Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
The reason there was so much more scoring, seeming creativity, and "wow" moments in the NHL in the '70s and '80s than now is because the gap in talent from the top to the bottom has closed. The greatest players in today's game are just as great as the stars of bygone eras, but the middling and bottom end players are much, MUCH better.
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No question about it, but I still think that the goaltending abilities
combined with the equipment they now wear is by far the biggest contributor.
Like Shutt says just the visual of a guy like Dryden vs a guy like Bishop and its blatently obvious that fewer saves will be made by the guy with the substantially smaller equipment.
30 years ago if a player like Lafleur came flying down the wing and ripped one top corner, the goaltender was forced to make a save on it, nowadays the goaltender just has to be in somewhat the right spot and the puck will simply hit him. It's a drastic difference.