Or it could also have something to do with the equipment changes. More holes mean more spots to get dinged.

Also when they made goaltenders lower the knee stacks by an inch via claiming it meant they could get their knees down to the ice faster thereby taking away more goals they completely seemed to overlook the reason for “landing gear” knee stacks in the fist place.

It gives a goalies knee somewhere to land that isn’t ice and also the higher the knee stack the less stress on a goaltender’s knees, hips, and groin when going down. Lowering each goalie by even that one inch is an inch more stress and torque that the players anatomy has to go through.

But hey F the goalies. They’re the scourge of the NHL these days and just an obstacle to little Gary’s dream of double digit scoring.

Posted by moocat on 11/28/08 at 10:15 PM ET

I have to agree with the knee stacks. As a goalie, I just got some newer pads with the knee stacks and it makes a huge difference.  My older pads had virtually no stacks (.5 inch) and I frequently injured my knees, along with a lot of wear and tear on my hips and lower back.  With the newer pads, not only can I recover from shots faster, but my body is not nearly as dinged up after games or practices. 

While the stacks can definitely help a goaltender make a few extra saves, the protection they offer is invaluable.  Reducing protection on the knees is not where the reductions should be taking place.

Posted by Matt from San Jose on 11/29/08 at 02:30 AM ET

The knee stacks are huge.  When you add together the chopping of an inch to an inch and a half from the knee stacks and the crackdown on knee pads, you’ve got guys dropping two or three inches lower to the ice, and in a league where butterflying on every shot is a way of life...what Moocat said.  You stress everything, groins, hips, knees, ankles…

Getting rid of the perpendicular, free-standing calf protector for a form-fitting one attached to the leg and trimming those massive shoulder “wings” and rounding off the edges of the chest protectors, combined with getting rid of the “Luongo/Toskala” pants, where 5” wide pieces of hockey pant plastic dropped down to replicate the effect of a thigh board, that’s more than enough. 

It doesn’t surprise me at all that goaltender injuries are occurring at as high a level as the first post-lockout season, when they chopped an inch of width off leg pads.  You change the mechanics of making saves, and guys get hurt.

Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 11/29/08 at 07:58 AM ET