Mine from the Bruins thread:
Jon Cooper went first:1) Influx of talented players who are starting at much younger ages resulting in them having more NHL experience sooner allowing them to take advantage of that talent at an age which used to be reserved for the very rare high end players.
2) A major shift in coaching. Most of the defense first grognards are gone and the few that still try to force that style over a more balanced game aren't keeping their jobs.
3) Rules changes and coaches implementing things to take advantage of those changes. This has been a more gradual change since the lockout.
Combine the above 3 things and it isn't surprising, even though it still seems like one. In regard to 1) & 2). Look at the 100 point players this season. 4 of the 5 started young while the old guy, Gaudreau, has straight up responded to Darryl Sutter whose changed the style he expects when compared to what he did in LA. Matthew flipping Tkachuk will be a 100 point player this season. Someone tell me anybody saw that happening ever based on his style of play.
1) Expansion which while it only added one roster worth of players added goaltenders. Some teams are blessed with depth in that position while those without tend to be really without.
2) Teams ranked 1 thru 8 compared to 9 through 16 in each conference are further apart talent wise than they've been in a long time. Teams that chose to get better got better while those that decided to be better 2-3 years from now, (paraphrasing) threw in the towel earlier than teams have in a long time. This leads to teams that got better playing teams that got worse. When he said this he referenced when was the last time you've seen multiple 9+ goals on one side of the ledger in multiple games in one season. Last time he recalls was the Oilers era.
Then NHL Network chimed in and added:
1) Pandemic related stuff - shortened rosters at different points of this season
2) Most goalies used in a season ever - 116 thus far. (my thought, this ties directly back to Covid stuff when teams had to sit both starters and even a 3rd goalie due to positive covid tests)
3) The condensed season - more games being played in shorter time spans than a normal regular season for every team in the league. It leads to tired legs and teams not executing their structures as well as they should resulting in increased scoring.
4) Most teams not having played a full 82-game schedule since 18-19. The regular season is a grind and not having had to play through it will show for especially older players.
5) That goaltending thing - 6 really good goalies retired after last season and while a couple of been replaced with quality netminders, the others have not.
So there are LOTS of factors as to why scoring is up and every single one of them makes sense, but no single one of them can be pointed to as THE reason. We'll see next season if this trend continues. I think it will for my reasons, but could be completely wrong if it's the pandemic, shortened schedule stuff as the reasons.