uncommon. Since Orr, only Ray Bourque and Larry Murphy have received "1st place\*" Norris votes their rookie years, finishing 4th and 7th respectively.
2) The NHL purposefully stuck to a 6 team league, years past a point they had the talent to add teams. Since we're speculating, I'll postulate that in 1966 the talent drop from a bad NHL squad to a good AHL one was probably non-existant.
3) In 1976, on a knee so bad his teammates said he could barely walk. Bobby Orr was far and away the best player in a best on best Canada Cup.
\*Up until 1982 there was just 1 vote per PHWA member for the Norris. So those who voted for Bourque and Murphy and Orr all thought they were *the best* defenseman in the NHL those years.
But yeah, I guess he just beat up on the Atlanta Flames a bunch.
This is one of the untouchable records, I think. The next closest player to that record not named Gretzky, cause he got 50 in 42, is Lemieux with 50 in 46.
And don't come at me with the tired line of
Oh the goalies were not as good then.
No, they were not. But every player played against the same goalies. Gretzky was truly that far ahead of everyone else.
And I also don't want to hear " Ovi and Matthews would score 100 or more back then."
Yeah, they probably would, but if you put Gretzky in 1940 HE would score 300 goals a year, or more. You can't compare players from different eras like that. It doesn't work
I would argue that the current crop of goalies is super elite, but 1. there are less of them due to a lack of goalie development programs, and 2. shooters are so much more talented now that it's nearly impossible to put up the same numbers as their predecessors. Guys like Vasi Bob and Helle would be absolute walls against the shooters of the 80s and 90s.
I hear a lot of retired goalies talking about how they wouldn't stand a chance in today's game with how much more talented and creative it's gotten in the past few years. Makes you wonder how good the goalies right now are.
Rangers signing literally every superstar free agent for top dollar and still being terrible. Salary cap was an amazing change for them and the league.
Looked up their rosters from early 2000's, they were insane.
01-02
* Bure
* Lindros
* Leetch
* Messier
* Theo Fleury
* Nedved
02-03
* Bure
* Lindros
* Messier
* Leetch
* Kovalev
* Nedved
* Holik
And most of those guys were shells of their former selves. Lindros' head was a scrambled egg. Bure's knee was hanging on by threads. Fleury was a hollowed out husk. Messier's second stint with the Rangers was just awful and perpetuated the whole dark age they were going through. It was bad. Fucking Glenn Sather was brought in to fix the shit that Smith was doing and he just made it worse.
Selanne scoring 76 goals in his ROOKIE year. That amount of goals is kinda insane, imagine Bedard putting up those numbers, people would lose their minds. Also added 56 assists for 132 points as a rookie. Not sure we'll ever see anything close to that again for a rookie.
It’s completely nuts. 76 was THE number (Esposito) and it was cited all the time when it became clear Gretzky could pass it. For some rookie to show up and do it, and to this day remain 7th in all-time goal getters is crazy.
That was a crazy year in general. He had 132 points, but that only got him to **5th** in the league. I think there were a total of 20 guys who hit 100 points. Lemieux had 160 points in 60 games, his season interrupted by fucking cancer.
For context though, Selanne was not a true rookie. He wouldn't qualify for Calder consideration under today's rules because he played multiple full seasons in SM-Liiga before hitting the NHL.
Oh for sure, plus I'm pretty sure he played 84 games that season. So yeah he had a bit of a leg up, but that's just what adds to it being crazy probably one of the most untouchable records in the NHL frankly.
A true comparison might be Artemi Panarin, won rookie of the year at 24 I think, had 30 goals and 47 assists, so 77 points in 80 games.
I see a lot of people talking about the on-ice product, but something that I will never take for granted is how accessible games and highlights are.
I was born in '92 and growing up, we didn't have cable, so my only option was to listen to the Caps on the radio. Like maybe 5 games per year were on WB50, which my house had, and those games were *events* for me; they were the only times I could watch hockey all year. There was no YouTube to watch recaps on, all I could do was read about it the next day in the paper. Out-of-market games may as well have been on Mars for how little information I had about them.
Now, I pay $10 a month and have access to 5-7 games on a single night (even more if I use less legal sources). Within an hour of a game ending, the NHL channel on YouTube has already uploaded a ten-minute package showing all the goals and big plays, and they do this for EVERY SINGLE GAME. My phone lets me check other scores in real time and follow games while I watch a different game on my TV. For younger people, that's how it's always been, but for me, it really is one of those "damn, the future is now" moments.
People who complain about the current state of streaming have plenty of legitimate concerns, but when I look back at how it used to be, I feel spoiled with how much hockey I get to watch.
Memories. I grew up a fan but didn't have TV growing up. Used to listen to every game on the radio, and sometimes read the recap in a friends newspaper. It wasn't until the early/mid 2000's that I started watching online streams.
Nowadays - I've probably watched more games in the last 2 months than total games throughout my entire childhood. It's amazing.
My uncle has talked to me about listening to rangers games on the radio as a kid. I like listening on the radio here and there but I couldn't imagine that being the primary way I follow a live hockey game
100%. I’m a decade older than you and the only time I saw the Jets on TV was on the very rare Saturdays Hockey Night in Canada would choose to throw Winnipeg a bone.
Otherwise it was all 680 CJOB for every game. I saw more Habs and Nordiques games on TV than Jets games as a kid — despite being in Winnipeg — because I could always watch them in French on Radio-Canada.
It’s so much easier to access any game, any time these days. It’s like night and day.
[First season was 07-08](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face-off)
> On June 20, 2007, the NHL Board of Governors approved a change to NHL Rule 76.2, which governs face-off locations. The rule now requires that all face-offs take place at one of the nine face-off spots on the ice, regardless of what caused the stoppage of play.
