[Jay Random]

The explanation I like best is that it's largely a matter of practice time. With the very compressed schedule last year, teams didn't have much time to work on their defensive systems. This year, many teams missed time due to COVID and the games had to be made up during the cancelled Olympic break. A lot of teams have been basically playing every second day when they weren't shut down by illness. That's two years in a row with less than the normal time for coaches to work on their teams.

Defence is largely about teamwork, where offence is more about individual talent. There's always a talent gap between teams, but with less time for in-depth coaching, the systems play hasn't been there to narrow the gap. That would explain the increase in scoring as well as the lack of parity around the league. Teams with a lot of gifted offensive players have had a chance to run wild as they wouldn't in an ordinary year.

I think it may have been Seravalli that suggested this line of thinking, but I couldn't swear to it. It was definitely a media analyst trying to explain why scoring is so much higher than usual this season. The idea that it also explains the loss of parity, if wrong, is my own mistake.