mco543 Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 There is virtually no chance of getting goalie gear made smaller. In an ideal world NHL OT would be 5 on 5 and end in a tie. I'd rather see the SO then have them start OT at 4 on 4 and then go to 3 on 3 after the first whistle. Why not start at 5 on 5 and take away one per side each minute in that case? Re: making the nets bigger - you don't have to turn them into soccer nets but a few inches would surely be fine. If they made the nets bigger by few inches and didn't announce it no fan would ever notice. Goalies are so much bigger now that it's absurd. I played goalie and had professional gear and it was so much smaller than what guys like Snow or Giguere ushered in as the norm that it's laughable. Since you're never ever getting goalies to wear gear like they wore in the 90's making the nets bigger by a bit, even if it does suck (which it does), is a viable option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiji Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 There's been a lot of work on protective gear the last ten years. I would think there's a way to balance goalie safety while making the gear smaller in appearance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 I totally agree that actually shrinking it won't happen. I'm just totally, completely unconvinced there's actually a good reason for that. It's a shame. A guy like Ovechkin, all these 40 goal seasons, I'm not really sure in historical context he gets his due when you think about the era he is in. Of course part of it is the NO RINGS deal. Hell, for that matter, don't tell anyone I said this but Iginla too even if he's pretty much a shell now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabe Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 It's not just the size of the equipment, it's the goalies as well. Goalies now are a good 4-6" taller than they were 25 years ago. A guy butterflies and there's hard any top shelf net to shoot at. No amount of equipment reduction is going to change that. Combine that with the style that goes play now - butterfly with legs splayed and they cover almost the entire bottom part of the net, if not the entire thing. And that's, again, because they're bigger than before. And not just bigger - way more athletic. WAY more athletic. And then you mix in lighter equipment that's also a lot bigger and just tweaking a couple things won't address the difficulty in scoring. No, you need to... Change the size of the nets. I don't think 8" taller and 16" wider (for example) would make scoring EASY, nor would it be gimmicky. It would be just be a "lowering of the mound" to borrow a baseball analogy - a recognition that things have shifted way too far in the goalie's favor. In 1987/88, Patrick Roy led the NHL with a .8998 save%. A number like that now would get him traded or released. Two years ago, Craig Anderson - CRAIG FREAKING ANDERSON - led the NHL with a .9409. The year before that, Brian Elliott had the lowest GAA since 1940. And his number has nearly been matched - TWICE - since then. SOMETHING has gotta change. And, IMHO, that needs to be the net. As for OT, I hate the idea of 3-on-3 even though its top advocate is Ken Holland from the Red Wings. Way too gimmicky for my taste. IMHO, stick with the 4-on-4 but make it 10 minutes long. And then go to a...tie. Maybe do 3/2/1 points, with 3 for a regulation win, 2 for an OT win, and 1 for an OT loss or tie. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serious Darius Bagfelt Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 You need to make the nets bigger. Goalies are huge now and incredibly athletic along with plus sized equipment. Ken Dryden at 6'4" was the anomaly back then the short chubby guy that couldn't skate was the goalie. Expansion has nothing to do with the drop in scoring but the Michelin men in net with better technique along with the new defensive systems limit mistakes and scoring chances 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Fresh Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mco543 Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 I used to believe that putting the puck on net was a good way to generate scoring chances until I watched the last 2 Panther games and they lobbed so many awful shots on net that they managed to make Talbot and Tokarski look like Vezina candidates. Against the Rangers they attempted something like 98 shots with 38 or so getting on net and got 1 goal and tonight they attempted 67, 43 official SOG, and only had 2 goals. A top six forward, a top six forward. My kingdom for a top six forward. Shit, the corpse of Lecavalier would've been an upgrade. Also, I'd guess that this was the last game of the Dan Ellis era and Luongo'll be back next game. It's a shame he ended on 2 losses because he was really good and wasn't at all the problem in the games he lost. The offense completely failed him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 I'm drunk posting. I don't drink s othis is new. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Yes I am. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Happy St. Patrick's Day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Video from the pat quinn tribute in vancouver video.canucks.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=6&id=782661〈=en Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elizium Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Thank god for the sad, dessicated, lifeless corpse of the San Jose Sharks. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elizium Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 And Blake By God Wheeler. