As i'm sure you know by now, but scoring is up across the board and players are putting up some ridiculous point totals straight out of NHL video games. 

We've spent a lot of time trying to figure out what to attribute that spike in offence, and i'm of the mind that it's a combination of a number of things all that once.

Players in general are more talented than ever. Teams are also getting much better about not wasting valuable lineup spots on guys who can't meaningfully contribute. But just as importantly, I think there's an element of playing style optimization that's helped create environments more conducive to scoring as well. 

One of those evolutions has been the way we're seeing defencemen utilized, and how they're being involved to help drive scoring outputs. It's made for a perfect h