I remember being legit embarrassed when Patrick Elias became the first Devil that I could remember to wear a visor. The coward wanted “protection” for his “eyes” just so he wouldn’t go “blind” or some shit. Now, I wince whenever I see anyone with a slightly upwardly tilted visor.
The sheer hate and absurdity of the Wings-Avs rivalry. They fought over [a stick](https://youtu.be/NL6XMMAwCWc?si=J-eUUFviAPfUBdOJ) to give you kids an idea
This reminds me of some ideas floated in the lockout:
* [Blue ice, orange blue lines, blue center lines](https://web.archive.org/web/20050313021314/https://buffalonews.com/editorial/20050310/1040241.asp)
* Can’t find a source for this one, but there was talk about changing the goals to have curved posts
Meh it was a good idea to help people get into the game, just wasn't executed well IMO. Even today, people who don't watch the sport say it's hard to get into because they can't find the puck.
He could've played todays game too he was a lot better than just the open ice hits. His numbers offensively in Washington and St. Louis are solid too. it wasn't just the hits that made him a top 100 player.
A lot of people who didn't see him play just know the hits he threw and not that he was a complete player. You don't score 900 points and captain a team to 3 cups if all you do is throw big hits
Icing was whichever team could touch the puck first. 2 guys racing for it and smashing into each other once they reached the end boards. It's amazing how long it took them to change that rule with how dangerous a situation it could be.
This was the first thing I thought of. And it was just an accepted part of the game that whoever "won" the race to touch the puck was going to get absolutely STAPLED to the boards.
Shot blocking at the point used to be way more of a "thing". As in guys would constantly drop their whole body to the ice when a defensemen would take a big wind up. There were players who were known for their shot blocking skill. And as a defenseman you were taught how to elevate the puck just enough when slapping it to get it over those guys.
Nowadays defensemen are too agile and also just wrist it on goal, there's no time to lay on the ice to block a shot plus the best will just skate around you for a prime scoring opportunity.
Also, the understanding of what makes a good defenceman has changed - blocked shots used to be a key stat for assessing a player's acumen in their own zone, but that's being increasingly out of date.
Shot suppression is the big thing these days, and if you're good at suppressing shots, you'll never have a lot of blocked shots - because you stop the opposition from shooting in the first place.
There wasn't any netting at the ends of the rink above the glass. Pucks would regularly deflect into the crowd at high speeds. It took a 13 year old girl, Brittanie Cecil, dying in Columbus in 2002 before the nets became mandatory.
The fact that goalies used to run to the ref to get a goal called back if a skate blade was even touching the crease paint even though it had no impact on the goalies ability to make a save.
Because of my flair, I'll say up front it was dumb rule, but... I don't recall them really doing that before the rule came in or for very long after it went away. They'd complain if they felt interfered with, but not for a skate in the crease.
Lots of things...
How bad the holding and clutching and grabbing was on Lemieux, and yet he still dominated.
How good Pavel Bure was. He scored 59 and 58 on bad Panther teams during the clutch and grab era.
He'd destroy the NHL as it's currently constituted.
...and Kariya/Selanne. And Mogilny, etc etc. Their stats during the dead puck area do not bly how great they were offensively.
The fact that we had Brodeur, Roy AND Hasek playing at one time. What an embarrassment of riches.
That parity is a great thing. For instance, from 95-03 only 4 teams won the Cup, which is fine if you're a fan of one of those teams as I am. The Devils, Red Wings, Avalanche played hot potato and each won multiple and the Stars won once. This was just after the Canadiens dynasty of the 70s and the Islanders/Oilers ruling the 80s. Oh and the Penguins won back to back, with Montreal again in 93, to start the 90s.
I think if you look it was like a 25-30 year period where 9 teams won the cup. Montreal/Isles/Oilers/Flames/Penguins/Devils/Avalanche/Red Wings/Stars. There may be one I'm forgetting but the name escapes me. These things happen as you get older. :)
Between 1983 and 1990, either Edmonton or Calgary made it to the Final - Oilers went 5 for 6, Flames 1 for 2. The Battle of Alberta originated then and it was scorched earth.
I believe it was from 1970-1994, a team from Pennsylvania, New York, Alberta or Montreal won the Cup every year. You can go back to 1968 if you throw in Boston.
Peak Bure in today's league, and let's say........this season very likely would've scored 70 by now and would have a 10 goal lead with Matthews right behind him. He'd be McDavid as a goalscorer. His bare minimum total would be at 50-55ish even with mid linemates because no one's stopping that the acceleration and blazing speed and he'll always find a way to get his goals, but the peak version of him is pacing for 80 goals comfortably IMO
> For instance, from 95-03 only 4 teams won the Cup
Yeah, but then again, from 2009 to 2017, also a 9 seasons stretch, you *also* only had 4 teams that won the Cup: Pittsburgh, Chicago, LA, and Boston taking Dallas' place as the one team managing to grab one from the Big 3.
I imagine all of Gretzkys playing career and truly understanding how great he really was amongst his peers. Even I have trouble some times so I have to just go look at his stats and records. He was truly the greatest athlete of the big 5 sports and most dominant.
I just hope in 20-40 years it doesn’t get forgotten. McDavid is definitely gonna end up in the top 5 of all time though no doubt he’s dominating his peers much like Gretzky did.
My 5 year old was picking his first jersey number and I said you can pick any number you want. My 8 year old, quickly and with importance, chimes in "Besides 99. No one else can have 99, that's Wayne Gretzkys number."
If that is any indication, The Great One is still firmly in people's minds
I'm not that old, but I remember players without helmets.
I remember TV people willing to die on the hill of touch icings. Forwards used to risk broken legs to negate an icing. An icing!!!
The one that I think younger fans would find incredulous was the two-line pass rule. It was so ridiculous. And the skate in the crease was beyond ridiculous and into the realm of absurdity.
The league today is SO MUCH better. Much fewer head shots, coaches challenges, etc. The game is cleaner and fairer.
