NHL GM's Think Goalies Are Too Fat

I saw this headline regarding to the rule change:

"NHL GMs declare war on goalies"

Gee, and what was that trapazoid? An olive branch?

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It's difficult to uphold is the problem. Tony Esposito would unstuff his pads for inspection and then promptly refill them. Leg pads are easy but not the real problem. How do you reduce the size of chest protecters? And even if you get them down to a certain size how do you prevent butterfly goalies like Giguere from keeping them loose enough that, when he goes down, the shoulder pads turtle around his head and continue to guard the top part of the net that should otherwise be exposed with that style?

Funny you mention Brodeur as he was one of the only goalies whose leg pads didn't have to change when they cracked down after the lockout (he prefers mobility). And until 2 years ago, he wore the same chest protecter he wore in Junior. Which is why as a Marty fan I am all for further crackdowns... it seperates the best further from the pack. With bigger pads, goaltending ceases to be an athletic position and the saves become far less exciting. Whereas bigger nets make goals less exciting. Find a way to get the pads to a reasonable size is the best way to get goals up without hurting the excitement of the game.

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I really can't wrap my head around the problem...

just make the things smaller...how hard is that? Make gloves smaller, blockers smaller, leg pads thinner, and so forth...

I'm not for sacrificing protection...but imo the chest protector is not the issue...it simply should fit the body it's on, no goalie should be allowed to wear something that is 2 sizes too big just to 'fill the net'. Have it a game time inspection by the refs, and while we're on it, due the same with sticks...just have the sticks sitting out in the row (as most do now) and the refs simply look em over, anything sticks out, it's inspected...wow...what a hard concept.

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In ref.to your goalie masks, it's unreal you'll show some cracker NASCAR/bikinis (we r talking about hockey here, right?)
2 separate shots of Miller's (so impressive-Miller time) Garth Brooks?????
Nabokov(Sharks), Turko, where are all the other great ones? You forget the pavers(old-timers)no fancy fiberglass back then - who felt every puck to the face - made stitch marks where they got hit? Plus where's Niitymaki from Phila.Flyers - pretty inventive-Nitti, his nickname(only made MVP in the Olympics)with flying bullets(ever see the Untouchables?)old Esche - good ol'rock&roll - Gracie Slick(Jeff.Airplane)
Could go on & on............

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Jes, have you seen Marty's pads?

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Unless he just needs to sign up for Jenny Craig instead....

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As a goalie...I definately need to speak on this issue.

People who believe that protection is not much of an issue have clearly NEVER PLAYED GOAL IN A REAL ICE HOCKEY GAME...EVER!!! I've had two knee surgeries, a partially torn hamstring, and countless bruises from playing the position. So yes, I know how physically demanding the position is. By it's very nature, you're counted on to intentionally stand in front of a hard moving object. So obviously, a large degree of protection is necessary. Coupled with the fact that the goalie is (usually) the most important player. Just like a quarterback in football, they need to be protected.

To make the analogy of Tony Esposito's gear versus today's equipment is assinine. The old gear was made with leather, deer hair, wool and felt. It soaked up water as the game went on and became heavy. You could feel hard shots through the pad. It never protected your entire leg (only the front and some of your calf). It would warp and sag over time. The gloves had very little padding and were no better than baseball gloves. None of it was anywhere near as protective as the current gear.

Put another way...if your kid wanted to play goal, if you cared even a little bit about thier health and safety, you would never EVER put them in goal with "Esposito" like equipment if you had access to newer pads.

The pads aren't the problem. The reality is goalies are no longer "the fat kid who couldn't skate". Goalies are now the best overall athletes on the team. They are also better trained. Dedicated goalie camps focus on the fundamentals as well as advanced techniques. With the exception of Beer Leagues, most teams even have dedicated goalie coaches.

Look at old footage on the NHL network and you'll see many a bad goalie. Or at least, very, very poor save selections on the part of the goalies. It had absolutely nothing to do with the gear.

Oh, and the idea that all goalies wear gear 5 times as big as it needs to be is also ridiculous. Larger gear inhibits mobility. If you've ever worn gear too big, you simply aren't as agile as you could be otherwise. Less agility means a slower goalie, and slower goalies don't make all the saves they need to make. And when equipment sizes even at the lower levels was shortened over the last couple of years, what happened? Goalies adjusted and became even more agile. Goals still didn't increase at any level of play.

Also, goalies are usually pretty big guys now. The average high school kid is around 6 feet tall. The average NHL goalie is about 6-1. In Esposito's day, few goalies were that big (only Ken Dryden, Mike Liut and Jon Davidson come to mind). So naturally, bigger goalies take up more net.

This is why most goalies like Luongo and Brodeur have had it. No matter how much the facts show otherwise, people still blame the goalies. At this point, games will be played with guys wearing cricket gear...and people will somehow still complain.

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Yeah, that's not extra padding if you know what I mean.

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While I agree the league has sometimes been unfair to goalies (especially when it comes to goalie interference), you can't tell me that Giguere is protecting anything with pads 5 inches off the top of his shoulders. What is he protecting? His ears?

I'm all for protecting goalies. If someone like Brodeur or Luongo goes down long term... season over. But pads do need to conform to a human frame, not the dimensions of the net. If bigger pads aren't to blame for some of the goal scoring drop-off and log jam of 'good goalies' in the league then why do back-up goalies tend to have far bigger pads than their starting counterparts? It is an equalizer.

While Brodeur may not be 'skinny as a pole', if goalies like Giguere had to wear pads no larger than his, even though Marty is the bigger goalie, then the problem is close to being solved. Marty has only missed 8 games in his career due to injuring while playing 70+ a season... I'm fairly certain he's adequately protected.

