For NHL, goalie equipment size does matter
League says it will reduce goalie equipment in effort to let skill take precedence
BOCA RATON, FLA.— NHL goaltenders may look a lot smaller beginning next season.
Goalies across the league will be required to wear equipment better suited to their body size, or face suspension. A presentation of the new initiative, led by the NHL’s Kay Whitmore, was delivered Tuesday at the annual GM meetings.
Reductions will be made to pants and upper-body equipment, cutting down on the unnecessary “fat” that doesn’t help protect goaltenders but does give some an unfair advantage.
“If it takes a little more skill to play the position, so be it,” Whitmore said. “Does this make scoring go up? I don’t know. That’s to be seen and that’s not the reason why we did it. This was (done) because we felt there was inequities within the goalies themselves and the best goalies have come out and said that.”
Some of the league’s top goaltenders pushed for the change, including the Devils’ Cory Schneider and Capitals’ Braden Holtby. They, among others, would like goaltending to be more about skill and less about enormous equipment.
Goalies will face a two-game suspension for non-compliance, a rule that’s already in effect, but one that will be enforced more rigidly next season.
Colin Campbell, the NHL’s exec-
“This was (done) because we felt there were inequities within the goalies themselves and the best have come out and said that.” NHL’S KAY WHITMORE
utive vice-president and director of hockey operations, said there was too much grey area previously to enforce the rule effectively.
“If you cheat, you pay the price,” Montreal general manager Marc Bergevin said. “If we all agree now, all 30 of us, and it happens in October, none of us should be crying about it.”
It will be Whitmore’s duty to enforce the changes, a process he said has yet to be fully scoped out.
Goaltending equipment has mostly grown over the past two decades, from a point when goaltenders looked like thin rails between the pipes to where they now resemble football linebackers.
The league has demanded shorter leg pads in recent years, but those reductions are likely to pale in comparison to the new changes, especially for upper-body equipment. More padding saw some goaltenders lean less on skill and more on simply blocking the puck.
“It’s something that’s been going on for a long time and it’s not an easy topic, because the goaltending equipment is so vague in every area,” Campbell said.
Co-operation between the league and NHL Players’ Association helped spur the changes, as did the support and involvement of equipment manufacturers.
Whether the changes lead to more scoring remains to be seen. Scoring has been declining for years as the league searches for answers.
While uncertain of the effect the changes would have on scoring and goaltenders, Whitmore said the changes were driven by their involvement. Schneider, Holtby and the Wild’s Devan Dubnyk, among others, wanted a more level playing field within their ranks.
“They want to look at the other end of the rink and feel that the guy down there looks appropriate for his size,” Whitmore said.
“You don’t want the puck just hitting guys,” he added. “I think that the goalies themselves felt that there should be a bigger gap between the greatest goalies in the league and the other guys.”