From Chalkboards to AI: 108 Years of NHL Hockey

At a Glance

• Introduction to the Vintage Hockey Series
• Five Eras: 108 Years of NHL Hockey
• Within and Across the Five Eras

Introduction to the Vintage Hockey Series

Sometimes you get so lost in the data and numbers that you forget why you love a sport so much. This series looks back and rediscovers this amazing sport by exploring 108 years of hockey history.

The Beginnings

My first years were played in an open-air arena in Northern Ontario, Canada. The winters were bitterly cold, and our tiny community was yet to buy a Zamboni – our parents cleared the snow with shovels before the games and between periods. We didn't wear facemasks or neck guards back then, and our wooden sticks were heavy and without a curve. And the open-air arenas (and eventually the frozen lakes and ponds) taught us an important lesson in hockey: keep your legs moving.

In the late 70s, we had an old Zenith television, on which my father and I would religiously watch Hockey Night in Canada. He didn't always like the television commentators, though, so sometimes he'd mute the television and listen to Danny Gallivan who would do the play-by-play on CBC Radio.

I'll never forget watching hockey with my dad. Inside the house, the muted television glowed as players bobbed and weaved down the ice and Danny Gallivan echoing excitedly from the old radio throughout the house. All the while, the wind and snow drove hard against the windows and my father shouted obscenities
at the TV. Just another Saturday night!

The Game is Different Now

Fifty years on, the game is arguably different. We've moved on from the steel skates, the lack of helmets, lax equipment and the straight-blade sticks of yesteryear. Today, there is a speed, agility and discipline about the game today that didn't feel like it was there in the early days. The game has evolved.

We want to explore the evolution of NHL hockey in this multi-part series, by asking some basic questions. For example:

• How has hockey changed over the life of the NHL?
• How do teams and players from past eras compare with those that are in the league today?
• How has hockey analytics evolved over the years?

And to help answer these questions, we've collected team and player data from 1917 to 2024 to explore them. That's right, 108 years worth of hockey data. Using this data, we'll explore the data through various ways, such as:

• Splitting out the NHL history into different time periods, so we can better evaluate teams and players within those eras.
• Using basic hockey stats such as Goals, Assists, Shots on Goal, and PIM to explore the high-level shifts in hockey.
• Comparing teams and players within specific eras and using quantitative and qualitative aspects to call out significant milestones across those eras.
• Exploring different periods in NHL history that saw new and innovative statistics come to life – and the impact they had on the game.

So, let's get started!

Five Different Eras: 108 Years of NHL Hockey

If you're part of the DPH community, then clearly you're a fan of the NHL. But, even if you're a fan, you may not have the full history of the NHL – or like us, you've forgotten a good portion of it.

So, let's take a quick jaunt down memory lane.

The Founding of the NHL

The National Hockey League (NHL) was founded on November 26, 1917, in Montreal, Quebec. It emerged from the dissolution of the National Hockey Association (NHA). The NHA had been the dominant professional hockey league but faced organizational issues, including disputes with team owners. This led to the formation of the NHL, which initially consisted of four Canadian teams: the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, and Toronto Arenas.

Five Eras of Hockey: Breaking Out 108 Years of NHL History

The game has changed significantly, so we wanted to find a way to break out 108 years into a smaller set of time periods. Using the history of NHL team expansion, we discovered five unique "eras" across the 108 years. The visualization below shows this expansion, with each era calling out significant points of expansion, consistency or contraction.

We can more clearly categorize the above eras into the following:

• The Early Years: This was an initial period of expansion and contraction for the NHL.
• The Original Six: There was relative consistency in the second period with six teams competing in the NHL.
• Expansion: There was growth with some inconsistency in the seventies, with the co-existence and eventual merging of the WHA and the NHL.
• The Great One: There was consistent growth with a new style of hockey emerged in the eighties and the introduction of Wayne Gretzky as a key player in the NHL.
• Modern Era: The NHL hits a high watermark for skill, speed and agility in the 2000s until now – with hockey analytics maturing significantly in this period of time as well.

Let's take a look inside each of the eras to provide a bit of history and to explore how hockey analytics played a role at that time.

Within and Across the Five Eras

Each of the five eras is marked with unique styles of play for that time and ways of measuring it. The earlier days were marked with a smaller number of teams, different safety and equipment standards, a less mature rule system, and a lower number of statistics that measured the game. Today, the game is more quick, the league is a professional organization where athletes can focus on hockey as their primary career, safety protocols are more advanced and in tune with today's sport, and of course analytics and AI are integrated into the game.

But let's explore each of the five eras for a bit more color.

The Early Years
The NHL began with a modest start, with teams playing a 22-game season. This period was not without challenge, for example, the Montreal Wanderers’ arena burned down during the 1917-18 season, forcing them to withdraw, leaving just three teams. The first Stanley Cup under the NHL banner was awarded in 1918 to the Toronto Arenas.

The early NHL also faced competition from the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) and Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL), but by the mid-1920s, the NHL emerged as the dominant league after these leagues folded. Around the same time, expansion in the U.S. began with the addition the Boston Bruins in 1924 (the first U.S.-based team), followed by the New York Rangers, Chicago Blackhawks, and Detroit Red Wings.