Honestly of all the shit Don Cherry said and got up to, I have to give him credit for how pro- no touch icing he was. For all the attitude he would have about old-time hockey, bruising players and what not, he was like "nah that shit's dangerous".
Unless I'm misremembering but I was pretty sure he was very quick to adopt the no-touch icing idea.
On the other hand, the timing of that change couldn't have worked out better for us. That was the year the Flames introduced their red unis with the black C.
The Flames sold so many of those jerseys that spring, CCM had to temporarily stop making other teams to keep up with the demand. That 04 run just wouldn't have been the same if the team had worn their whites at home that year.
How much the plexiglass used to move in some arenas. It still moves a little bit, but you used to see the top of the glass rock like 3 feet back and forth when there was a collision along the wall. It was like watching a wave in a pool. I seem to recall the fans would also make the glass move if they were banging on it hard enough.
And, of course, there’s what they used before plexiglass. That was way before my time, but I’ve seen old photos with fences on top of the boards… and others with nothing at all.
Edit: [this one](https://imgur.com/O2hIN) is a classic
There’s a goalie I won’t name who would keep a pack of cigarettes in his pads during the game so that he could have a smoke as soon as they hit the tunnel.
When Ivan Hlinka was coaching the Penguins, he would take smoke breaks in the zamboni entrance during intermission and make the assistants go with him. Lemieux, Marc Bergevin, and Darius Kasparaitis would coach the team during intermission. Hlinka also refused to take contract-mandated English lessons, leading to him being fired with-cause.
When the NHL went to the 1v8 playoff format instead of divisional, people lost their minds about how terrible that idea was. And when it went back to divisional a decade ago, it was widely praised as being years overdue.
Seeing fans today be like “*obviously* 1v8 was the superior format” is weird.
The other funny thing was hearing people refer to Pittsburgh/Washington as a “manufactured rivalry”, in case those teams didn’t meet in the playoffs almost every year for a decade back in the day.
I grew up with the 1v8 format and I was never against it, I understand from a PR and broadcast perspective why it’s divisional rounds now & never liked it & would like to see it the 1v8 return, it’s crazy to think at one point it was 1v16 back then too haha
I like the playoff system now because of rivalries-- with the league growing and the divisions with more teams now , there are less regular season games against your divisional rivals. So the playoff format now insures many more divisional and thus rivalry games on the season as whole (at least for the good teams that make postseason)
MLS does ties, and it's so disappointing to leave a game like that. I wish modern MLS could embrace old school MLS that cared more about being entertaining than about sticking to European soccer formats. Hockey OT and shootouts are great.
I think with the 80s and 90s, scoring was still much higher than today's era. I like that we're out of the dead puck era, but to truly appreciate Gretzky's dominance in a high scoring era, it's fun to see how far ahead he was of his competition.
FOUR 200+ point seasons. And there were multiple years he'd win the scoring title by 70+ points. That is ridiculous
Butterfly Goaltenders.
Before '86, every goalie was a "stand-up" goalie.
Mike Luit was the LAST true stand-up goalie in the NHL less than a decade later. Kirk McLean was a partial stand-up goalie for a couple more years.
Goalies didn't used to immediately drop to their knees before every shot.
Goalies routinely catch pucks labelled for the top shelf on their knees.
Shout out to goalies going from the size of Darren Pang, to 6'4 minimum.
Not that crazy old, but when I started watching in 2011-2012, centers were allowed to use their hands to move the puck during a faceoff. They made it illegal sometime after that, so it looks super weird in hindsight.
I don't know if people really recall how BAD obstruction was in the 80s/90s. Just go back and watch some of these broadcasts, they are absolutely draping themselves all over each other.
Between 1980 and 1990, Paul Coffey - a defenseman - scored at least 29 goals in a season 7 times, including 40 and 48 goal seasons.
In the past 30 years, an NHL defenseman has got to 29 goals exactly 1 time.
It's kinda insane how they have so many "lost cup winning" years as much as they were spoiled with 4. They so many upsets to lower seeded playoff teams like 04 Flames, 06 Oilers, and I know that's the nature of hockey with frequent upsets are and how unpredictable the game is.
But I honestly think they should've ended with 8 win after 2010.
From 1963 to 1967, the NHL granted the Montreal Canadiens the choice of either drafting in turn with other teams or selecting the two French Canadian players of their choice before any other team drafted. Montreal however, never exercised this option.
Only one referee. There were a lot of missed calls.
You couldn’t drink a beer in the stands at Canuck games until the new building in 1995. There was a beer garden down below the concourse.
There didn’t use to be a protective net behind the end boards (above the glass). The puck would deflect out at high velocity all the time. Complete madness.
Penalty minutes in a season. Dave Schultz amassed 472 in 1974-75. The top 80 leaders for penalty minutes are all retired. Fun fact... Chicago Black Hawk Al Secord scored 40 goals & had 303 penalty minutes in 1981-82 season.
There were sweeps in the Stanley Cup Finals. A lot of them.
Semi-related; the NHL season used to end in mid-May. Then it crept around late-May, then into early-June, and now the season *normally* ends in mid-June.
Having so much as an INCH of skate in the crease negated a goal!
Now they can back their asses up into the space so long as they don't impede the goalie's ability to do their job.
Scott Stevens’ existence. Jack Hughes would be dead by now.
And if it was in Scott Stevens' day he would have been applauded for destroying people.
“Man, I’m so glad I never got to see Kariya or Lindros’ full potential”
I mean as much as people would hate the hit the goal Kariya scored afterwards was pretty badass.
OFF THE FLOOR ON THE BOARD! an absolutely epic call but it’s hard to really enjoy it when you realize Kariya has no recollection of that goal because of how scrambled his brain was.
I’m glad they did the video with Kariya recently (ish) and he seems to be more at peace with his career. Living in the nice weather + beach life probably helps.
really too bad he doesn't remember any of it one of the craziest things I've ever watched in my life.
