One of the relatively well-known elements of NHL history is that the 1980s were a decade of incredibly high scoring. While over the last 20 seasons the NHL has held pretty steady around five to five-and-a-half goals scored per game, in the 1980s games were averaging nearly two more goals per game. That’s not an insignificant difference, considering that games in a low-scoring league like the NHL are often decided by two goals or less. This has led to a lot of speculation, as people have both wondered at the reasons for those high scoring levels, as well as pondered how to increase scoring in today’s league. The most-accepted reasons are, for the most part, disappointingly unique for people looking to improve today’s offense: league expansion brought an influx of offensive talent (with the 1979 World Hockey Association-NHL merger, four teams were suddenly added to the 17-team league), goaltending equipment and techniques were sparse and out-of-date, and late 1960s/70s innovations (curved stick blades and offensive-focused defensemen) were elevating offensive production. While looking at the age distribution of NHLers, I found something that also could be included as an explanation.