Difference between hockey in the 70's to now

[Bobby4Ever]

It's worth noting a team built on speed and skill won 6 cups that decade.

i'll attest to that!! , i loved my Bruins but i'll admit i was envious of the flying frenchmen!! speed and skill???? heard of "the roadrunner"? speed and skill?? Boston had a guy named Orr!! could go on and on , speed and skill throughout the league if i remember.

[Pengwin7]

From the games I've watched...
Of the five major sports (incl. soccer), hockey is the sport that had its players evolve the most through training/technology.
Football is a debatable 1a/1b with hockey.

If I was to ballpark, I'd say:

Soccer players in the 70s are 95% of soccer players today. 2010 Soccer Team 1, 1970s Soccer Team 1... 2010 Soccer Team win an extra time.
Baseball players in the 70s are 90% of baseball players today. 2010 Baseball Team 6, 1970s Baseball Team 5.
Basketball players in the 70s are 80-90% of basketball players today. 2010 Basketball Team 92, 1970 Basketball Team 80.
Football players in the 70s are 70-75% of football players today. 2010 Football Team 28, 1970 Football Team 20. *Football is mostly about SIZE these days. The SIZE of modern football players would be way too much for 1970s players.
Hockey players in the 70s are 70-75% of hockey players today. 2010 Hockey Team 5, 1970 Hockey Team 3.

And equipment/tools help, but I'm still imagining giving both eras of players same equipment. (I mean, hockey players smoked in between periods in the 70s. Smoked!)
There were some very good athletes in 1970s hockey... and I believe some (if not the average) of those hockey players were as smart or smarter, as players today.
But todays' players skill of skating, especially, and coaching is FAR FAR superior to 1970s.
On a surface as big as hockey: 200'x85', having more speed and more strategy is going to create dominance.

To be honest, I think most upper NCAA college teams could compete with the Habs of the 1970s... that's how good I think the hockey skill level is these days.
[Now - the old timers won't want to admit this. I'm 40+, I don't want to say it. But its true. The game is just blazing fast now and the players are trained to do all the right things with the puck. Dump when its right, hold the puck in the corners when its right, pinch at the right time. Players in the 70s were smart about analyzing what to do with the puck when they had it (single-step-forward thinking), but they didn't have the same puck training AWAY from the puck - that kids do now (a second-step-forward-thinking of ingrained training thought process)]

Well... its not really fair to cross-compare eras.
Anybody should really only (ever) be compared relative to their peers.

20 years from now, the current group of players will be far inferior.
The world is ever evolving.

But yeah, in summary, hockey has grown in leaps over the last 40 years, moreso that any of the other major sports, IMO.

[2014olympicgold]

I wanted to look into baseball’s 1975 avg stats to 2016 avg stats. Man is it close.

Biggest differences:
SB. 0.52/game (2016) vs 0.625/game (1975)
SO. 8.03/game (2016) vs 4.98/game (1975)
HR. 1.16/game (2016) vs 0.7/game (1975)
Sac hits. 0.21/game (2016) vs 0.48/game (1975)

And the 70s was the start of roids in MLB. Not the “Roid Era” but still, started in the 70s.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/bat.shtml
P7 said 6-5 win for 2010. Stats say 4.38-4.21 2010 win. I didn’t think it would be that close. Looks like it was just strategy that’s really changed in players (more hit for power now, more generating runs back then). P7 is so right it blew my mind.

[Pengwin7]

I love stats, but baseball (& other sports) comparison across eras is (and can really only be) an eye-test.
I wouldn't even use "stats" to compare one era to another.
I use numbers only to quantify my opinion... because to say "way better" or "better" can be interpreted very differently/subjectively by different people.

If one watches baseball games in the 70s vs. now... the players basically look very similar.
The game looks very similar (IMO).
Today's pitchers are a little more tactful with pitch placement (which is due to technology tracking pitch efficiency)... but pitchers in both eras were 95-102mph throwers at the high end.
Today's hitters are a bit stronger, but what one gains in muscle often hurts them in reaction-time at the plate. I think hitters, overall, are very similar in overall skill as they were 40 years ago.
So... it just looks like a similar game to me. Baseball is mostly a precision/mechanics game, IMO. The technology alone has made this era's pitchers slightly advantaged.

[But thanks for the compliment and dig on the numbers. I love all things numbers. Its always a good discussion point.]

[Call of Doughty]

This about sums it up.

[Shift Disturber]

The biggest difference for me is I miss the sideburns. Nice effort by Kassian though.

sideburns 70s.jpg

sideburns kassian.jpg

[Shift Disturber]

This about sums it up.

