Equipment on Order! -- AGAIN!

[ponty 0]

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/

[ktang 34]

With a few more details about the required changes

[JGraz15 53]

More encouraging news!

[Modo22 0]

Lets just play with out Goalies!

Or go with all the changes and make a goal from out side the Blue (orange) line worth 7pts, a goal inside the Blue (orange) line 4pts, and a goal from a rebound or from the crease worth 2pts.

Hey lets not call it hockey any more. Lets call it something else......any suggestions!!!?????

[ktang 34]

It's interesting that they are banning shoulder pads that ride up when the goalie crouches / butterflies. Everybody had been focusing on the pads, blockers, and trappers.

There are some other stories about NHL goalies getting riled up about the changes - Ed Belfour, Roberto Luongo, Dan Cloutier.

[chippa13 1844]

I think the worst goalie shoulder pad thing I ever saw was what Garth Snow used to have, those two tabs that stuck up above his shoulders.

[JR Boucicaut 3801]

I wouldn't call them tabs. They were like spoilers, man!

I'm glad they're doing this. Obviously the wider they look, the more they cover the net...as mentioned, Snow with his shoulder pads, Patrick Roy with the "cellphones" on his pants and the huge jersey...

[Cavs019 708]

I don't know how many times I have to emphasize this but ITS NOT THE GOALIES. Give any NHL sniper more than 1 scoring chance a game without being raped by the opposing defense and I guarantee you scoring will be up. The bottom line is the opportunities just aren't there.

[sherwood21 0]

Any NHLer can light a goalie up, no doubt. Obstruction limits them from doing that, and that is why scoring is down. Hell, if I can light up a goalie, with a good chance, I assure you that an NHL dangle/snipeshow could do it. Just my 2 cents

[OTHockey96 0]

Even though I love scoring, I still kinda feel bad for the goalies. It's true they have huge equipment now, but everybody has new technology in their sticks that fire the puck much faster.

[mickz 107]

Fewer goals are being scored because of more sticks being broken in the process of shooting. Players should go back to using woodies or even 2 pieces. I doubt this will happen though.

[kosydar 0]

Goalie pads are meant to protect the goalie, not give them an extra few un-needed inches of "padding". Will reducing the pads increase scoring that much? Probably not, but it definitely won't hurt the game. Some of the stuff goalies are wearing these days is flat out ridiculous.

[Bruin88 0]

i agree with ot. sure the goalies pads are big but with ops's many players can shoot from 90-100+ mph with pretty decent accuracy ,the goalies should be able to have a bit of an edge too

[shute 4]

no one cares about the goalies... what we and everyone else wants is more scoring! heck put minor league goalies in there if they bitch i bet it'll even be better for the game. with smaller padding it makes it easier not for a sniper to score when he is on a breakaway but easier for people to score when there is a lot of trafic around the net which is how the game is played these days anyways. if the goalie has a hard time seeing then he'll just make himself as big as he can so making the padding smaller will allow for more room and higher chance the puck will go in during those times.

[Bruin88 0]

no one cares about the goalies... what we and everyone else wants is more scoring! heck put minor league goalies in there if they bitch i bet it'll even be better for the game. with smaller padding it makes it easier not for a sniper to score when he is on a breakaway but easier for people to score when there is a lot of trafic around the net which is how the game is played these days anyways. if the goalie has a hard time seeing then he'll just make himself as big as he can so making the padding smaller will allow for more room and higher chance the puck will go in during those times.

your forgetting one thing ,teams also wanna win so why would they put minor league goalies in? why would they wanna sacrifice a stanley cup for the game being funner to watch?

[Duder84 0]

I have a feeling all this cutdown on padding and guesstimated rise in scoring will only cause the coaches to employ more defensive systems, which I think is one of the worst things done to hockey as it kills the scoring chances for both teams....hockey needs more excitement, not really more goals....

[ladystorm3 0]

so so u guys think 4 on 4 would make their be more excitment and more scoring? the less players the less players you have to get through to score

[sniper94 0]

Two points:

1-This equipment is for what games?????????

Lets just get the game back on ice first.

2-If you really like hockey you will enjoy it the way it is. If you don't love it why watch then complain about the lack of excitment. We don't need you we are better off without you. Hockey is a very complecated game and if you don't understand it you can say really stupid stuff and give the sport a bad name.(exactly whats happening). I love it! But I am kinda biased being a goal scorer and as I tell my buddies "I'll take every inch I can get"

Sniper94

[shute 4]

there is one very easy way to make the game better... make the ice bigger like they do over seas. give the skilled players more room to play around

[MNdgame 0]

so so u guys think 4 on 4 would make their be more excitment and more scoring? the less players the less players you have to get through to score

...and the ice is a lot more open when its 4 on 4, thats why there is more scoring chances.

[Eazy_b97 1]

I don't know how many times I have to emphasize this but ITS NOT THE GOALIES. Give any NHL sniper more than 1 scoring chance a game without being raped by the opposing defense and I guarantee you scoring will be up. The bottom line is the opportunities just aren't there.

People aren't able to score from the angles they did in the '80s. I slapshot from just inside the blueline along the boards is now considered a bad goal. Giving NHL snipers more time will increase scoring, but the snipers in the "offensive Era" also had the luxury of every shot having an oppurtunity to go in.

[OTHockey96 0]

I agree with eazy. I've watched a lot of older hockey games/highlights this year, and whatever it is, smaller goalie pads, less traffic, or less clutching, etc. The bottom line is that the goals came easy. When someone scores in a game today, it's a pretty big deal. Most of the time today, when a team scores the first goal they're more likely to win the game. Just with one goal. I guess what I'm saying is that I'd rather watch Bobby Orr score a hat trick than watch the NJ Devils play awesome defense.

[Chadd 916]

so so u guys think 4 on 4 would make their be more excitment and more scoring? the less players the less players you have to get through to score

4 on 4 won't help much. Most coaches will still preach defense to the point of benching guys who take too many chances.

[Hockeyman9621 0]

I agree with eazy. I've watched a lot of older hockey games/highlights this year, and whatever it is, smaller goalie pads, less traffic, or less clutching, etc. The bottom line is that the goals came easy. When someone scores in a game today, it's a pretty big deal. Most of the time today, when a team scores the first goal they're more likely to win the game. Just with one goal. I guess what I'm saying is that I'd rather watch Bobby Orr score a hat trick than watch the NJ Devils play awesome defense.

The goalies had no style of play, they were just terrible and looked like they were afraid of the puck and afraid to go down. (obviously with exceptions) Watch one of those top ten goal scorers from the 90's and you'll see. Late 90's is when it started to change.

[chippa13 1844]

so so u guys think 4 on 4 would make their be more excitment and more scoring? the less players the less players you have to get through to score

4 on 4 won't help much. Most coaches will still preach defense to the point of benching guys who take too many chances.

I disagree. With 4 on 4, defensemen are forced to jump into the play in order to create any kind of offense. This leads to chances at both ends of the ice. Anytime a game is played 4 on 4 during regulation you'll notice that scoring chances go up.