Goalie gear reduction

During last season there was a heated goalie gear thread at a message board I read. Many favored reducing the size of goalie gear. Some thought it unnecessary and that doing so would increase goalie injuries. My retort to this is if police officers can wear vests that protect them from bullets while still keeping an everyday profile, then hockey goalies should be able to wear protective equipment that doesn't make them look like the Michelin Man.

Anyway I think it's a good idea to try to increase scoring - to get it back to it's 1980's and early 1990's heyday. Below is a screen shot from http://www.dropyourgloves.com/Stats/LeagueGoals.aspx.



At this Ray Slover article some readers don't want to see any more changes and are afraid of All-Star Game like scores. In my opinion that's not likely to happen. My post from the Comments section.

There's high-scoring ASG's because players don't play defense like they do in the regular season. THEY DON'T HIT in the ASG's.

Some it seems are just afraid because it's the idea of much-maligned NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, or at least endorsed by him. Below are some comments.

Nice to see Bettman and friends continuing their quest to make every game as high scoring as an allstar game. Go away Gary!

I love that the "New NHL" rules worked out in Bettman's favor for about five minutes before the scoring was down again and all of the referee's forgot how to call the games. Now, they're just grasping at straws trying to make their vision of game scores in 10-9 region a reality. What's next: eliminating defensemen and widening the rinks so players can dipsy-doo more easily? Give me a break.

You want high scoring? Might as well get rid of goalie masks too. That'll scare them into getting out the way. Goalies today are no where near as tough as goalies in the old days and I'm sure they care more about their face then a game.

I TOTALLY agree with you, why Bettman keeps on changing the game every year i have no idea, i havent seen any other sport abused like that... they all stay relativly the same, except hockey, every year they toss some rules out, and add some in... the game was fine as is... then they started to tinker with it, adding the trapezoid behind the net, the instigator rule (which eliminated the need for players like TIE DOMI... players who i think of when i think hockey...) lol reminds you that even with the skill... you still need some heart... spirit... but all they want are goals goals goals... more goals wont make hockey better... i enjoy watching those goalies making save after save... its not like there are low shots on net (excluding detroit)...

Journalists who also don't favor changes are Slover and Eric McErlain. They wrote these articles in February. The titles alone give away their agenda.
Enough already: Leave goaltenders alone
Give NHL rule changes a breather

I can understand that thinking though. That's the same thinking Bettman used to delay the new old schedule change. I get time for new rules to breathe. Yet with goals per game the situation is urgent. It has been on a downward trend since the mid-1990's.


The downward trend was a major issue pre-lockout and during it. Complaining about that trend was almost universal then from fans to players to management to journalists. The trend was major reason for most of the post-lockout rule changes. There was nary a peep from people who wanted to keep the goals per game status quo.

Many fans complain Bettman stripped the NHL game of its traditions. Here he's trying to go back to the scoring tradition, and he's met with resistance. That resistance seems more of an anti-Bettman bias to me.

At the very least it seems this is a better alternative than bigger nets. That change would be bad, and tradition shattering. The size of the goalie equipment must be reduced.

Other goalie gear blog entries:
Listen to Sid the Kid
Brodeur Speaks Out