I love the head-whacks on the guys at the bench. I did this once to my buddy's team in a beer league game. I guess we all have our role models.

[LeTrefle]

Goalies were half the size in both height and pads.

I heard an ex-player (don't remember who) saying that in the 70's goalies were the smallest players on each team. And now, they're the biggest.
So, I made a little search to have some stats on this. Can't compare all G to all skaters in the 70's and today...

So, I went this way:
In 71-72, there were 14 teams. Looked at the height of the goalie that played most games on each team.
5.11-5.11-6.04-5.10-6.01-5.08-5.11-5.11-5.07-5.09-6.00-5.10-5.08-5.08: average of 5.10.

Then looked at the 14 goalies with the most wins this season.
6.02-6.03-6.02-6.06-6.03-6.03-6.04-6.04-6.02-6.02-6.04-6.05-6.01-6.01: average of 6.03.
Also, on the 94 goalies listed by NHL.com this year, only 5 were under 6.00.

Again, didn't go through all the players. We could probably see an increase in average height for all the players, but I doubt that difference is 5".

[Rylant]

It's definitely faster today. Players are bigger. Injuries are more severe but treatment is better. Fitness is huge (I remember once watching Al Iafrate blast a 100 mph slap shot in practice with a lit cigarette in his mouth). Rink and ice advertising is new. I also remember watching games in the early 80s where you would only see the score displayed as they went to commercial, and you had to wait until the announcer told you how much time was left in the period.

Rylant

[blackaces]

I heard an ex-player (don't remember who) saying that in the 70's goalies were the smallest players on each team. And now, they're the biggest.
So, I made a little search to have some stats on this. Can't compare all G to all skaters in the 70's and today...

So, I went this way:
In 71-72, there were 14 teams. Looked at the height of the goalie that played most games on each team.
5.11-5.11-6.04-5.10-6.01-5.08-5.11-5.11-5.07-5.09-6.00-5.10-5.08-5.08: average of 5.10.

Then looked at the 14 goalies with the most wins this season.
6.02-6.03-6.02-6.06-6.03-6.03-6.04-6.04-6.02-6.02-6.04-6.05-6.01-6.01: average of 6.03.
Also, on the 94 goalies listed by NHL.com this year, only 5 were under 6.00.

Again, didn't go through all the players. We could probably see an increase in average height for all the players, but I doubt that difference is 5".

NHL Player Size From 1917-18 to 2014-15: A Brief Look

NB the comment at the bottom of the article where Matt Hooper suggests the average size for a starting NHL Player has not changed a whole lot in 45 years. My research indicates less than an inch in height and 8 pounds in weight.

[LeTrefle]

NHL Player Size From 1917-18 to 2014-15: A Brief Look

NB the comment at the bottom of the article where Matt Hooper suggests the average size for a starting NHL Player has not changed a whole lot in 45 years. My research indicates less than an inch in height and 8 pounds in weight.

Wow great find!
Thanks for sharing.
My data are far from detailed like the ones in the linked article, but we can see that goalies drastically increased in size (+5") while skaters didn't (less than 1").

[ericdaoust]

One thing I noticed watching highlights today is how easy it was to generate scoring chances in the older days vs today. There were more shots that were essentially uncontested because the offensive players could get free from defensive coverage (especially in transition). Today it's usually through a bunch of bodies and on the rush the defenders usually do a good job.

[StuntMan12]

One thing I noticed watching highlights today is how easy it was to generate scoring chances in the older days vs today. There were more shots that were essentially uncontested because the offensive players could get free from defensive coverage (especially in transition). Today it's usually through a bunch of bodies and on the rush the defenders usually do a good job.

exactly what i was thinking. i've watched maybe 4 or 5 games from back then and had people tell me the game was much faster and more skilled back then, from the little i watched i disagreed but agreed it was a free-er flowing game which to some it may be more appealing but not me, i like this game. the era i liked most was the 90's. you had the roughness of the 70's and 80's, the speed and skill of the 2000's. was a nice medium imo

[Atomic Wedgy]

I only remember the late 70s.

1) Players are much more athletic/faster for their size.
2) Dirty plays got punished without exception and it wasn't pretty.
3) Teams are coached way better in todays game and this makes it harder and harder to get scoring chances. Positionally, its incredible nowadays. Also, the strategy and PP, PK, set plays, etc, etc... Its night and day. The game has literally evolved. I'm not sure if its better though.

[NikW71]

Read the book Hockey Night Fever by Stephen Cole. All you need to know about the 3 powerhouses of the 70's (Bruins, Flyers and Canadiens). Should give you a good idea about both the on ice and off ice mentality.