The NHL's early years were the wild west of hockey analytics, mainly because there wasn't much to analyze beyond the scoreboard. Goals, Assists, and Penalties were the main metrics collected at the time. For coaches and players, the strategy was more about gut instinct and "feel for the game" rather than crunching numbers. This rather simple method – metrics, gut feel and pen and paper for analysis – extended deep into the 1950s.

The Original Six
The NHL entered a significant phase of stability in 1942, known as the Original Six era, which lasted for 25 years. During this period, the league consisted of only six teams: the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, New York Rangers, Chicago Blackhawks, and Detroit Red Wings. This era saw legendary players like Maurice "Rocket" Richard, Gordie Howe, and Jean Béliveau, and was marked by the dominance of the Montreal Canadiens, who won five consecutive Stanley Cups from 1956 to 1960.

The Original Six era was characterized by intense rivalries, particularly between the Canadiens and Maple Leafs, as well as innovations in the game, including the establishment of the Hart Trophy (for the league's most valuable player) and the Vezina Trophy (for the top goaltender).

Expansion
In 1967, the NHL undertook its first major expansion, doubling in size by adding six new teams: the Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota North Stars, St. Louis Blues, and the California Golden Seals. This marked the beginning of the modern NHL, as the league expanded to new markets and grew in popularity across North America.

Throughout the 1970s, the NHL faced competition from the World Hockey Association (WHA), which introduced stars like Wayne Gretzky. However, in 1979, the WHA merged with the NHL, bringing teams like the Edmonton Oilers and Quebec Nordiques into the league.

It was at this time that hockey analytics took a significant turn. During the 60s, and popularized in the 70s, NHL Box Scores were introduced and represented a good step forward for hockey analytics. Analysts could now track not only Goals and Assists but also Shots on Goal, Saves, and Penalty in Minutes. It was rudimentary, but it gave a fuller picture of player contributions and team performance.

During this period, Plus-Minus also emerged as one of the first advanced stats, credited to Montreal Canadiens coach Toe Blake and popularized by the Canadiens’ success in the 1960s. Though it had its limitations, Plus-Minus became one of the first widely accepted metrics for evaluating a player's defensive contributions—or at least their time on ice during scoring plays.

The Great One

It's amazing to think that a single player represents one era of NHL hockey, but that's why they call him The Great One. The 1980s were defined by Wayne Gretzky's dominance, particularly with the Edmonton Oilers, who won four Stanley Cups from 1984 to 1988.

By the 1990s, the NHL had further expanded into non-traditional markets, adding teams like the San Jose Sharks, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Florida Panthers. This era also saw international growth, with European players like Jaromír Jágr and Teemu Selänne becoming superstars.

The 1990s also marked the beginning of digital stat-keeping and database management. Suddenly, teams and analysts could track performance across seasons, games, and shifts with more precision than ever. A significant leap forward in this era was the debut of Corsi and Fenwick—two shot attempt metrics that attempted to quantify puck possession. Developed by Jim Corsi and Matt Fenwick, respectively, these stats provided a way to gauge team and player effectiveness beyond goals and assists.

Modern Era

Today, the NHL consists of 32 teams after the addition of the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017 and the Seattle Kraken in 2021 (with Arizona moving to Utah for this upcoming season). The league is characterized by increased parity, with multiple teams competing for the Stanley Cup each season. The game has become faster and more skilled, with stars like Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, and Nathan MacKinnon leading the charge. The NHL continues to grow its global fanbase, holding games in Europe and exploring new markets.

It's this modern era (especially the 2000s onward) where we've seen hockey analytics really take off. Following the lead of baseball’s "Moneyball" revolution, teams more widely adopted both metrics and different ways to analyze them. We've seen more metrics enter into the mainstream, such as Corsi, Fenwick, PDO, Zone Starts, Quality of Competition (QoC), and and Quality of Teammates (QoT), to name a few. The technology was machine-learning and Moneyball-style analytics using advanced stats and spreadsheets and video analysis tools.

As we move into the 2020s, hockey analytics is more advanced than ever. The introduction of the NHL Edge system, which uses puck and player tracking technology, has opened up a whole new world of possibilities. We can now measure things like skating speed, distance traveled, and even possession time in ways that were unimaginable just a decade ago.

With artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning entering the picture, the future of hockey analytics will likely involve predictive modeling and even more granular analysis of player tendencies. We’re on the cusp of a new revolution, where data doesn’t just describe what has happened but predicts what will happen.

Check out our quick-hit walkthrough of the five eras of NHL hockey and hockey analytics in the YouTube video below.

Summary

This was the first newsletter in a series that explores the storied history of the NHL – hockey and hockey analytics. We introduced the series and then split out how we'll be exploring the NHL history through team expansion. That is, we discovered five eras emerged as we looked at team expansion in the history of the NHL.

We also gave you a brief history of how hockey analytics have evolved over the 108 year history of the NHL. Within each era, we called out the key statistics that were prevalent in that era and talked through some of the key technological advancements across the 108 years.

In our next newsletter, we'll dive into the numbers more and explore the eras across several statistics.

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