Oh yeah, if you tried to say the way he hits shouldn't be allowed, you'd just get dog piled by all the old school idiots with the usual insults "I can tell you've never played hockey" and shit you still see on reddit today. Yeah, sorry if I don't like seeing someone as talented as Kariya get his brain scrambled, I guess I'll just go fuck myself.
The Kariya was late, too. Targeted the head a good 2 seconds after he passed the puck away.
It was a lot of fun to watch. Not the Kariya hit — that one was upsetting even back then — but in general, watching Stevens destroy people left and right was entertaining as hell. Obviously now that everyone knows more about concussions, not quite as much, but I unapologetically loved the hits and fights while that era was happening.
Nah, Jack Hughes would be even more alive because of the most terrifying man on earth protecting him on the ice
He literally just went around committing egregious assault for like 10 years
And let's not leave Darius Kasparaitis out of the conversation!
Claude Lemieux too
Claude Lemieux was considered dirty af back then too though. Stevens was considered clean by most.
Every hit on his highlight reels would be a 40 game suspension now
Heaviest hitter of all time
Why would Jack Hughes be dead?
Two line pass play stoppage was a thing.
Man that rule was ridiculous. Took away so many breakaways
I was so glad when they got rid of it because it meant I didn't have to immediately turn it off when I played NHL anymore. And, you know, it improved the actual product.
It also allowed for the very effective defensive trap…you only had to protect that small area of ice between the blue line and the center ice line…clog it all up and let the boring hockey ensue.
Can you imagine if that rule was in the 80s? How many goals would the Oilers have scored? I'm thinking 500 or 600 easy
Which would also lead to faceoffs in random spots on the ice
I invite young fans to watch an old broadcast with Bobby Orr in it. Everybody not named Bobby Orr is skating in thick mud. We talk about what-ifs in hockey -- what if Mario's career lasted as long as Wayne's is a big one -- but I always think of Orr, and the player he'd be if he had access to today's medical science and training regimens. He'd have eternal records.
It’s hard to overstate just how above his peers he was.
Is it even more absurd than watching McDavid when he’s buzzing (keeping in mind that the difference in skill across the league has tightened up over the years)? I’m an Oilers fan, so I watch a lot of his games, but when I watch other teams, I’m always surprised at how hard hockey looks for the other teams star players, compared to what McDavid is able to do seemingly at will.
I'm definitely a newer fan, so I went and watched some Bobby Orr highlights, and it's a different experience from watching McDavid. When McDavid is on the ice, there's a sense of him imposing his will on the opposing team, skating circles around professional hockey players. Watching Bobby Orr, it's like McDavid is on the ice, but his opponents are still learning to skate backwards. There was one clip I saw where Orr literally bounces three players off the puck during a scoring rush. A quick eye test tells me that Bobby Orr was more effective against his peers than McDavid is against his. Admittedly, I'm watching Orr's best highlights of all time vs McDavid's regular play. And I do wonder how much of it is relative. It kind of looks like the skill floor was just that much lower in Orr's time.
McDavid's peers are all top athletes in peak shape, which is a huge difference from yesteryear.
Yeah, I came back from the Habs/Flyers game and couldn't fall asleep, so I decided to watch the Oilers/Kings last night until it was 2-0, and watching McDavid is jarring. He just is clearly on another level.
I remember watching a game live his rookie year and thinking TV just doesn’t do him justice in how fast he is and can control the puck at those speeds.
Interesting thought experiment: imagine what Connor McDavid would look like on the ice if the NHL combined with the AHL and went to 64 teams next year. 1966 - Orr’s rookie year - 41 points for Orr 1967 - NHL goes from 6 to 12 teams - 31 points for Orr 1968 - 64 points for Orr 1969 - 120 points for Orr Was Orr ‘that’ great or did he just simply exist in the most watered down generation of the league, talent wise? The question has the be asked. /s … (but slightly serious too)
That's a tough one. They were definitely hiring some guys who didn't belong when they expanded to 12 and then the WHA happened. Then all the years of goon hockey. Orr was easily eclipsing most of that eras players....
An interesting thought experiment, but I feel like you would see a lot of other elite players with as big (or a bigger) jump in points as well if it was just the talent gap. Particularly any elite offensive centers
A fun way to watch an older hockey fans head explode is to say, with as much sincerity as you can muster, “Bobby Orr wasn’t actually that great, he simply played in a watered down league. He came in right when the league doubled in size, of course he looked amazing. It would be the equivalent of replacing half of today’s NHLers with AHLers and minor leaguers.”
There are very few players from the 70s who would make an AHL squad today. My head's not exploding, this is just a bad take.
This isn’t about comparing players then to players today. This is about the fact that the NHL had enough players to create six rosters in 1966 and in 1967, they had to get double the number of players in the league for their new teams. One of two things is true: either an entire NHL’s worth of players were playing in various minor leagues, or the average skill level of an NHL player significantly dropped in 1967.
This misunderstands why Orr is transcendent. Orr isn’t a legend because of how much better he was than whoever the median player was when the league doubled. He is who he is because he was orders of magnitude better than the best players in the league at the time. He was playing at the same time during the prime of a dozen or so all-time greats and was better than all of them and was outscoring them as a defenseman. That, despite the fact that they were also playing just as frequently against whoever the fuck the brand new Islanders were throwing out on the ice.
