The first taste of preseason hockey the last few days has been notable for two things: injuries and penalties. While teams like the St. Louis Blues and Ottawa Senators have already had their fair share of the former, the league seems intent on increasing the latter. Through 18 preseason games so far (the boxscore for three matches is unavailable on NHL.com) teams are averaging 7.25 powerplay opportunities per game, thanks in part to the crackdown on slashing and faceoff violations.
Though part of that is due to the bigger gap in talent preseason games represent, and the league trying to show off their new stance on enforcing rules that have always technically been part of the game, this number would be monumental should it carry over to the regular season. Powerplay opportunities peaked in the first season after the lockout, when obstruction rules were put into place to speed the game up. In 2005-06, teams were afforded 5.85 powerplays per game. That resulted in some pretty spectacular totals.
In that year, a whopping seven players broke the 100-point mark, with Joe Thornton leading the way with 123. He did it on the back of 54 powerplay points, and each of the rest of the group tallied at least 40 points with the man advantage. Last year, when powerplay opportunities were at an all-time low of 2.99 per team, per game, Niklas Backstrom of the Washington Capitals led the entire league with 35 powerplay points.
While no one is expecting the league to suddenly hand out close to 15 powerplays a game, even a moderate increase will have huge effects on the league. If, suddenly players are given two or three more opportunities a game for points, the overall increase in production could have a marked effect on the contracts signed next summer.
As an example, William Nylander led the Toronto Maple Leafs with 26 powerplay points, good for 15th in the entire league. Should that total balloon to 40+ due to no other fact that he was given more opportunities, he’ll likely be looking at an 80-point season, and a huge negotiating boost next summer when he looks to cash in. In seems then, that teams who took advantage of a signing window this offseason may be rewarded in the short term. Though obviously teams will try to use even strength totals as the basis of contracts, agents will use anything they can to try and secure the best deals for their clients.
Enforcing these rules is a good thing for injury, as hopefully we’ll see less incidents like the ones concerning Marc Methot and Johnny Gaudreau this year. But make no mistake, leaning into the idea of more powerplays will have ripples throughout the structure and finances of the game.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
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More penalties seems like a win-win situation for all sides. Granted players will be upset because they will feel that they are being restricted more and some might suggest the game is going soft, I’m sure just as many players (aside from goalies) will be happy with the increased powerplay opportunities as more opportunities equal more points and more points equal more money. For the fans, some might groan about more penalties slowing down the game a bit but it should lead to more scoring which could lead to a more exciting game.
Hockey is the only sport they don’t protect their stars, QB are protected NBA protects theirs NHL you can murder Mcdavid or Crosby every time they have the puck and it’s excitable. They should be untouchable they are the people generating the money while the butchers that can’t skate ruin the game
There is no such thing as “untouchable ” in hockey. And you are supposed to be a hockey fan? If you were a true fan, you would have NEVER posted that comment. Hockey is not basketball, is not football or any other sport. Leave hockey to the real fans. Go follow tennis where there is no contact between the participants.
Protected? What are you expecting suspensions for anybody that touches Crosby? I’m assuming by your username that you’re a Penguins fan (or a Crosby fan at the least). The stars in the NHL aren’t as protected in the sense that the officials/league go out of their way to penalize opposing players who hit them, but they are protected in the sense that they don’t get as many penalties called against them (and tend to draw more penalties). I respect the heck out of Crosby because I realize he’s one of the top two players in the league and a generational talent, but he gets away with a lot of little dirty plays during games. Some of these plays go unnoticed but he wouldn’t get away with as many as he does if he wasn’t Crosby.
Like chopping off a piece of Methot’s finger
Well said JT!