1984 Stanley Cup Finals

[toby91_ca 620]

So, I was watching an old game today (game 4 or 5 of the 1984 Stanley Cup Finals), EDM vs. NYI. I would have seen this live back in 1984 (on TV), but I was only a kid then and didn't notice the details of the games. I can tell you this, the clutching and grabbing was 10 times worse in at least this one game than it is in today's NHL. Guys are basically wrapping both arms around guys if they are reachable...no penalty calls, appears to be pretty normal play.

What does this tell me? It's not clutching and grabbing that's the big problem, which is what the NHL is focusing on getting rid of. Apart from the goalies being WAY SMALLER, the big difference I see from 1984 to now is simply the style of the game. There are far more scoring chances than there are now, more goals are not simply due to smaller goalies, it's mostly due to the lack of suffocating defense.

And man, Bob Nystrom is one dirty MF'er, but his penalty minutes don't seem to suggest he's that dirty. From one sequence, he blatantly elbows Messier, then immediately after, goes towards a guy on the boards and blatantly puches a guy in the face (you can see him just going for that), about 2 seconds later, he does the same thing. The only reason I mention this is that you really don't see this sort of thing in today's game. I am not explaining it very well, but what he was doing is something guys would get suspended for in today's game (literally).

[Barrie 900]

So, I was watching an old game today (game 4 or 5 of the 1984 Stanley Cup Finals), EDM vs. NYI. I would have seen this live back in 1984 (on TV), but I was only a kid then and didn't notice the details of the games. I can tell you this, the clutching and grabbing was 10 times worse in at least this one game than it is in today's NHL. Guys are basically wrapping both arms around guys if they are reachable...no penalty calls, appears to be pretty normal play.

What does this tell me? It's not clutching and grabbing that's the big problem, which is what the NHL is focusing on getting rid of. Apart from the goalies being WAY SMALLER, the big difference I see from 1984 to now is simply the style of the game. There are far more scoring chances than there are now, more goals are not simply due to smaller goalies, it's mostly due to the lack of suffocating defense.

And man, Bob Nystrom is one dirty MF'er, but his penalty minutes don't seem to suggest he's that dirty. From one sequence, he blatantly elbows Messier, then immediately after, goes towards a guy on the boards and blatantly puches a guy in the face (you can see him just going for that), about 2 seconds later, he does the same thing. The only reason I mention this is that you really don't see this sort of thing in today's game. I am not explaining it very well, but what he was doing is something guys would get suspended for in today's game (literally).

Yea it's funny when people say they want to go back to 80's style hockey.

[redwingfan19 293]

Yea it's funny when people say they want to go back to 80's style hockey.

best playoffs I've ever seen

not particularly the teams but just the style of hockey. This was Bettmans 2nd year as commish kinda interesting