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Smaller Goalies Should Mean More Goals
- Right?
October 27, 2003
Story by: Keri Aasen
The NHL believes that what the fans want
to see are high scoring games. With the
focus of many teams on "the trap"
and on defensive play, fans and critics
alike have been lamenting the decrease of
offensive play in the league. Even the size
of goalie equipment has been attributed
to the lack of scoring in the league.
The NHL cannot control the playing systems
used by teams or where teams focus their
strategies (defense vs. offense). But the
NHL can control the regulations for goaltending
equipment in the league.
Over the past few seasons, the increasingly
and ridiculously larger goalie equipment
has caught the eye of many officials and
NHL rule makers. As smaller goalies started
bulking up with padding to create a competitive
edge goalies effectively filled up the net
despite their small stature.
The NY Islanders' Garth Snow, is infamous
for his huge equipment. At 6'3", 208
pounds, Snow is amongst the bigger goalies
in the league; one would say he does not
need the added bulk, but instead he uses
his equipment as an edge to keep the puck
out of the net.
During the off-season the NHL addressed
their concerns about the perceived scoring
drought and the impact the over-sized equipment
was having on the game by making changes
to the official rules surrounding the size
of goalie equipment.
The changes were:
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Limiting the padding around the elbow
to 7 ½ inches
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Nothing can be added to or inserted
into the standard cut goalie jersey
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The Shoulder Clavicle Protectors are
limited to 7 inches in width and 1 inch
in thickness and must not extend above
the shoulder or below the armpit
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The Blocking Glove must be rectangular
in shape
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The maximum perimeter of the glove
is 48 inches
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The wrist cuff can be a maximum of
8½ inches in width
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The distance from the heel of the glove
to the top of the "T" trap
cannot exceed 19 inches
The NHL has also mandated random equipment
testing for goalies; the equipment will
be checked and measured, which can occur
before, during or after games. If a player
is found to be in violation of the new rules
he will be suspended for one game. Further,
if the player refuses to have his equipment
checked he would be suspended in the same
manner.
Changes to the size of equipment were put
in place so that its use would once again
fulfill its initial purpose - to protect
the head and body of the goalie. It will
also create uniformity in goaltending equipment
in all 30 NHL teams.
More importantly, it should allow more
scoring opportunities while revealing more
of the net. Well, at least that's the idea.
We'll have to wait until the end of this
season to see what the outcome is.
After taking a look at where scoring stands
after having played 70 games of the 2003-2004
regular season, (322 goals, 15 shutouts,
2 of which were games that played to a 0-0
tie) it's clear that this is the worst offensive
start of the last 5 seasons.
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03 - 04
|
02 - 03
|
02 - 01
|
01 - 00
|
99 - 01
|
| Goals |
322
|
410
|
386
|
399
|
369
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| Shutouts |
15
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5
|
10
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8
|
8
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Who knows what has accounted for this downturn
in scoring? Removing the weight and bulk
of the goalie equipment may have made the
goalies faster, which would account for
the high number of shutouts and low number
of goals last season. Of course, it is possible
that the changes have not affected the game
at all. It could just be that defense is
the "in" style of play again this
year. It is still early in the 2003-2004
season and we may not see the effects of
the off-season changes immediately.
The question we're left with is this: If
these changes didn't work what new changes
will be made to try to spark offense in
the NHL?
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