Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Different Eras

As the team reports on Twitter today...

"This is just the second time the Caps have had the NHL's best record this late in a season (other was 1991-92)."

The Caps' 19-5-6 record (44 points) tops the league this afternoon. In that 1991-1992 season, the Caps had a record of 21-9-0 (42 points) after 30 games. However, how these teams got there was rather different, a reflection of the different eras.

Today's Caps are the best offensive team in the NHL, averaging 3.60 goals per game at the 30-game mark. But that 1991-1992 team? Through 30 games they potted a whopping 137 goals (4.57/game). 15 times in those 30 games they scored at least five goals, compared to six times (discounting Gimmicks) for today's version of the Caps.

And defense? The Caps, by today's standards, are a good (but not great) group overall, their 2.67 goals allowed per game mark standing 10th in the league. But today's numbers look a lot better than the 3.17 goals allowed per game through 30 games by that 1991-1992 team (95 total goals). That's the goals allowed per game by Anaheim so far, and they're 26th in the league in that statistic.

If you ever needed a quick lesson in just how much the game has changed in the past couple of decades, even with today's rules that "open up" the offense, there it is in rather stark terms.

3 comments:

Melvisdog said...

Didn't the Nylander nightmare officially start when he was benched in the playoffs in lieu of Beagle? I think I may be partially responsible for him not leaving because I wrote a jingle to celebrate when I heard his departure to the KHL was imminent. I feel your pain.

The Peerless said...

I date it from when he cleared waivers.

Melvisdog said...

In that case, in the pool I'll take 47 days. I'd consider it a nice x-mas present from Nylander.