Scoring becomes tougher and tougher for NHL stars

Forty- and 50-goal scorers are an endangered species in the NHL, and Brian Burke jokes that it's all Patrick Roy's fault.

"I tell him this every time I see him," said Burke, the Calgary Flames president of hockey operations. "He glamorized the goalie position 25 years ago. Goalies used to be fat kids who couldn't skate, and he made it an elite position. He was the first goalie to get treated and paid like an elite player."

After the NHL introduced rules in 2005 to create more offense, the 2005-06 season had seven 100-point scorers, five 50-goal scorers and six 40-goal scorers. Joe Thornton won the scoring title with 125 points. Jaromir Jagr was two points back.

Eight years later, Washington Capitals winger Alex Ovechkin was the only player with 50 goals, and Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby was the only player with 100 points. In fact, he was the only NHL player with more than 90 points. He won the scoring title with 104 points, and Anaheim Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf was second at 87.

"It's almost like we are back in the six-team era," said NHL Network analyst Craig Button, a former general manager. "All of the players were really good. You only had six goalies, so they were really good and you had all the best defensemen. It was really hard to score. We are back to that Original Six era."

Scoring chances appear to be holding steady, but dynamic scorers can't seem to find the net the way they could in the past.

"The goalies are great," Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said. "They are unbelievable these days. They are big, skilled and athletic."

But that's only part of the issue. The next time you watch an NHL game and a goal is scored from in close, count the number of players on your TV screen.

"You used to see three bodies and a goalie," Burke said. "Now on a net jam play, it's very common to see eight or nine bodies in the frame."

As part of the rules change, the blue line was moved back to give teams more room in the attacking zone. The hope was that it would spread out the defensive coverage.

"But you don't see them spreading out. You see them collapsing," Kekalainen said. "And everybody is blocking shots."

A pentagon of defensive players is in front of the net. This season, 26 players had 150 or more blocks. In 2005-06, 20 players did. Four NHL teams had fewer than 1,000 blocks this season. In 2005-06, that number was eight.

"It is so hard for a defenseman on the power play to get the shot through," Kekalainen said.

Today's players arrive in the NHL already knowing the tricks and precepts of defensive hockey. In other words, defensive specialists are now as talented as the dynamic offensive players.

"It's not about the players," Kekalainen said. "They are just as skilled, and they are shooting harder than ever."

Button also thinks the lack of expansion has had an impact because every team is rich in talent.

"There is not as wide a gap anymore between your top players and your bottom players," Button said. "The players can all skate, and they all understand team concepts."

The NHL has no official expansion plan, but it's expected to happen in the near future. It's no secret the league would like to have more teams in the West. Plus, Quebec City is lobbying hard to regain the NHL team that it lost in 1995, when the Nordiques moved to Denver to become the Colorado Avalanche.

"The talent bucket around the league is full," said NBC analyst Pierre McGuire, a former coach. "We have not had expansion in 15 years. Plus, since the 2003 draft, the NHL has been stocked by amazing players who jump right into the NHL. Coaching has never been better. The same is true for pro scouting. So attention to shutting down stars has become commonplace. And goalies are still too large."

The NHL has downsized goalie equipment, but it has not had a drastic impact on scoring.

"No group of athletes has improved as much as goaltenders have in the past 20 years," Burke said. "It's just hard to score goals now. You have to get it past the shot blocker, get it through defensemen and beat a goalie who is superior to anyone that played the position decades ago."

General managers look at the game twice a season in their meetings, and the tenor of the March meeting was they like the game where it is at because scoring chances are there.

No one complains about scoring numbers in the playoffs because games are so competitive. The regular season can be a different story.

"I'm not alarmed about (the absence of big-number scorers), because I just need scoring chances to entertain my fans," Burke said. "I'm not despairing about the product, because I think the product is exceptional."

Fans seem to be evolving as the game evolves.

"A blocked shot can be a great play," Burke said. "Our fans will applaud a blocked shot."