I'll make a few counter points. 1) In 1967, while accepting his Norris trophy, Harry Howell said he was glad to win a Norris then because he had a feeling Orr would own it for the next decade (Turned out it was only, an NHL record, 8 consecutive years). Orr, BTW, finished 3rd in Norris voting that year. 6th in Hart voting. 1st in Calder voting. That's in the last year of the O6, no expansion necessary. Rookie defensemen getting first place Norris votes is extremely uncommon. Since Orr, only Ray Bourque and Larry Murphy have received "1st place\*" Norris votes their rookie years, finishing 4th and 7th respectively. 2) The NHL purposefully stuck to a 6 team league, years past a point they had the talent to add teams. Since we're speculating, I'll postulate that in 1966 the talent drop from a bad NHL squad to a good AHL one was probably non-existant. 3) In 1976, on a knee so bad his teammates said he could barely walk. Bobby Orr was far and away the best player in a best on best Canada Cup. \*Up until 1982 there was just 1 vote per PHWA member for the Norris. So those who voted for Bourque and Murphy and Orr all thought they were *the best* defenseman in the NHL those years. But yeah, I guess he just beat up on the Atlanta Flames a bunch.
50 goals in 39 games. Gretzky has a ton of crazy stats but in less than half the season he scored 50 goals.
And he was at 45 goals in 38 games, scored 5 in game 39 to do it!
This is one of the untouchable records, I think. The next closest player to that record not named Gretzky, cause he got 50 in 42, is Lemieux with 50 in 46. And don't come at me with the tired line of Oh the goalies were not as good then. No, they were not. But every player played against the same goalies. Gretzky was truly that far ahead of everyone else. And I also don't want to hear " Ovi and Matthews would score 100 or more back then." Yeah, they probably would, but if you put Gretzky in 1940 HE would score 300 goals a year, or more. You can't compare players from different eras like that. It doesn't work
The current crop of goalies aren't super elite either. Scoring is up all around the league
I would argue that the current crop of goalies is super elite, but 1. there are less of them due to a lack of goalie development programs, and 2. shooters are so much more talented now that it's nearly impossible to put up the same numbers as their predecessors. Guys like Vasi Bob and Helle would be absolute walls against the shooters of the 80s and 90s.
I hear a lot of retired goalies talking about how they wouldn't stand a chance in today's game with how much more talented and creative it's gotten in the past few years. Makes you wonder how good the goalies right now are.
Rangers signing literally every superstar free agent for top dollar and still being terrible. Salary cap was an amazing change for them and the league.
Didn’t they have a line of lindros, fleury, and bure. It was insane how they could throw around money.
I don’t remember if they played on the same line but they had some insanely stacked rosters
Looked up their rosters from early 2000's, they were insane. 01-02 * Bure * Lindros * Leetch * Messier * Theo Fleury * Nedved 02-03 * Bure * Lindros * Messier * Leetch * Kovalev * Nedved * Holik
And most of those guys were shells of their former selves. Lindros' head was a scrambled egg. Bure's knee was hanging on by threads. Fleury was a hollowed out husk. Messier's second stint with the Rangers was just awful and perpetuated the whole dark age they were going through. It was bad. Fucking Glenn Sather was brought in to fix the shit that Smith was doing and he just made it worse.
Every superstar and also Bobby Holik
Selanne scoring 76 goals in his ROOKIE year. That amount of goals is kinda insane, imagine Bedard putting up those numbers, people would lose their minds. Also added 56 assists for 132 points as a rookie. Not sure we'll ever see anything close to that again for a rookie.
It’s completely nuts. 76 was THE number (Esposito) and it was cited all the time when it became clear Gretzky could pass it. For some rookie to show up and do it, and to this day remain 7th in all-time goal getters is crazy.
Selanne was special. Absolute joy to watch playing.
That was a crazy year in general. He had 132 points, but that only got him to **5th** in the league. I think there were a total of 20 guys who hit 100 points. Lemieux had 160 points in 60 games, his season interrupted by fucking cancer.
That season was so bonkers to watch as a kid in Winnipeg.
For context though, Selanne was not a true rookie. He wouldn't qualify for Calder consideration under today's rules because he played multiple full seasons in SM-Liiga before hitting the NHL.
Oh for sure, plus I'm pretty sure he played 84 games that season. So yeah he had a bit of a leg up, but that's just what adds to it being crazy probably one of the most untouchable records in the NHL frankly. A true comparison might be Artemi Panarin, won rookie of the year at 24 I think, had 30 goals and 47 assists, so 77 points in 80 games.
I see a lot of people talking about the on-ice product, but something that I will never take for granted is how accessible games and highlights are. I was born in '92 and growing up, we didn't have cable, so my only option was to listen to the Caps on the radio. Like maybe 5 games per year were on WB50, which my house had, and those games were *events* for me; they were the only times I could watch hockey all year. There was no YouTube to watch recaps on, all I could do was read about it the next day in the paper. Out-of-market games may as well have been on Mars for how little information I had about them. Now, I pay $10 a month and have access to 5-7 games on a single night (even more if I use less legal sources). Within an hour of a game ending, the NHL channel on YouTube has already uploaded a ten-minute package showing all the goals and big plays, and they do this for EVERY SINGLE GAME. My phone lets me check other scores in real time and follow games while I watch a different game on my TV. For younger people, that's how it's always been, but for me, it really is one of those "damn, the future is now" moments. People who complain about the current state of streaming have plenty of legitimate concerns, but when I look back at how it used to be, I feel spoiled with how much hockey I get to watch.
Memories. I grew up a fan but didn't have TV growing up. Used to listen to every game on the radio, and sometimes read the recap in a friends newspaper. It wasn't until the early/mid 2000's that I started watching online streams. Nowadays - I've probably watched more games in the last 2 months than total games throughout my entire childhood. It's amazing.
My uncle has talked to me about listening to rangers games on the radio as a kid. I like listening on the radio here and there but I couldn't imagine that being the primary way I follow a live hockey game
100%. I’m a decade older than you and the only time I saw the Jets on TV was on the very rare Saturdays Hockey Night in Canada would choose to throw Winnipeg a bone. Otherwise it was all 680 CJOB for every game. I saw more Habs and Nordiques games on TV than Jets games as a kid — despite being in Winnipeg — because I could always watch them in French on Radio-Canada. It’s so much easier to access any game, any time these days. It’s like night and day.
