from Greg Wyshnski of ESPN,

Here's a look back at how the NHL changed in the past decade, and a look ahead at what will happen next for the league. It's going to be a fascinating next 10 years.

Offense surges; fighting disappears

What happened: The change wasn't immediate. In 2008-09, the average goals per team in the NHL was 2.91. It would actually take the league until 2017-18 to surpass that mark (2.97), as part of a four-season uptick in offense. Then, in 2018-19, the NHL broke through with a 3.01 goals-per-team average; excluding the post-lockout anomaly of 2005-06, it was the best offensive season the NHL had seen since Mario Lemieux led the league with 161 points and teams averaged 3.14 goals in 1995-96.

The digital and social media boom

What happened: NHL teams and players discovered the virtues, absurdities and pitfalls of social media.

Take the Los Angeles Kings and Columbus Blue Jackets, who in the early part of the decade were early adopters of the sassy, humorous tone that other teams would eventually emulate. (Or, in the case of the Golden Knights, amplify to the point of apology.) NHL players would use Twitter to add layers to their personalities (or in some cases, "brand") -- some, like Roberto Luongo and Paul Bissonnette, became as well known for their tweets as their on-ice accomplishments.

more on each of the above and 8 more topics...