Now that I have had some time to get over the initial shock that the NHL really does want to make a baseball out of me, I would like to examine the issue of increasing the size of the goals.
Tradition
The goals have always been 72" wide and 48" high. Granted there was a time when there was no cross bar and the referee had to judge whether the puck was above or below the 48" poles sticking out of the ice but regardless of the construction of the goal, they have been 72" x 48".
Adaptation
Goalies, with some help from goalie coaches, have adapted to the style of play of the NHL. If the style of the game changed, so would the goalies. Teams play to allow shots from outside and if a shot comes from the slot it will be heavily contested and through traffic. The idea behind this is that if a player can hit the piece of goal the goalie leaves exposed under pressure, more power to him. The highest profile example of this would be Giguere. He has average to below average reflexes yet is positionally sound enough to take up space. He rarely makes saves. The puck hits him. There is a difference. Goaltender evolution has been discussed since Glenn Hall pioneered the butterfly style. The same issues discussed then apply now. If a goalie takes away the most vulnerable part of the net, what is a shooter to do?
Comparison
In order to put what the NHL is considering, we must compare it to other sports. The problem is: which team sport do we compare it to? There are two major sports that, like hockey, use equipment to propel projectiles: Baseball and Lacrosse (arguments can be made for Cricket and Field Hockey but I am not familiar enough with either one to discuss them nor are either of them generally accepted in the North American market.) Lacrosse is more like basketball with sticks with little emphasis on playing defense. The shot clock is the defending teams best asset. Thus, we are left with baseball. Baseball has been around longer than hockey and yet has stayed the course in terms of holding to tradition, the notable exception being the DH. Further, while baseball management consistently imply that the home run is the most exciting event in the game (I cite the lack of enforcement when it comes to performance enhancing substances and balls that are a hair short of a super ball), they have held to the wood bat and, after a lapse in management created a frenzy with the strike zone, steps are being taken to return to a traditional strike zone. Decisions in other sports on these types of issues should not be overlooked.
Refutation of the bigger goalies necessitates bigger goals
The problem is not with the idea that goalies are taking up more space in the modern age of hockey. That is not disputable. The problem arises when bigger goals are seen as a legitimate way to offset the bigger goalies. Watching the present day NHL, we can see that goals are still scored on odd man on a consistent basis but odd man rushes are rare. In fact, when the new style of goaltending is forced to go beyond the style of play for which it was developed, we see that many goalies are out of their element. This includes od man rushes and having to deal with actual offensive plays on the net. Therefore we can conclude that the problem is not with the size of the nets as players can still score when given an opportunity. We can also infer that if more odd man rushes and plays on goal were created, more goals would be scored.
Proposed Solutions
There are many things that need addressing in the NHL before increasing the size of the goals should even be considered. The NHL has tried to address some of these with bringing back the tag up offside rule and no touch icing.
- Icing still called while killing a penalty.
- Player serves entire penalty whether a goal is scored or not.
- Leave the red line. This is not a rule change but with so many people advocating its removal, I had to add this.
- Do not add extra rules for infractions. Obstruction hooking is just hooking, etc. Call the game by the book. If the fans, players, and GM’s object, the NHL should release a statement in support of the referees and reaffirm the league’s commitment to calling the game by the book. This has never been done before and a statement from the league office would go a long way to letting everyone know that the league intends to continue the enforcement, rather than being silent and leaving the officials out on a limb as they slowly climb back to the status quo. This will have an added side effect of encouraging teams to get faster as their players will be unimpeded. Teams that are slow will fall by the wayside until they adjust. Team speed allows teams to forecheck more aggressively which creates chances either through forced turnovers or through the forecheck being beaten.
- Goalie pads can go back to 10 inches, even though that is not the main problem. The NHL needs to make a stand and force goalies into smaller upper body suits. The technology exists to stop a bullet from close range with a suit that is fit snugly on the wearer, there is no reason for 6’1" 180 lb Giguere to appear as though he is 470 lbs on the ice. A concession that must be made at the same time is that the one piece composite sticks are banned and the NHL goes to wood only sticks. Brodeur has already said that he would be in favour of such a trade.
Aside from #1 (of which I am not certain and am not going to bother to research), I know the rest have been in the NHL at one point or another and thus, are not a violation of the game’s history or tradition.
There is an opportunity here for the NHL to show the real hockey fans that we still matter and that the NHL is not intent on alienating long time fans in order to attract a handful of fickle spectators.
I know this is the pit and not much of a rant but I really had to post this.