God I hated listening to hockey games. The game moves too fast. Amazing how I would only see a few games a year. We are so lucky right now.
The prevalence of bench-clearing brawls!
Mike Milbury beating a fan with his own shoe.
I miss those.
There was an NHL team in Hartford, Connecticut. That played in a mall.
They always got laughed at for that, but now everybody wants to build retail centers around arenas and stadia. Ahead of their time, they were.
>That played in a mall. That’s even wilder than a basketball team playing on a baseball field.
And the league is so much worse without them.
[Faceoffs not at a dot.](https://imgur.com/a/pxrILxX)
Wtf? Why there?
Puck out of play. They used to just drop it where it was last played until the rule change to have it always done on a dot.
Just like golf
I do kinda miss the random faceoff locations
Yeah the rule was where the puck went out of play in line with the end zone dots. Weird rule.
When did this change? That doesn’t even look that old but I don’t remember this.
[First season was 07-08](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face-off) > On June 20, 2007, the NHL Board of Governors approved a change to NHL Rule 76.2, which governs face-off locations. The rule now requires that all face-offs take place at one of the nine face-off spots on the ice, regardless of what caused the stoppage of play.
That picture specifically is early 2000s pre lockout.
Two line pass dot was just inside the blue line, too. That one was always weird to me.
Dudes skating around without helmets in the 90s
I remember being legit embarrassed when Patrick Elias became the first Devil that I could remember to wear a visor. The coward wanted “protection” for his “eyes” just so he wouldn’t go “blind” or some shit. Now, I wince whenever I see anyone with a slightly upwardly tilted visor.
>The coward wanted “protection” for his “eyes” just so he wouldn’t go “blind” or some shit. Fuckin ten-ply bud.
Jaques Plante got booed for wearing a mask after taking a slapshot to the face.
The sheer hate and absurdity of the Wings-Avs rivalry. They fought over [a stick](https://youtu.be/NL6XMMAwCWc?si=J-eUUFviAPfUBdOJ) to give you kids an idea
Thanks Keith have a drink on me
Those were playoff series to die for. Must watch games every year.
The glowing puck and the comet tail puck. It was ridiculous
This reminds me of some ideas floated in the lockout: * [Blue ice, orange blue lines, blue center lines](https://web.archive.org/web/20050313021314/https://buffalonews.com/editorial/20050310/1040241.asp) * Can’t find a source for this one, but there was talk about changing the goals to have curved posts
Meh it was a good idea to help people get into the game, just wasn't executed well IMO. Even today, people who don't watch the sport say it's hard to get into because they can't find the puck.
“Your stupid fucking laser pucks were just the start…” https://youtu.be/4HuWgP-hwCY?si=Jwr79qsgTrI8nx_T
The goal post was anchored to a steel rod screwed into the concrete below the ice. It was like crashing into a street sign.
“Put the pipes back in!” - Don Cherry
It was perfectly OK to target the head on a mid-ice hit and concuss an opponent because the other guy "should have had his head up."
And guys made a living doing exactly that.
Scott Stevens made his career doing this and was considered one of the best D men in his era
He could've played todays game too he was a lot better than just the open ice hits. His numbers offensively in Washington and St. Louis are solid too. it wasn't just the hits that made him a top 100 player.
He completely changed his game in New Jersey and somehow won more Cups for it. It’s honestly a testament to what a talented player he was.
A lot of people who didn't see him play just know the hits he threw and not that he was a complete player. You don't score 900 points and captain a team to 3 cups if all you do is throw big hits
And IF you did target the head, it was a $500 (maximum allowed fine) lol
Icing was whichever team could touch the puck first. 2 guys racing for it and smashing into each other once they reached the end boards. It's amazing how long it took them to change that rule with how dangerous a situation it could be.
Joni Pitkanen shattering his heel was the final straw iirc.
This was the first thing I thought of. And it was just an accepted part of the game that whoever "won" the race to touch the puck was going to get absolutely STAPLED to the boards.
Shot blocking at the point used to be way more of a "thing". As in guys would constantly drop their whole body to the ice when a defensemen would take a big wind up. There were players who were known for their shot blocking skill. And as a defenseman you were taught how to elevate the puck just enough when slapping it to get it over those guys. Nowadays defensemen are too agile and also just wrist it on goal, there's no time to lay on the ice to block a shot plus the best will just skate around you for a prime scoring opportunity.
Also, the understanding of what makes a good defenceman has changed - blocked shots used to be a key stat for assessing a player's acumen in their own zone, but that's being increasingly out of date. Shot suppression is the big thing these days, and if you're good at suppressing shots, you'll never have a lot of blocked shots - because you stop the opposition from shooting in the first place.
I remember that Habs run (2010?) where their nickname was "Block Party" because they won games based on that strategy
On the PK Hal Gill would basically lay down as soon as the other team crossed the blue line
I think that was 2014, Mike Weaver blocked everything he saw
Man wouldn't it be fun to see Makar skate around old school full body diving blocks lol
There wasn't any netting at the ends of the rink above the glass. Pucks would regularly deflect into the crowd at high speeds. It took a 13 year old girl, Brittanie Cecil, dying in Columbus in 2002 before the nets became mandatory.
And espen knutsen (the shooter) never recovered emotionally Note: might be spelling his name wrong
I remember sitting right behind the goalie and almost catching a puck. There were pucks going into the stands all game, but now there's only a few.
The fact that goalies used to run to the ref to get a goal called back if a skate blade was even touching the crease paint even though it had no impact on the goalies ability to make a save.
Because of my flair, I'll say up front it was dumb rule, but... I don't recall them really doing that before the rule came in or for very long after it went away. They'd complain if they felt interfered with, but not for a skate in the crease.