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elizium Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 It's not just the size of the equipment, it's the goalies as well. Goalies now are a good 4-6" taller than they were 25 years ago. A guy butterflies and there's hard any top shelf net to shoot at. No amount of equipment reduction is going to change that. Combine that with the style that goes play now - butterfly with legs splayed and they cover almost the entire bottom part of the net, if not the entire thing. And that's, again, because they're bigger than before. And not just bigger - way more athletic. WAY more athletic. And then you mix in lighter equipment that's also a lot bigger and just tweaking a couple things won't address the difficulty in scoring. No, you need to... This is it exactly. Equipment is only 5% of the problem. There's really no Garth Snow's wandering around anymore. Watch any game from the 80s, those goalies didn't move. Neither did the defensemen. Guys like Orr and Coffey were the absolute exception to the position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serious Darius Bagfelt Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Thanks for posting that Elizium. Everyone is a good skater now. Bobby Orr on one leg made opponents look ridiculous. ESPN classic Canada loves playing the Montreal Boston too many men game from 1979. Watch that. Everyone is in slow motion compared to Guy Lafleur Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 I would argue Fuhr is the second most acrobatic goalie ever, to that Hasek fellow. If Fuhr played now in the social media age he'd be considered a human highlight reel. But generally yeah 80's isn't exactly a golden age of goaltending which is one of the reasons I laugh my ass off when people talk about trying to get scoring back to that level as if the 80's were reality. I'd settle for mid-1990's myself. But I'd also say there's really nothing particularly athletic about most modern butterfly goalies at all. Absolutely nothing. Vast majority of them are robots because that's how you train a goalie now. NHL classics is on sportsnet right now playing the Rangers/Canucks '94 cup final and Richter and Maclean are both more "athletic" than anyone in the running for the Vezina now. That's sort of where the science of goaltending went. Do more, with less. Don't need to do the crazy play if you make the right one. Efficiency. The modern method is better in every conceivable way that matters. Let there be no doubt on that. But I miss goaltending being a form of improvisational art instead of a cold science, because you just don't have those kind of creative guys in net anymore. I miss that, even if from any mathematical perspective, it was worse. That's a genie that will never go back in the bottle. "Kill all the goalie coaches" is frowned upon in society. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 He're a theoretical thing that goes way back into the NHL's history. Once upon a time, a 2 minute penalty was served in entirety even if a team scored on the power play (the way major penalties still work now). They canned this, I think it was in the late 50's, because essentially "Montreal were scoring too much". Would people be open to experimenting with this again? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabe Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Because I had to watch it on NHL Gamecenter instead of live on NBC, I'm a couple days behind on this one but...Just watched Sunday's Detroit/Pittsburgh game last night. Man, what a load of fun this one was. Coming off a horrendous performance against Philly (a 7-2 loss that wasn't even that close), Detroit came out against Pittsburgh and played really well. Pitt gave up a 50-footer about a minute into the game and things went south from there for them. Some defensive breakdowns and a whole bunch of "lost their cool" moments. At one point, the Penguins had *5* guys in the penalty box, including one guy who was already serving a minor when the first period expired. After the period ended, he (may have) shot a puck at the ref (probably unintentional) and got himself another 2 & 10 in penalties. Later in the game, the Penguins had a guy who got 2, 10, and a game all at once for arguing. Another Penguins guy got 2 different 10-minute misconducts. It was crazy. Fun times (for a Red Wings fan)! And, oh yeah, my man Teemu Pulkkinen scored 2, including a rocket from about 20 feet out on the left wing. Once he figures out how to speed up his shot release just a bit, he's going to be a lot of fun to watch. His shot is just ridiculous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabe Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Also: The NHL is adding USA Network as a channel for playoff games this year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Fresh Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Also: The NHL is adding USA Network as a channel for playoff games this year Hopefully on Monday nights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 RIP matthew wuest, founder of cap geek 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 Yes, just coming to post this myself. http://metronews.ca/news/halifax/1318169/matthew-wuest-metro-halifax-sports-reporter-and-capgeek-founder-dies-of-cancer/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jumbojustice Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 Sad news about Matthew Wuest. Capgeek was a truly phenomenal site. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sabremike Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 Do you realize the people who paid to get into this Devils-Sabres game could've used that money to get at least 5 orders of wings at Duff's and had enough left over to get a beer and a fried baloney sandwich? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elizium Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 One job St. Louis, that's all you had. At least the Jackets and Canucks helped out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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