While the Allaire brothers made great contributions to the 'science of goaltending', goaltenders with limited skill sets have become professional athletes on the virtue of size and equipment (and obviously this is not a statement regarding all butterfly goalies, most of the elite due use the technique).

So while coaches may no longer be 'putting the fat kid in net', they sure are making them fat once they're in there.

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Sorry Jes, I gotta call BS on *your* equipment/padding comments. I play the position two nights a week (yes, I know, another biased opinion), and not a game goes by that I don't leave with bruises. Fresh bruises, scrapes, bangs, sore spots, whatever, every week. And I'm playing with rec leaguers here, not NHLers with 100mph shots. It cracks me up whenever I see/hear commentators talking about goalies being bulletproof these days. Utter garbage. Are there places where excess material could be "compacted" to keep it from sticking out too much where it serves no protective purpose? Sure. That stuff can get silly (such as some of the crazy stuff Garth Snow did with his gear back in the day). But to make claims that goalies rarely get injured by shots these days, that protection isn't an issue, or even that the gear doesn't soak up water anymore is uninformed and flat out incorrect. Period. Just because Jiggy or Brodeur or whomever else isn't leaving the game doesn't mean they aren't taking hits. Every goalie I've ever known has been playing with some injury or another. Most skaters, too.

Of course the bottom line behind all of this really has nothing to do with pads, goalies, or even goals. Let's fix this, let's change that, we need to do something about this, blah blah blah. It's all about hockey's never-ending inferiority complex, constantly trying to "fix" whatever is perceived to be "wrong" with the game (a line of argument which typically starts with the unproven assumption that something is actually wrong with the game). Why? Gotta increase scoring, etc. to try to draw in that elusive American fan who really just doesn't give a rat's ass about the game and isn't ever going to (no, I'm not Canadian, I'm just a realist). Hockey is fine. I like the crackdown on hooking/holding etc. since the lockout, keep that up. Other than that, leave it alone. The only thing I can think of at this point that would really improve the quality of NHL hockey is to contract a few teams out of existence, since the overall talent pool is stretched far too thin (which is why "zero value add" guys like Chris Simon still have jobs). But we know that's not going to happen...

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Goalies don't get hurt in NHL spec equipment? Awesome, I guess I'm imagining those bruises on my shoulders.

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Rico - It isn't about harvesting new fans, it's about making the game entertaining for people spending a LOT of money to see it.

Yes, goalies were pretty bad back in the day (so were defensemen). But even against the greats like Dryden and Cheevers, a slapshot from the point had a decent chance of getting to the back of the net. Nowadays it takes a pinball deflection to score on anything launched from above the circles, in large part because goalies are ENORMOUS compared to their predecessors.

Playing goal is supposed to be equal parts technique, positioning, reflex, and athleticism... and it's wonderful to watch a goalie who has all those attributes (Brodeur). But when "technique" means hulking around the crease and closing off 90% of the net by sheer body mass, it's a very ugly and unentertaining thing to watch.

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This is stupid. I'm a goalie so take this as you will. In todays pad market you can buy whats called a 'plus sizing'. Goalie pads are designed differently for different heights, the knee area in a pad 33' is different then a pad that is 38'. So a goalie like Roberto Luongo would wear a 38' pad, while a goalie like Manny Legace would wear a 33-34' pad. What plus sizing does is it lets a 33' pad have the knee area in the same place, but adds 2-5' of upper thigh. So you can be 5'9 and wear a 33'+5 pad and look the same as a goalie 6'4 from the waist down. This is a huge problem and should have been addressed a couple years ago. The chest protectors and pants are the next biggest problem. Simply put, they are too big and being a goalie I realize this and I agree that something should be done to reduce their size.
These comments that state, "oh well todays goalies arn't very athletic. It's the size of the pad that does the work." This is pure B-S. Learning the butterfly technique isn't cheating. It's not less athletic. It's smarter and harder to learn then being considered 'athletic' (read: diving around aimlessly) The reason goals are down isn't just because goalies are bigger(I will admit that is part of it). But, Players are bigger. Coaches are smarter. Goalies are 100x better. The pads need to be smaller, but this won't solve the goal problem the NHL seemlingly has. It won't make hockey more exciting. It won't put more Americans in the stands(sorry Gary Bettman), it may lead to more goals but not more breakaways, not more odd man rushes. Goalies need to get smaller, I agree, but the NHL needs to get smarter.

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This is stupid. I'm a goalie so take this as you will. In todays pad market you can buy whats called a 'plus sizing'. Goalie pads are designed differently for different heights, the knee area in a pad 33' is different then a pad that is 38'. So a goalie like Roberto Luongo would wear a 38' pad, while a goalie like Manny Legace would wear a 33-34' pad. What plus sizing does is it lets a 33' pad have the knee area in the same place, but adds 2-5' of upper thigh. So you can be 5'9 and wear a 33'+5 pad and look the same as a goalie 6'4 from the waist down. This is a huge problem and should have been addressed a couple years ago. The chest protectors and pants are the next biggest problem. Simply put, they are too big and being a goalie I realize this and I agree that something should be done to reduce their size.
These comments that state, "oh well todays goalies arn't very athletic. It's the size of the pad that does the work." This is pure B-S. Learning the butterfly technique isn't cheating. It's not less athletic. It's smarter and harder to learn then being considered 'athletic' (read: diving around aimlessly) The reason goals are down isn't just because goalies are bigger(I will admit that is part of it). But, Players are bigger. Coaches are smarter. Goalies are 100x better. The pads need to be smaller, but this won't solve the goal problem the NHL seemlingly has. It won't make hockey more exciting. It won't put more Americans in the stands(sorry Gary Bettman), it may lead to more goals but not more breakaways, not more odd man rushes. Goalies need to get smaller, I agree, but the NHL needs to get smarter.

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