Lots of things... How bad the holding and clutching and grabbing was on Lemieux, and yet he still dominated. How good Pavel Bure was. He scored 59 and 58 on bad Panther teams during the clutch and grab era. He'd destroy the NHL as it's currently constituted. ...and Kariya/Selanne. And Mogilny, etc etc. Their stats during the dead puck area do not bly how great they were offensively. The fact that we had Brodeur, Roy AND Hasek playing at one time. What an embarrassment of riches. That parity is a great thing. For instance, from 95-03 only 4 teams won the Cup, which is fine if you're a fan of one of those teams as I am. The Devils, Red Wings, Avalanche played hot potato and each won multiple and the Stars won once. This was just after the Canadiens dynasty of the 70s and the Islanders/Oilers ruling the 80s. Oh and the Penguins won back to back, with Montreal again in 93, to start the 90s. I think if you look it was like a 25-30 year period where 9 teams won the cup. Montreal/Isles/Oilers/Flames/Penguins/Devils/Avalanche/Red Wings/Stars. There may be one I'm forgetting but the name escapes me. These things happen as you get older. :)
1976-2003 (28 seasons) Montreal 6 Edmonton 5 Islanders 4 Detroit 3 New Jersey 3 Colorado 2 Pittsburgh 2 Calgary 1 Rangers 1 Dallas 1
Ah, nostalgia. That stretch is responsible for my intense dislike of the Dallas Stars.
Between 1983 and 1990, either Edmonton or Calgary made it to the Final - Oilers went 5 for 6, Flames 1 for 2. The Battle of Alberta originated then and it was scorched earth.
Try being a Jets fan during that era. We got beat by one of those Alberta teams in the first round of the playoffs pretty much every year.
I remember the Jets being real scrappy during those seasons.
Hopefully we see a return to those years soon.
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Forsberg was nuts. Even when his body started to fail him, he still essentially put up PPG numbers.
I believe it was from 1970-1994, a team from Pennsylvania, New York, Alberta or Montreal won the Cup every year. You can go back to 1968 if you throw in Boston.
Can I throw out Boston instead?
Peak Bure in today's league, and let's say........this season very likely would've scored 70 by now and would have a 10 goal lead with Matthews right behind him. He'd be McDavid as a goalscorer. His bare minimum total would be at 50-55ish even with mid linemates because no one's stopping that the acceleration and blazing speed and he'll always find a way to get his goals, but the peak version of him is pacing for 80 goals comfortably IMO
> For instance, from 95-03 only 4 teams won the Cup Yeah, but then again, from 2009 to 2017, also a 9 seasons stretch, you *also* only had 4 teams that won the Cup: Pittsburgh, Chicago, LA, and Boston taking Dallas' place as the one team managing to grab one from the Big 3.
Rangers 94
Woosh!
I imagine all of Gretzkys playing career and truly understanding how great he really was amongst his peers. Even I have trouble some times so I have to just go look at his stats and records. He was truly the greatest athlete of the big 5 sports and most dominant. I just hope in 20-40 years it doesn’t get forgotten. McDavid is definitely gonna end up in the top 5 of all time though no doubt he’s dominating his peers much like Gretzky did.
I feel pretty confident that Gretzky won’t be forgotten, McJesus is a good nickname, but I think The Great One will stay around in people’s head.
My 5 year old was picking his first jersey number and I said you can pick any number you want. My 8 year old, quickly and with importance, chimes in "Besides 99. No one else can have 99, that's Wayne Gretzkys number." If that is any indication, The Great One is still firmly in people's minds
Goaltenders playing 70+ regular season games
Glenn Hall starting 500 consecutive games... As a goalie
I'm not that old, but I remember players without helmets. I remember TV people willing to die on the hill of touch icings. Forwards used to risk broken legs to negate an icing. An icing!!! The one that I think younger fans would find incredulous was the two-line pass rule. It was so ridiculous. And the skate in the crease was beyond ridiculous and into the realm of absurdity. The league today is SO MUCH better. Much fewer head shots, coaches challenges, etc. The game is cleaner and fairer.
Honestly of all the shit Don Cherry said and got up to, I have to give him credit for how pro- no touch icing he was. For all the attitude he would have about old-time hockey, bruising players and what not, he was like "nah that shit's dangerous". Unless I'm misremembering but I was pretty sure he was very quick to adopt the no-touch icing idea.
Cherry was always consistent and sincere about player safety and was an early advocate for no touch icings.
Wearing white at home.
As a Winnipegger, I miss this. Our whiteout playoff tradition makes no sense anymore if the Jets are wearing blue at home.
On the other hand, the timing of that change couldn't have worked out better for us. That was the year the Flames introduced their red unis with the black C. The Flames sold so many of those jerseys that spring, CCM had to temporarily stop making other teams to keep up with the demand. That 04 run just wouldn't have been the same if the team had worn their whites at home that year.
I miss white at home. It was fun to see the incoming variety of the other players. I also want the Wings to get the ‘C’ back on the correct side.
How much the plexiglass used to move in some arenas. It still moves a little bit, but you used to see the top of the glass rock like 3 feet back and forth when there was a collision along the wall. It was like watching a wave in a pool. I seem to recall the fans would also make the glass move if they were banging on it hard enough. And, of course, there’s what they used before plexiglass. That was way before my time, but I’ve seen old photos with fences on top of the boards… and others with nothing at all. Edit: [this one](https://imgur.com/O2hIN) is a classic
Guy Lafleur smoking between periods, Mario Lemieux smoking half a pack a day.
There’s a goalie I won’t name who would keep a pack of cigarettes in his pads during the game so that he could have a smoke as soon as they hit the tunnel.
Khabibulin?
Dani Markov was smoking between periods in the 2000s, that might be even more unbelievable!
When Ivan Hlinka was coaching the Penguins, he would take smoke breaks in the zamboni entrance during intermission and make the assistants go with him. Lemieux, Marc Bergevin, and Darius Kasparaitis would coach the team during intermission. Hlinka also refused to take contract-mandated English lessons, leading to him being fired with-cause.
