The National Hockey League has a problem, low scores, boring defense and a lack of basic respect for the rules as written.

With just under three weeks remaining in the regular season, the 30 NHL teams are on pace for the lowest scoring season since 2003, the season before the lockout.

NHL games are averaging 5.44 goals per game this season, down a half a goal per game since the league returned from the lockout for the 2005-2006 season.

One of the more stark indications of the trend is in the number of 40 goal scorers in the league. In 2005 there were 11, ten players hit the mark in each of the next two seasons, then eight in 2008, seven in 2009 and five last year. This season there are only two, Steven Stamkos and Evgeni Maklin, with just three other players over 35, Phil Kessel, Scott Hartnell and Marian Gaborik.

In the 2003-2004 season, the last season prior to the lockout, teams averaged a paltry 5.14 goals per game. During the lockout, the league changed some rules and attempted to enforce others more aggressively in an effort to increase scoring.