Boddy604 Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 There's been the ongoing argument in the NHL of ways to increase scoring. With reducing the size of goalie equipment being the most likely candidate. Well, with the World Cup coming up the idea is gaining traction and come September, goalies may actually have smaller equipment. If they do it there, the NHL follows suit. Reducing goalie equipment size has a very vocal guy against it and that's our very own Ryan Miller. But at the other end of the spectrum, players supporting it include Cory Schneider, Brayden Holtby, and Devan Dubnyk. Goalies supporting increased scoring? The suggested decreases to equipment presently are form fitting armour and pants. Currently, goalies can wear any size they want and quite a few wear sizes a size or two bigger for the added size. I started looking at WHY Miller is so against it. NHL.com has Miller listed as 6'2 and 168 pounds. Holy, that's skinny. A Google search of healthy weight for a 6'2 male has it listed as 171-203 pounds. And that's for a normal person, not a professional athlete. So Miller is riding just below the low end of what is considered healthy. That starts to make a little more sense why he wants to keep his big gear. Because he's not big without it. Miller is and always has been a positional goalie. He's not the guy who makes the leaping highlight reel saves very often. He's the guy who reads the play well and puts his body where the puck has the highest mathematical chance of going. Take away his size, you take away his effectiveness to a degree. What separates an elite level goal tender from an AHL lifer or career back up? In truth, about 5 or 6 percent in overall save percentage. Not a whole lot when you look at it that way. Is reduced equipment size enough to hurt a positional player like Ryan Miller 5 or 6 percent? Or in less math terms, an extra 1 goal on average per game? I think it is. And if this goes through, I think we'd be wise to hand him to someone else rather than take a chance. What do you guys think? And would you like to see some of the gear smaller? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoted Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 Interesting perspective. And yes, goalie equipment has become silly. There's no way in my mind to say that trappers are the size they are simply for safety!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derp... Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 Somehow padding and safety equipment has become either weaponry for skaters(elbow pads) or just disappeared for goalies (neck guards) Modern goaltenders do not look like boxes with their pads off, but they do with pads on. Then again if I am in the position to possibly make millions of dollars a year playing the sport I love I would probably use slightly larger equipment too. (pad padding) is a safe non intrusive performance enhancing decision that is more healthy than getting our of shape to accommodate larger pads. At the same time though it does move to eliminate genetic predispositions from having an advantage. If anyone can do it why does it matter? Wouldn't they all try to be the best they can be by giving multiple pad sizes and shapes a try? Or do some goalies, not want to where larger pads because they think it's faux pas at the nhl level? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linden17 Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 Look at the sizes of pads back in the early to mid nineties. now look at it now. its not for safety. why do the pads have to be wider? why does anything have to be bigger? goalies back then were well protected. There was never a goalie injury epidemic where bigger pads were needed. it is without any doubt bigger now for net protection. any athlete has to always get that edge ahead if its legal and currently these huge pads are legal. Think about it. youre a goalie trying to make a living in pro hockey and your competition is starting to wear bigger padding to give them an advantage and make those saves and get noticed. you have got no choice but to go that route to stay in the mix. this is exactly what has happened in the goalie world starting in the late nineties. When i watch old ga,es i am blown away how much smaller the goalies look compared to today. And you cant make the argument that the goalies are bigger these days so they need bigger padding. Kirk Mclean was listed at 6 foot 2. sean burke even bigger at 6 foot 4. these guys were big guys and didnt need these oversized pads. Miller is a slim man so there is no way he needs the size of pads he wears. The pads they used in the early nineties would be perfect for an athlete his size. I understand the goalies arguement though but i dont agree with it. They are used to these pads now and switching now would take a lot of adjusting to their game but it has gotten out of hand and it should be addressed by all levels of hockey. Guys were shooting the puck pretty hard back in the day too. at some point it became about net protection and not about safety at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maginator Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 I don't like this news. However, I am a goalie . Sometimes pucks do hurt in the stomach area, so I couldn't imagine "form fitting" gear. Especially shots coming from world class talent. To increase scoring the NHL needs a bigger ice surface. (See Brian Burke proposal). Unfortunately, bigger ice surface = less seats, in turn less revenue off ticket sales. Its always about the money Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danjr Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 I agree about changing the size of pads. It is ridiculous how large they are. Even in mens leagues guys grab the biggest stuff they can get. I don't think safety is a concern. I played goal with almost every generation of gear, except for the newest stuff available in the last few years. I used to feel shots through my old CCM pads with deer hair in them. My D&R's were pretty damn good, felt a few but never got hurt. My old Brown catcher, I loved it, but man some of those shots hurt like hell. My newer Vaughn's only the top players make my hand feel anything. Old chest protectors, wow did I take some stingers that would bruise me the size of grapefruits. The newer chest protectors wow. Built like flack jackets and weigh nothing. Even the helmets are godlike. I used to use a Hasek type helmet and cage. Took a shot in warm up and got a pressure cut. The halfmasks of today are outrageous. I have not seen a guy get his head blowed up like Richard Brodeur in ages. How about when Rick Viave broke that guys knee with a slap shot. I cannot recall the last time a goaler got hurt from a puck below the neck. The padding is fine and can be scaled down to form fit. Goalies aren't going to get hurt. I mean hell how long did Marty use his POS chest protector, then finally decided to get a more modern one. Just my humble opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hlinkas wrister Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 