Luongo will be forced to retire if...

[Fury of One 6]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=3035979

[jay 1]

Why the hell does he care if the nets bigger when he's making millions a year to stand in front of it? Its not like its only bigger for him. What a dipshit.

[Law Goalie 147]

Oh, well, by the way, they're also going to make the turnbuckles stick out an extra six inches from the boards. What do you care? It's only 6 inches. You won't hit it that often.

[jay 1]

So your equating adding a turnbuckle that sticks out of the boards to a slightly larger net? Brilliant.

I wouldn't even begin to suggest making the nets bigger is a good idea, I think its ridiculous, but only about .01% as ridiculous as Luongo's "comment."

[RadioGaGa 162]

I don't have a problem with what Loungo is saying. Since he was a kid...he's played in front of THAT net learning how to stop the puck.

THAT net hasn't changed...now, he's one of the best in the world at stopping the puck. And, the League wants to have more scoring...so after 20 years of playing in front of THAT net...if it changes...he sees it as a slap in the face of his 20 years of training. I'd LOVE to see more of the NHL's top 'tenders say they'd walk away if the nets change.

[Fire0nIce228 1]

Thats retarded. He's (They're) getting paid MILLIONS to stop the puck. It shouldn't matter what size net they stand in front of. He's not the only one that its going to change for. Its going to change for MILLIONS of goaltenders from peewee to the NHL, should they all quit because its a slap in the face of the time they've spent infront of the 4x6?

He thinks his stats will get worse or something? They'll get worse for everyone!

[chippa13 1844]

Gee, I suppose it has nothing to do with changing one of the fundamental truths of hockey.

[Fire0nIce228 1]

Times change. Ratings are low, fans are leaving. Gotta do something to make the game more exciting, and new jerseys ain't it.

[Rustpot 1]

It's ridiculous because the league is resorting to that sort of measure to make the game more exciting. Everyone who loves the game want it to go back and the league is more concerned with getting people who don't like hockey to consider it a sport worth turning on. Bullshit.

They've made changes to create more offense, they've continued to impose restrictions on goalie pad sizes (even though, according to the article, "getting this goalie equipment to a more managable and reasonable size" is a hard thing to do) and now they want to change the pipes? That's something you don't fuck with.

Make the jerseys different, adapt the rules to better suit a certain style of game... but don't go changing the net or the rink (I know the lines have moved), where will it end? Smaller pucks?

[Fire0nIce228 1]

It's ridiculous because the league is resorting to that sort of measure to make the game more exciting. Everyone who loves the game want it to go back and the league is more concerned with getting people who don't like hockey to consider it a sport worth turning on. Bullshit.

There isn't enough of us who love the game watching the games on TV. So yeah, the league needs to atleast TRY to do SOMETHING to get those who don't give a flying fuck about hockey to turn it on and check it out, and hopefully get hooked. The jerseys are absolutely going to do nothing for ratings. The new rules with the goaltender playing the puck zone and the icing makes the game a tad more exciting when the situations arise where the goalie can't quit go get the puck, but those instances are fairly few and do not add that much excitement to the game. So yeah, the league needs to do something to get those who don't care about hockey to atleast check it out, they gotta get more than a 30 clip on Sportcenter that highlights 9 games in half a minute, they gotta do something. Otherwise, this league is going to die.

I love hockey. I get the center ice package and have a game on every evening that I'm home throughout the season. I don't like the new uniforms, I dont like this 'new NHL' marketing scheme, etc. But I do appreciate the fact that they're trying to get people to watch on TV, they're trying to raise revenue etc.

Face it, the NHL can't compete with NFL NBA MLB, hell the World Series of Poker is giving hockey a run for its money. Gotta do something. If some prima donna goaltender would rather quit than go along and support the survival of the league he plays in then so be it.

[jay 1]

Well, I'm not gonna up and quit my job just because management decides I have to start filling out a TPS report. I know TPS reports are stupid as hell and aren't going to solve the bigger problem of a lack of organization within the corporate structure but I'll suck it up and do it. It's a job for crying out loud and it pays me more in a year then the vast majority of people in the world earn in a lifetime. Luongo on the other hand would quit. To me that reeks of not only a sorry ass quitter—which is about as far from the spirit of what hockey is about (kinda like a larger net)—but someone not bright enough to realize they're a sorry quitter. Of course all just my opinion. :)

I don't have a problem with what Loungo is saying. Since he was a kid...he's played in front of THAT net learning how to stop the puck.

