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Post by Boston_Habs on Mar 31, 2016 13:42:09 GMT -5
I was just curious to see the team single season record for goals. Of course it was the Oilers, but my jaw dropped when I saw it was 446 goals in 1983-84. That's over 5.5 goals a game! That was a once-in-a-generation squad but it's just crazy to see how much the game has changed in the past 20-30 years.
Top 5:
Gretzky: 87
Anderson: 54
Kurri: 52
Coffey: 40
Messier: 37
Those guys alone accounted for 270 goals, which is more than any team in the league will score this year! The average goals per team that year was 315, or almost 4 goals a game. It looks like the average goals per team this year will be about 217, about 2.6 goals per game, so scoring is down over 30% from the go-go years of the 80s. Not a new observation, but those were good times.
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Post by Gogie on Mar 31, 2016 14:48:53 GMT -5
  Then Now It was a pretty different game back then, especially for goalies (and their equipment). |
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Post by Boston_Habs on Mar 31, 2016 14:54:43 GMT -5
Yup. It's been the rise of the goalies. Size, athleticism, technique, equipment. Patrick Roy was a genuine revolutionary in the game. On par with Bobby Orr, really. He changed how the position was played.
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Post by blny on Mar 31, 2016 16:03:08 GMT -5
Yup. It's been the rise of the goalies. Size, athleticism, technique, equipment. Patrick Roy was a genuine revolutionary in the game. On par with Bobby Orr, really. He changed how the position was played. He would tell you that Dan Bouchard was the first butterfly goalie, and the one who inspired him. Patrick is the one who inspired the hockey world to change though. |
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Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Mar 31, 2016 16:29:07 GMT -5
How would they have done against the 76-77 Habs ... both were great teams, but I tend to lean towards the Habs because of the defence ... in addition to the Big Three, guys like Guy Lafleur, Jacques Lemaire and even Cournoyer were all defensively responsible ... they had buy-in to the system as well ... Bowman practiced at both ends of the rink ...
Cheers.
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Post by seventeen on Mar 31, 2016 18:01:07 GMT -5
Bowman was much superior to Sather as a coach. I'd pick the Habs as well, because they were so good defensively, but could really score as well.
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Post by blny on Mar 31, 2016 19:35:32 GMT -5
I'd go with the Habs. Montreal could match their speed player for player. Gretzky is likely the smartest player of all time - he knew where everyone was on the ice at all times. Montreal can match it with a team smart enough to play a 200ft game before anyone else was and the coach who knew how to instruct it.
It would be close though.
When you watch video of the Oilers from 82 through 88, it's a brilliant team. Sure, they played in a few games where they had to literally score 11 times just to win. However, they learned how to win the lower scoring games. The Islanders and Flyers taught them that.
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