NHL is considering enlarging the net to get scores up-what do you think?

Question

let me tell you what i think.--i think they dont have to enlarge the net.I think they should reduce the size of the goaltenders pads and gloves and that will accomplish the same thing.I think they need to look back say 30 years ago at the old goaltenders equip--and see how many more square inces the new ones have.--Then look at the scores back then to see if there was indeed more goals scored or gaa.--theres likely a correlation.--so if thats the case all they need to do is regulate the size of the equipment to one standard size thats smaller than what they have now.--what do you think?

Answer 1

The answer is really neither. The goalie's equipment is already regulated and to be honest they need the protection. Keep in mind that as goalie equipment technology has imporved so has stick technology and more and more shooters have harder and harder shots.

But all that aside equipment is not the problem. The dilution of talent and the fact that coaches are once again begining to find a way to trap. What needs to happen is possibly new rules and even more of a crackdown on infractions and gettting rid of the instigator rule.

Answer 2

OK, lets compare what has been done to/for goalies and attackers and we'll see who is getting the short end of the stick

Goalies, over the last few years have had:

1) A pad size reduction to 11 inches, instead of enforcement of the 12 inch pad rule.
2) Their blocker resized to be smaller. It it now barely adequate protection for their stick hand.
3) Glove size reduced, shrinking the actual pocket of the glove.
4) Their chest and arm protection thinned down. Which can be an issue that will be addressed later.
5) An innovation, which would have helped with their movement, made illegal, because it would offer more grip. The downside is that this innovation could help prevent injuries that would be caused by the current equipment.
6) They have made it illegal for goalies to play the puck behind the goal line, but outside the trapezoid, meaning the goalie has no chance on helping his team if a puck stops in the corner and the opponents will be the first one there.


Now lets see what they have done for/done to scorers over the same time period -

1)They have added rules that make it so the offensive player has more space to move by eliminating the center line in a 2 line pass.
2)Players' sticks are lighter, yet stronger, and can bend more, producing a whip-effect that allows shot to be made with more power. The rest of their equipment is also lighter without sacrificing coverage (Bauer Vapor is the first name that comes to mind).
3)Offensive obstruction (picks or screens in the open ice) are legal again, after the NHL initially had a rule (made in the strike season of 1994-1995) forbiding that.

It seems like they have done a lot to improve scoring over the last few years, and done a lot of taking from the goalies. Honestly, the goalies are just more athletic now than they ever have been, and they train harder and smarter. Forwards and defensemen also train hard too, are bigger and stronger, while also being faster than they were years ago, and it's at a point where the equipment and rules are making the difference against the goalies.

Answer 3

SCREW THAT! why do they need to increase scoring anyway? the nhl is perfectly fine the way it is

but to answer your question. i agree. i read a story where they were interviewing the sharks about this situation. vesa toskala said that he wasn't quite sure that would be a great idea because he has been "playing the same angles all his life" for some people it'd be really hard to change and some goalies might even leave the league. i think decreasing the size of the equipment might be a better choice (if they are changing anything) because it might be an easier transition because more goalies have played with smaller equipment rather then a bigger net.

it's true that the goals have increased since the foot in the crease and two line passing rules were taken out. they should stop fiddling with the rules. someday the players are gonna get pissed with all this rule changing and stuff they have to change. they should just keep it the way it is.

Answer 4

Reducing goaltending equipment even more would cripple teams. They'd be digging into their ECHL level goalies to play for them due to all the injuries there would be.
The composite sticks the players have are lighter, more powerful, and can have wicked curves on them. In the Old days they had crappy wooden sticks. As in, wooden sticks that were badly made.
If the pad sizes of goalies went down, we'd be seeing a lot of injuries. Not a lot of long term ones, but ones that would take a goalie out for a few weeks due to a broken shin or whatnot.

The Butterfly stance is a big reason that less goals are scored. Another is better coaching. Coaches focus much more on Defense today than they used to. Even offensive powered teams like Ottawa and Buffalo have training regiments that favor working in their own end. Coaches are always saying that kids need to learn to play in their own end before they'll give them any time in the Offensive zone.

I personally enjoy seeing low scoring games. Sure, games that are 5-4 are fun. Anything over that is overkill and it's more like an uninteresting seesaw of whose goalie is underperforming more, or whose Defense is taking a sixty minute lunch break.

I don't want the nets to get bigger because scoring is up enough already. People are on pace for over 120 points. What does the league want, to increase scoring to levels where people are touted as new Gretzkys or Lemieuxs? 300 Points in a season?
If they want that, limit the amount of defensemen on the ice to 1. There, done. Increasing the size of goalie nets will make it a lot less interesting, due to the fact that they'd not only increase the net size, they'd shape the framing to favour the puck hitting the steel and bouncing in.

Answer 5

Enlarging the net is a better idea than changing goalie pad regulations. The NHL already has pad restriction. As a goalie, when you buy pads, the standard is 12 inches wide. When you buy NHL spec pads, they have to limit them to 11 inches. That means NHL goalies have pads an inch smaller than anyone else.

The old days were totally different. Different pads for stand-up style goalies. Now the butterfly is popular. It helps because sticks in the old days didn't have curves like today. That's why the game was different, not pad sizes.

The NHL is trying too hard to increase scoring with a million different rule changes. It's more of a circus now with scores like 9-5 or 8-7. They should just leave it alone.

Answer 6

To answer your question, no, I don't think the NHL should increase regulation size of the nets. Someone else made a very good point about goalies being forced to re-learn all the angles they grew up playing and I don't think higher goal scoring is the solution to weak public interest in a great sport.

Bottom line, even if they do make the nets larger, there will always be goalies like Patrick Roy who will find a way around it by wearing XXXXL jerseys.

Answer 7

They already reduced the size of the goalies' equipment but I agree that they could reduce it more.

Actually I would rather go to the bigger ice surface than increase the goal size. It would not only perk up the NHL but it would finally make a consistent international playing surface size.

Its embarrassing that hockey is one of the few major international sports that doesn't have a consistent set of rules.

Answer 8

I agree with you 100%! The catching glove the goalies use is huge!! Have you ever seen a goalie in street clothes? It's always a shock how 'small' they are. They have so much padding on it is ridiculous. They complain saying they'll get hurt if they have to use less padding etc.--the goalies in the old days did just fine. Look at pictures of Glenn Hall, Terry Sawchuk, Johnny Bower. They look like they have NO padding on whatsoever and they did just fine!! I think the goalie is the most important position on the team but they could get by with less padding.

Answer 9

Leave the net alone and reduce the goalie pads. Goal scoring is up since they did away with the 2 line pass and with the clutching/grabbing rules being more stongly enforced. Leave the nets alone!!

Answer 10

SCREW THAT. thats crazy, the games ive been seeing have all been around 8 goals in the game, thats plenty... if you were a good enough player, then youd do fine at scoring.... if im not mistaken, last year, when they changed the rule book, im pretty sure the did a shortening of pads also... but i could be wrong, if i am, then i defanitly agree with you, if anything.