ChronicleWorst season in NHL history?

This Tuesday night, the Dallas Stars and the Vegas Golden Knights will play one of the 1,312 exceptionally significant games scheduled on the schedule. With the win, the Stars confirm their spot in the playoffs as well as that of the Nashville Predators and Los Angeles Kings. A victory for Dallas would complete the playoff picture in the West.

Incredibly, the previous paragraph summarizes the level of longing formed by NHL hockey since the beginning of October. In other words, nothing happened.

In the East, eight of the 16 teams were dropped after 30 games and there was no shadow of the possibility of having a playoff race. Moreover, the eight teams from the East that won a place for the spring tournament scored 100 points or more, something that had never been seen before.

It’s amazing to see such a difference in a league where standings are artificially squeezed by bonus points awarded to teams that lose in overtime or shootouts. Especially since a very strict salary limit prevents the richest team from having a huge advantage over the less affluent.

Many people admire the fact that the number of goals recorded is particularly high and the attacking exploits are plentiful this season.

On average, NHL teams score 3.14 goals per game. We have to go back to the 1995-96 season to find the last season where there were so many attackers.

In these offensive celebrations, the Florida Panthers are particularly distinguished themselves. Their average of 4.16 goals per game is the highest since the Penguins of Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr who, back in 1995-96, scored at least 362 goals.

Moreover, as the last days of the calendar passed, 11 attackers reached, or had a good chance of reaching, the 100-point plateau. Again, we have to go back to the 1995-96 season (13 forwards with 100 points or more) to find similar statistics.

The catch is that these offensive successes have been achieved due to the collapse of a large number of organizations.

At least eight teams have defensive records below -50. The Canadiens and the Arizona Coyotes also lead with their respective differences of -107 and -110. In NHL history, there have never been so many moderate teams in one season.

Some of the teams that dragged the devil by the tail in 2021-22 also seem to have fallen victim to last season’s compressed schedule and the very short offseason that followed the final playoffs.

As mentioned earlier in this text, the Vegas Golden Knights are on the brink and have a good chance of not being included in the playoffs. If that happens, it will be the first time in modern NHL history (since 1968) that three of the four teams on the playoff roster will be kicked out of the tournament in the spring next season.

In 2021, the four participants in the Stanley Cup semifinals are the Vegas Golden Knights, the Canadiens, the New York Islanders and the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Physical coach Stéphane Dubé, who has coached NHL players for more than 20 years, recalls the prediction that this season will be extremely difficult for teams with a long playoff run in 2021.

I told my partners that I didn’t expect to see the amount of injuries the teams that played until the end would suffer. However, the Canadian really surprised me by going over 700 missed games. I never thought it would be this badhe admits.

According to the NHL Injury Viz website, the unofficial NHL injury record was formerly owned by the Los Angeles Kings, who saw their players miss 629 games in the 2003-04 season.

According to the Man-Games Lost website, the Vegas Golden Knights are sixth in the NHL with nearly 500 games missed due to injury. However, in terms of the amount of injuries suffered by major players, Vegas is second only to CH, according to NHL Injury Viz.

The final playoffs ended on July 7, 2021, and the players reportedly camped in the penultimate week of September.

When the 2021-22 season began, players with a long playoff run hadn’t even finished healing from their injuries from last season.said Stéphane Dubé.

I often work with the guys who participated in the finals. And even their summers were shorter than others, and at least they had time to heal. Their physical preparation was not optimal, but at least they recovered before returning to the game.

Last season, considering the important three or four-week break after the playoffs, players were only allowed six weeks of transition between the two seasons. It was horrible.

It was also fascinating last summer. Players who went back to training and played long enough in the playoffs were completely broke. They were burned. In addition, they are discouraged that next season will start very quickly.said Stéphane Dubé.

The New York Islanders survived injury. But they are not ready for the season to begin. It was an 11-game defeat that quickly drove them to the playoffs. When they got together, it was all too late.

According to Stéphane Dubé, when we consider the above, we will only admire the fact that the Tampa Bay Lightning was able to qualify for this year’s playoffs.

Lightning has talent, that’s for sure. But the fact that this team has found the strength to re-enter the playoffs after winning the back-to-back Stanley Cups in two miserable years like the ones we’ve gone through, really impresses me.he said.

In addition to physical stress and injury, there is an important psychological dimension that comes into play when athletes are overstretched. You need to have a chance to recharge the batteries at some point.

In the case of the Stanley Cup champions, the well -known physical trainer points out, however, that the lengthy rehabilitation of their best forward, Nikita Kucherov, is likely to have a positive impact.

The Lightning players were also tired when the playoffs began last year. But they hire their best players when it matters. Kucherov has not played all season. He was fresh and taller and that was a big addition for them. I’m not sure they would have won a second consecutive Cup if Kucherov hadn’t rested enough.

However, Kucherov’s game has also been relatively small this season. The same phenomenon can happenbelieves Stéphane Dubé.

The NHL will end in the last days of a very bad season, the two refer to events which are a sex abuse scandal involving a Chicago Blackhawks coach and player, and a departure from the Olympics.

It’s time for it to end.