Goaltenders are light years better technically than 20 years ago. Combine that with the ridiculously over-sized gear that is being used nowadays and it really is turning the game into soccer on ice. At the end of the day though, the name of the game is winning so I vote we move a couple of prospects for fat bastard and cram him between the pipes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gameburn Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 You are right about Miller: he would be vulnerable to Phase 1 of this (they could go further yet.) I think it's interesting that baseball at the major leagues has stuck to its initial rule set: hardly any adjustments to field size, they still use hickory bats (no aluminum) and I think they have restrictions on the size of gloves. I wonder if maybe we need some of that kind of thinking in hockey. I fear that there will be a synthetic substitute for "ice" coming, more and more weird hockey sticks and who knows what else. The goalies can certainly go back to an updated version of the equipment the size of pre-Roy. Roy was the first to go overboard on the equipment I believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky Balboa Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 I always thought Irbe looked like the Marshmallow Man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noseforthenet Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 Yeah, Miller is 170 and it's likely for flexibility reasons. It has made him less durable though. I am sure the thought of facing 100 mph shots every night with less padding really isn't exactly appealing to him. To him I say this: Adapt or die (retire), Ryan. I am 5'9" and 180 and my flexibility could not be better. The best goalies in the league make saves, not excuses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heretic Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 I think anyone who thinks the goalie equipment is too large, needs to put on the size they want to see, and stand in net whilst the top 30 hardest shooters take a slap shot at them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CeeBee51 Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 My issue would not be with the thickness/protection but the size and/or added bulk.... Shoulders, catching gloves, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xereau Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 The future of NHL goal tending is genetically modified 4x6 'human' flesh plugs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mclean70 Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 9 hours ago, Boddy604 said: There's been the ongoing argument in the NHL of ways to increase scoring. With reducing the size of goalie equipment being the most likely candidate. Well, with the World Cup coming up the idea is gaining traction and come September, goalies may actually have smaller equipment. If they do it there, the NHL follows suit. Reducing goalie equipment size has a very vocal guy against it and that's our very own Ryan Miller. But at the other end of the spectrum, players supporting it include Cory Schneider, Brayden Holtby, and Devan Dubnyk. Goalies supporting increased scoring? The suggested decreases to equipment presently are form fitting armour and pants. Currently, goalies can wear any size they want and quite a few wear sizes a size or two bigger for the added size. I started looking at WHY Miller is so against it. NHL.com has Miller listed as 6'2 and 168 pounds. Holy, that's skinny. A Google search of healthy weight for a 6'2 male has it listed as 171-203 pounds. And that's for a normal person, not a professional athlete. So Miller is riding just below the low end of what is considered healthy. That starts to make a little more sense why he wants to keep his big gear. Because he's not big without it. Miller is and always has been a positional goalie. He's not the guy who makes the leaping highlight reel saves very often. He's the guy who reads the play well and puts his body where the puck has the highest mathematical chance of going. Take away his size, you take away his effectiveness to a degree. What separates an elite level goal tender from an AHL lifer or career back up? In truth, about 5 or 6 percent in overall save percentage. Not a whole lot when you look at it that way. Is reduced equipment size enough to hurt a positional player like Ryan Miller 5 or 6 percent? Or in less math terms, an extra 1 goal on average per game? I think it is. And if this goes through, I think we'd be wise to hand him to someone else rather than take a chance. What do you guys think? And would you like to see some of the gear smaller? I think they should leave the equipment sizes and put the square footage of the net back to where it was a few years ago, where the back of the nets were deeper and more difficult to score a wrap around on, but the bad angle chances seemed to go in more regarding low slot shots from acute degrees. Let the goalies try and maneuver with extra padding all they want in my opinion. Maybe Miller should go Lunquist style and get the high- tech pads that skitter the puck sharply to the corner in an abrupt fashion (when the opportunity presents itself ) as opposed to the absorbing kind that is supposed to drop the puck right in front of the goaltender. On another note, it sure is fun watching clips from the 70's and 80's where the pads looked so tiny but even tall goalies like Hextall could flop around pretty fast in them. And shorter goalies like Mike Vernon and Bob Essensa were super quick even though there was a lot of mesh behind them. Of course Kirk Mclean was efficient too- plus that great goal stick- he looked like a defenceman out there with those passes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNewGM Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 this is such a stupid topic I cant believe people still talk about it. I am a goalie. Padding could be twice the size and make little diference. What needs to change is the $&!# players missing the net more often then not. If u can shoot a puck off the crossbar and in huge pads are not going to save that goal. I swear I face better players in beer league then in the NHL. these guys rarely miss theyre shots, granted they have more time and space. The problem is the game is so fast and defense are so fast to get theyre stick in the way of the shooter. Goalie equipment is not even that big , while I may agree the trappers are a little bit big , Goalies are rarely making saves because theyre glove is too big . IT GOES RIGHT INTO THE POCKET. which is a normal size, if it was the size of the glove making the save you would see the puck bouncing out of theyre glove all the time! or deflecting off theyre cheater or whatever.. Also stand in front of a slap shot going 100 mph and tell me you want smaller equipment. This is stupid. Talk about how $&!#ty the players are who miss the fricken net 75% of the time on theyre shots. THATS the real problem with "scoring" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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