Goal (ice Hockey) - Scoring Statistics

Scoring Statistics

The number of goals scored is a closely watched statistic. Each year the Rocket Richard Trophy is presented to the NHL player to have scored the most goals. The trophy is named after Maurice Richard, the first player to score 50 goals in a season, at a time when the NHL regular season was only 50 games (compared to 82 today). The player to have scored the most goals in an NHL season is Wayne Gretzky. Gretzky is also the fastest to 50 goals; during his record-setting 1981–82 season, in which he finished with 92 goals, he scored his 50th goal in the Edmonton Oilers' 39th game of the season.

The overall amount of goal scoring is also closely watched. In recent years, goal scoring has decreased. Many believe the game is less entertaining because of this, and blame the change on the increasing size of goaltending equipment and the advent of defensive systems such as the neutral zone trap. Fans of defensive hockey counter by saying the high scoring of the 1980s was an anomaly, and this shift represents a return to the norm. For the 2004-05 American Hockey League season, four major rule changes were made that were intended to increase the scoring in games and make it more popular among casual fans -- (1) increasing the size of the attack zones by narrowing the neutral zone two feet each side and thus moving the goal line back two feet, (2) restrictions on the goaltender playing the puck, (3) permitting offside players to negate the penalty by "tagging up" with the blue line, and (4) changing the offside rule by permitting passes which cross the center line and one blue line (but not between both blue lines in certain restrictions). The AHL rules were slightly modified and adopted in the NHL and ECHL for 2005-06, when the NHL returned after the lockout.