I anchor SportsCenter late on Saturdays and Sundays. I usually get to sleep around 4 a.m. on both nights. This past Sunday I woke up at 11 a.m. (I average 4-6.5 hours of sleep a night) and saw the following tweet:

For the first time, the goals per game average in the NHL this season (5.3370) is lower than last season's final average (5.3374). — Bob Waterman (@esbbob) November 20, 2016

Bob works for the Elias Sports Bureau. (Patrik Elias has no known connection with Elias as far as you know.)

This is not a surprise. Scoring will never be what it was before, and the reasons are clear:

1. The skating pool is only getting quicker and deeper.

Everyone skates so well that time and space continue to dwindle. A potential scoring play is often broken up by an outreached stick from a player able to close quickly. The world is training players better and at a younger age, which has resulted in a deep pool of speed and agility. Also, improved and safer equipment, along with coaches and teammates demanding defense, has resulted in an epidemic of shot blocking.

Possible solution: I really believe making all power plays 4-on-3 is one way that wouldn't offend (some) or dent the traditions of the game that some understandably hold dear. This would allow for more time and space, possibly less shot blocking and a higher power-play percentage. What it also would do is allow for occasional 3-on-3 time when the team on the power play takes a penalty. Also, when a power play ends, you have 4-on-4 time until the next whistle. This would allow just a few more opportunities of open ice for players to make plays without getting stick-checked or a shot-blocked.

Goalies are more skilled and athletic than ever before. Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports

2. Goalies are only getting better with a deeper pool.

This has been going on for a few years, but there are hordes of goaltending talent on the way. Goalies are getting coached at a very young age by very good coaches. They understand playing the odds to increase the chances of the puck hitting them, they have sound and smart positioning, and they know how to train for agility. Add hockey sense, size and natural athleticism, and it is hard to score goals from high school on up.

Possible solution: Goalies have to remain safe and the equipment must offer full protection. However, there is room to make equipment smaller. You can't pour Cinnamon and Spice Instant Oatmeal in the crease to slow down the goalies, so the only answer to boost offense just a little would be a larger net to shoot at.

3. The net remains the same size.

Goalies are bigger and better. Equipment is bigger and safer, eliminating the fear factor goalies had until around the mid-1990s. When offense suffered, baseball lowered the mound and made ballparks a little smaller. Football rewrote pass interference. Basketball eliminated hand checking and added the 3-point line. This made it more difficult to defend. Hockey hasn't done this. They don't think offense. They think defense. For some reason, thinking offense in hockey makes you a freak.

Possible solution: Following through on pledges of smaller equipment would increase the open net area by a little, as stated above. But if there is a hesitance to do that because of possible injury, then just increase the size of the net a fraction. It would mean that those posts and crossbars you hear would turn into goals. Why is this so offensive? The game is nothing like it was in the 1930s, '40s, '50s, '60s, etc. Records never really matter much because the game changes so much over time.

Yes, the game of hockey is "fine." I love watching it on TV and I love going to games. I actually think the lower scoring and lack of fighting and big open-ice hits has hurt the at-the-game experience more than the TV experience. Today, you can attend a game that is 2-1 or 3-2 with no fights, no open-ice hits and few get-out-of-your-seat moments.

Many games are "saved" or extremely augmented by the hair-on-fire 3-on-3 experience. Those overtimes are all offense, instinct and no overcoaching to put a drag on the excitement. I would just like to re-create those moments a little bit more during regulation and get a little more offense in the game. What is wrong with more 6-4 games? That's basically a 42-28 football game. Is that an obscene football score?

Competition for entertaining continues to grow. We want our game to be fun, to be talked about, to have a strong word-of-mouth essence. We want it to matter and have the great talent to shine on a nightly basis.

That's it. My yearly "Let's get more offense" blogumn.

As you were. As I was.