Hey Jim, pads are only 11” wide, they changed that two years ago!

But I do agree with the rest of his article.

Signed

Chris, a goaltender for the past 14 years.

Posted by moore00 from Columbus, OH/Grand Rapids, MI on 09/11/08 at 05:52 PM ET

I wish everyone would stop picking on the goalies. The game is much faster and harder than it used to be. A player can shoot a slap shot much harder than they could back in the day with the new sticks. Besides, this isn’t basketball. We don’t need our final scores being 10-9 every night.

Posted by Josh from Tampa, FL on 09/11/08 at 06:40 PM ET

Horse puckey.  The changes made to chop down those “shoulder wings” and force goalies to cinch their calf protectors onto their legs were much-needed, as is the chopping-down of knee protection to no larger than what’s necessary to protect the knee instead of block the five-hole off. 

If goalies weren’t such uber-macho athletes, they’d admit that, at the NHL level, even with all the advances in plastics and composite materials, guys leave the crease after 60 minutes with welts and bruises all over their bodies, and they might admit that even the most advanced goalie masks can still leave you concussed if the puck hits you right, or if you take an elbow or knee to the face (which happens pretty regularly).  Playing goal still hurts, and it’s something you just deal with as a matter of course.

The fact that you don’t see guys rip Guy Lafleur shots into the net speaks more to the fact that players aren’t willing to rip a shot off the wing through a sea of shot-blocking defencemen, especially when the puck might get knocked down and go the other way.  When guys do have the courage to rip it, they occasionally score.

Posted by George Malik from South Lyon, MI on 09/11/08 at 09:16 PM ET

George,

That is still no excuse for Giggy’s monstrous shoulder pads and pants, nor Lundqvist’s massive thigh rise.  The goalie should make the save, the equipment should be there to protect. 

Chris

Posted by moore00 from Columbus, OH/Grand Rapids, MI on 09/11/08 at 11:24 PM ET

Let’s be real here, a third of NHL teams have goalies out there starting over 80% of their games and almost half have goalies starting at least 75% of their games… so this idea that playing goal night in and night out is so physically debilitating and/or dangerous is a bit of a copout IMO.

Of course goalies get dinged, concussed, bruised, battered and otherwise mussed up over the course of a typical game.  So, I might point out, do centers, wingers and defensemen, the latter of which reasonably routinely drop down to block pucks upwards of 30 feet closer with wayyyyyyy less protection than goalies sport.

Posted by HockeyinHD on 09/12/08 at 07:33 AM ET

Ahh yes rinse lather repeat from last year.

Goalies are the scourge of the NHL. Lets look past advancements in equipment for a moment and focus on the fact that in the Dryden era their really wasn’t much if any specialized training for goalies. There certainly wasn’t the emphasis on training and technique that there is today.

Today’s goalies are better athletes and have developed puck stopping styles and techniques that didn’t exist in the “glory days” of shooting off the wing.

A goalie back then would not come out and challenge the shooter and or take away the attack angle. They would have sat back deep in the net and relied on reflexes.

Things can certainly be tightened up but lets stop punishing goaltenders for having the audacity to advance their position beyond just being a shooter-tutor.

While we’re talking about equipment why don’t we talk about how skaters have been allowed have constant advancement in equipment. Composite sticks that allow everyone to shoot harder, giant lightweight shin pads (that allow for all those blocked shots), increased stick curve, heated blades (FYI Goalies had a blade assist system called Overdrive outlawed because it helped with down butterfly pushes) and the list goes on and on, and yet the more I read the more I think that a lot of pundits would really like to see goalies back in deer hair pads and only able to perform a kick save.

Posted by Moocat on 09/12/08 at 10:29 AM ET