AJC > Sports Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2007 > December > 19
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Bucking A Trend In An Un-Good Fashion
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When the NHL came out of the lockout that robbed hockey fans of an ’04-’05 season, put in place were new rules intended to increase scoring and offensive production. Such rules being goalkeepers not being allowed to play pucks in corners, allowing two line passing, the delayed offside rule, not substituting after icing the puck and refs clamping down on the holding and clutching, holding, grabbing in center ice.
Here we are in the third season of the post-lockout era and a review of the numbers show that the league’s goalies and defenses are adjusting to the rule changes and the increases in offense seen two seasons ago are slowly eroding away back toward those of the pre-lockout days.
Well, except in Atlanta.
Case in point: The last season before the work stoppage, ’03-’04, saw 3 goalies finish the year with GAA averages under 2.00. Leading the way was Mikka Kiprusoff of Calgary with a microscopic 1.69. In that year the average number of shots taken by teams was 27.1 per game. Atlanta goalkeepers let in 2.96 goals per game and the defense allowed an average of 29.4 shots a game to get through to the man between the pipes.
Move forward to the first year after the lock out and subsequent rule changes. Kipprusoff again lead the league, but this time with a 2.07 GAA. That GAA would have earned him just 9th best in ’03-’04. Not surprisingly, the average shots per game by teams in league also rose to 30.55. That year the Thrashers let up 3.29 goals per game and gave up shots at the rate of 30.3 per game.
In the following season, ’06-’07, Minnesota’s Niklas Backstrom lead the NHL with a 1.97 GAA in 41 games as he went 23-8-6. Detroit’s Dominik Hasek was second with a 2.05 goals per game average. The average number of shots taken by teams dipped slightly as well to 30.25 per game. Atlanta gave up goals at the rate of 2.94 per game but allowed 31.5 shots a game.
Half way through the current campaign we see that there are no less then 3 goalies with their GAAs under 3.00 going into Wednesday’s games, Detroit’s Chris Osgood, (1.76 in 18 games), The Ranger’s Henrick Lundqvist, (1.98 in 29 games) and Evgeni Nabokov of San Jose, (1.99 in 33 games). In fact, the 2.07 posted by Kipprusoff two seasons ago would place him in a tie for 5th this year. The average number of shots, you ask? Down again slightly to 30.0. But the Thrashers are giving up a league high of 3.42 goals a game and are now giving up 32.5 shots a game and while their shots per game have dipped to 25.4.
In ’03-’04, the middle of the stats sheet for GAA was right at 2.71. Today, of the 40 goalkeepers who have played enough minutes to be considered in the league’s individual rankings, 27 have goals against averages at or below 2.71. Comparatively, Kari Lehtonen has a 3.62 GAA in 11 games, Johan Hedberg sports a 3.16 GAA in 20 games and Ondrej Pavelec’s 3.11 GAA was earned in his seven games played.
So, as the NHL’s net-minders and defenders seem to be making adjustments to the post-lockout style of play and their numbers sink downward closer to those before the ’05-’06 season, it seems as though the Atlanta Thrashers are bucking that trend as we see theirs continue to rise. What is going on behind Atlanta’s blue line is what the NHL suits wanted to see these past 3 seasons…only not by just one team.