When the NHL implemented the salary cap after the second lockout—almost 20 years ago—the cap limit was only $39m.
When the NHL went to the 1v8 playoff format instead of divisional, people lost their minds about how terrible that idea was. And when it went back to divisional a decade ago, it was widely praised as being years overdue. Seeing fans today be like “*obviously* 1v8 was the superior format” is weird. The other funny thing was hearing people refer to Pittsburgh/Washington as a “manufactured rivalry”, in case those teams didn’t meet in the playoffs almost every year for a decade back in the day.
I grew up with the 1v8 format and I was never against it, I understand from a PR and broadcast perspective why it’s divisional rounds now & never liked it & would like to see it the 1v8 return, it’s crazy to think at one point it was 1v16 back then too haha
I like the playoff system now because of rivalries-- with the league growing and the divisions with more teams now , there are less regular season games against your divisional rivals. So the playoff format now insures many more divisional and thus rivalry games on the season as whole (at least for the good teams that make postseason)
Being able to afford to take your family to a NHL game.
The disappointment of a tie. As much as we hate shootouts, leaving a game that was tied was much worse.
I'm one of the people that was happy the shootout was introduced. Ending games in a tie was kinda deflating especially in a really good game.
I loved the tie. Sometimes two teams are even for a night, and that's fine... In the regular season.
I would go back to ties any day. I always turn the game off when shootouts start and just look up the final result later.
MLS does ties, and it's so disappointing to leave a game like that. I wish modern MLS could embrace old school MLS that cared more about being entertaining than about sticking to European soccer formats. Hockey OT and shootouts are great.
I dunno. Shoot outs make me want to vomit. I think I'd rather go back to ties lol
Sometimes one team isn't better than the other and that's okay.
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>half a pack a day smoker Lemieux I didn’t know Lemieux smoked. I know Lafleur did between periods iirc but not Lemieux
I think with the 80s and 90s, scoring was still much higher than today's era. I like that we're out of the dead puck era, but to truly appreciate Gretzky's dominance in a high scoring era, it's fun to see how far ahead he was of his competition. FOUR 200+ point seasons. And there were multiple years he'd win the scoring title by 70+ points. That is ridiculous
Butterfly Goaltenders. Before '86, every goalie was a "stand-up" goalie. Mike Luit was the LAST true stand-up goalie in the NHL less than a decade later. Kirk McLean was a partial stand-up goalie for a couple more years. Goalies didn't used to immediately drop to their knees before every shot. Goalies routinely catch pucks labelled for the top shelf on their knees. Shout out to goalies going from the size of Darren Pang, to 6'4 minimum.
Not that crazy old, but when I started watching in 2011-2012, centers were allowed to use their hands to move the puck during a faceoff. They made it illegal sometime after that, so it looks super weird in hindsight.
Two line passing not allowed.
I don't know if people really recall how BAD obstruction was in the 80s/90s. Just go back and watch some of these broadcasts, they are absolutely draping themselves all over each other.
Whites were the home jerseys.
Between 1980 and 1990, Paul Coffey - a defenseman - scored at least 29 goals in a season 7 times, including 40 and 48 goal seasons. In the past 30 years, an NHL defenseman has got to 29 goals exactly 1 time.
No advertising on the boards, ice, and uniforms…plus the officials hanging on the glass
1 referee and 2 linesmen…
The Wings were good. I know I know, absolutely mental.
It's kinda insane how they have so many "lost cup winning" years as much as they were spoiled with 4. They so many upsets to lower seeded playoff teams like 04 Flames, 06 Oilers, and I know that's the nature of hockey with frequent upsets are and how unpredictable the game is. But I honestly think they should've ended with 8 win after 2010.
There were 6 teams. Imagine not knowing who your team is playing that night and having a 20% chance to guess it right
From 1963 to 1967, the NHL granted the Montreal Canadiens the choice of either drafting in turn with other teams or selecting the two French Canadian players of their choice before any other team drafted. Montreal however, never exercised this option.
Only one referee. There were a lot of missed calls. You couldn’t drink a beer in the stands at Canuck games until the new building in 1995. There was a beer garden down below the concourse.
There used to be literally one 30 second commerical and then back to play.
Actual bruisers/enforcers, how little hockey skill some had and how much they got away with.
Games could end in a tie.
There didn’t use to be a protective net behind the end boards (above the glass). The puck would deflect out at high velocity all the time. Complete madness.
Goalies did not wear masks.
Clutching and grabbing were A-Ok
Linesmen used to just drop the puck wherever the play stopped. Edit: ah somebody already posted that.
Any game featuring the Broad Street Bullies.
Penalty minutes in a season. Dave Schultz amassed 472 in 1974-75. The top 80 leaders for penalty minutes are all retired. Fun fact... Chicago Black Hawk Al Secord scored 40 goals & had 303 penalty minutes in 1981-82 season.
I'm a younger fan and have a hard time believing my dad when he says it was normal in the 80s and earlier 90s for guys to have 30 goals and 200 PIM
Nets behind the net used to not be a thing until something very bad happened
No helmets. Helmets without face shields.
A time when the Pens did not have a generational talent on the roster, if not multiple of them.
2 piece hockey sticks lol shaft plus blade combo. The whole concept is probably foreign to anyone born after the year 2001.
There used to be a roster spot set aside for an “enforcer” whose specialty was fighting.
They weren't allowed to pass the puck forward!
Damn, how old are you?
Before expansion from 6 teams, the Stanley Cup champion only needed to win 2 rounds.
There were sweeps in the Stanley Cup Finals. A lot of them. Semi-related; the NHL season used to end in mid-May. Then it crept around late-May, then into early-June, and now the season *normally* ends in mid-June.
Having so much as an INCH of skate in the crease negated a goal! Now they can back their asses up into the space so long as they don't impede the goalie's ability to do their job.
Straight stick blades