THAT net hasn't changed...now, he's one of the best in the world at stopping the puck. And, the League wants to have more scoring...so after 20 years of playing in front of THAT net...if it changes...he sees it as a slap in the face of his 20 years of training. I'd LOVE to see more of the NHL's top 'tenders say they'd walk away if the nets change.

[Chadd 916]

Times change. Ratings are low, fans are leaving. Gotta do something to make the game more exciting, and new jerseys ain't it.

Times do change

National ratings are low, some markets are doing quite well

Fans aren't going anywhere, attendance is up

This isn't going to make the game more exciting

Most people don't give a rats ass about scoring, they care about action and scoring chances. Nobody wants to see one more fluky goal sneaking in the wide side, they want to see action. This is yet another case of the NHL "fixing" the wrong problem.

[Cavs019 710]

Again, when will they realize that when a scorer has space they tear goalies apart. The issue is obtaining said space, not putting soccer nets onto the ice.

[mack 44]

This would be assuming the NHL knew what they were doing and they clearly don't.

[Spreedizzle 1]

The next point would be all of the rinks across the US and Canada now adopting a new sized net, which is also an added expense. It may come down to some rinks purchasing the new sized net, and some not. Travel hockey teams could have an issue with playing in some of the rinks as opposed to others. I don't agree with this move at all by the NHL. In my position as the commissioner of a city hockey league that is struggling to make money currently, I find it to be a difficult decision to shell out extra dollars that our non-profit organization simply does not have at this time.

[sabre09923 0]

While I certainly don't agree that the net should be made bigger, Luongo should just man up and stop being such a baby about it. Like it's been pointed out, it's not like he's the only one who'd have to deal with the bigger net.

I don't see what a bigger net would accomplish. More scoring? Look at soccer, the net's huge and you don't see many games with more than 3 goals scored per side.

[jbyun04 7]

and making the nets bigger wouldn't screw up a goalie's mental game how? stupid idea, i don't blame luongo or any other goalie that steps up and says the same thing.

[Fire0nIce228 1]

They're professionals. I'm sure they can adjust.

[TBLfan 25]

I agree with chadd, another case of the NHL "fixing" something that doesn't need to be fixed and changing something that isn't going to help. What's going to help? As amazing as it sounds a rise in fighting(everyone loves a fight and most like hockey for the chance of a fight).

More importantly, marketing will help. The NHL needs to stop wasting money of stupid changes but needs to spent money on advertising and it needs to be good. Show off the product, it's still good(even if they are trying to kill it), people will come to watch if you show them why they should watch.

[Super Star 0]

I don't think changing size of the nets going to effect a lot of goalies, sure they cry about it like its the end of their world but look at lacrosse, they made their nets larger to try and increase scoring and what did it do? for one season scoring went up on average but the next season goalies made an adjustment and scoring went down to about what it was before. So unless NHL will keep on making nets bigger every season to keep the goalies on their toes it won't make a difference in the long run.

[Hawes_4 0]

Why should you need more goals to be scored in order to boost ratings, soccer games rarely get enough goals scored to count on more than 1 hand. They need to start doing more for the hockey community, less and less kids are playing hockey due to the price it costs to play the game. And kids grow up watching the sport that they play.

[GoHabsGo24 1]

Going to bigger nets is a joke. I fully support Luongo, at least he, as a respected goalie can stand up and say that he disagrees with it, i hope more follow suit.

It's not like it's really that hard to score, i think the net is a perfect size right now, any bigger would just make scores absurdly high, and easy to come by.

As Chadd said, it's what happens around the goals that make the game exciting, the chances, the hits, the near misses, the ding off the bar, the fights, the dekes, the interceptions etc. Don't get me wrong, i love goals, but it's the game as a whole that i really love...

[hunterphfr 12]

I don't think changing size of the nets going to effect a lot of goalies, sure they cry about it like its the end of their world but look at lacrosse, they made their nets larger to try and increase scoring and what did it do? for one season scoring went up on average but the next season goalies made an adjustment and scoring went down to about what it was before. So unless NHL will keep on making nets bigger every season to keep the goalies on their toes it won't make a difference in the long run.

They made the nets bigger in lacrosse?

The NHL reminds me of that triple A ball club in a small town grasping at straws and trying every assinine gimmick they can to increase attendance. But what really happens is the true fan gets tired of seeing his sport become a circus and stops watching.

Hockey like soccer is never going to get to the level of MLB, NBA or NFL. The sooner they can come to terms with that the sooner they can stop screwing the sport.

[TBLfan 25]

...because soccer isn't the most popular sport in the world.

[Chadd 916]

...because soccer isn't the most popular sport in the world.

And yet it still does even worse than hockey in the US. The world isn't the target market right now, north america is.