Good entry! I agree that many of the changes, especially larger nets, should not happen. But, I would be in favor of returning to the way the game “was meant to be played.” That would include goaltender equipment shrinkage to sizes more in line with a couple decades ago, especially the shoulder pads, and non-expiring minor penalties like it was before the Habs forced that rule to change.

Posted by penguinsfan on 12/11/07 at 02:34 PM ET

OK GF, I will go along with the upper body goalie equipment.  A much better alternative than making the nets bigger.

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 12/11/07 at 02:36 PM ET

Yea, I have no qualms with equipment changes, but there cannot be any changes to the foundations of the game..  (i.e. net size, etc.)

This has to be the only league in the world that trashes itself like this.  Know what, GOALS are NOT what make the games good… and if you don’t know what does, maybe you should move on

Posted by WingMan from Canada on 12/11/07 at 02:48 PM ET

Changing the size of the net makes all records untouchable.  A new set of records would need to be established.  It’s almost like changing the rules of football to reflect arena football, sure it’s kind of fun to watch, in a video game kind of way, but you just know that it doesn’t take as much talent.

Posted by Bobby from Wilkes-Barre, Pa on 12/11/07 at 03:41 PM ET

Every sport needs to change to protect the delicate balance between offense and defense. Years ago MLB lowered the height of the pitchers mound to better balance improved pitching and declining hitting. Everyone lived. . .no one ended their lives. There were no astericks in record books.

It’s time hockey old-timers realized that hockey is an entertainment product, not a museum piece. Look what happened to tennis with its refusal to change. The introduction of composite racquets created a huge imbalance between the serve (which was now faster and more powerful than ever) and the belegered return of serve. Now, tennis is a boring repetition of smashing serves and weak or nonexistent returns. This is one reason that tennis has dropped off the radar for most sports fans.

The same thing could happen to hockey if we continue the trend of declining goals.

Posted by Jim from Idaho on 12/11/07 at 09:45 PM ET

Jim, I can understand where you are coming from and would like to know what changes you would like to see?

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 12/11/07 at 09:48 PM ET

I see several options that could be tried if goal scoring continues to decline.

First, further restrictions in goalie equipment are one obvious way of solving this problem. I’m a forward by preference, but went to a goalie camp this past October in the hopes that actually performing the activity would make me a better coach. I’m amazed at the improvement in technique that’s taken place over the past 15 years. It’s amazing that any goals are scored. But, further reducing the size of the equipment, especially the pads and chest protector, would be a start.

Second, if this doesn’t work, or if the goaltenders successfully resist this effort, I think nets need to get bigger. A start would be to reduce the width of the posts, which I suppose could give us up to two inches in width and another inch in height.

If that doesn’t work, I think the net needs to be opened another two inches and another two inches in height. Hockey can’t be allowed to descend to soccer-type scores.

Finally, although this won’t effect goal scoring, but game flow, increasing the width of the rink by five feet would probably create a nice balance between the overly tight confines of the North American rink and the overly large size of the international rink. (Of course, ths won’t happen because it necessitates removing a row of very profitable seats).

Posted by Jim from Idaho on 12/12/07 at 12:35 AM ET

Even as a goalie, I’ll be the first to tell you that it’s about changing player and coach mentalities, as Paul suggests, more than shrinking those oversized chest protectors or doing anything else to the game. 

Players and coaches and even GM’s believe that defence can be taught, but offence is some magical, innate skill.  I don’t know why they don’t attend a Red Wings practice and watch Tomas Holmstrom spend 20 minutes tipping pucks, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg doing everything from high-skill stickhandling to wrestling to play “keep away” and work on their puck possession, Mike Babcock giving equal time to both backchecking and forechecking, the breakout as well as the penalty-kill, and offensive execution as well as defensive dominance…

Anyone who can learn how to check can learn how to roof a shot, can learn how to skate half a step faster, can learn how to anticipate plays and “see” the ice better, and they can learn to overcome their fear of giving up a goal if they go for the gusto and make a dramatic, gutsy offensive play. 

This game needs no physical changes per se.  It needs a attitude adjustment, and without that attitude adjustment, we will have soccer-sized nets resulting in the same 2-1 games when the Wild and Devils play one another.

Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 12/12/07 at 03:29 AM ET

Jim, I am in favor of tweaking the goalie equipment, as long as the goaltending fraternity agrees.

The problem I see with some of the other changes you suggest, is they may be never-ending. If this doesn’t work, try this, then this....

It would only leave the NHL open to even more criticism in my opinion.

But we all have our own thoughts and yours are as good as mine.

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 12/12/07 at 08:20 AM ET

Anyone who can learn how to check can learn how to roof a shot, can learn how to skate half a step faster, can learn how to anticipate plays and “see” the ice better, and they can learn to overcome their fear of giving up a goal if they go for the gusto and make a dramatic, gutsy offensive play

Horribly, horribly inaccurate.  Almost criminally so, if there were a court for such infractions.

In every major sport it is easier to prevent the score than to score.  Every sport.  There’s no major sport where the league average of success is above or even close to 50%.  There’s a reason for that: Skill is Rare.  That’s even more relevant in the NHL where Skill is Really Rare.  If you have 10 6’1”, 195 lb guys for every 1 you can turn into a 30 goal scorer you can turn 9 into solid defensive players.

It’s not about learning how to roof a shot or skating a half step quicker or any of that bunk, it’s about being able to have a team which as a whole can execute an offensive system so well that they’re able to outmaneuver a defensive team in a very limited space and get a guy in a position to score.

Players are much bigger now.  Players are much faster now.  Goaltenders are much bigger now.  Goaltenders have much larger/more effective equipment now.  Offseason training regiments make even the most mediocre players able to be solid season-long contributors.  30 teams spread the available skill out thinly across the league.

All of those are inarguable facts.  It’s like getting 20 year old guys together to play a game of 4-square using the same field dimensions you used in 5th grade.

Posted by HockeyinHD on 12/12/07 at 08:43 AM ET

Jim, I am in favor of tweaking the goalie equipment, as long as the goaltending fraternity agrees.

Were you in favor of the league changing the way clutching/grabbing et al was called, as long as the “defensemen fraternity” it affected were okay with it?

Posted by HockeyinHD on 12/12/07 at 08:46 AM ET

Whole different ballgame HHD.  We are talking safety here with the goalies as compared to a different style of play in regards to the clutch and grab era.

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 12/12/07 at 08:49 AM ET

Making certain pads smaller in area doesn’t mean we’re making goalies play without helmets, Paul.  I don’t think anyone is talking about making goalies play without shinguards, or blindfolded, or in street shoes.

I mean, look at a picture of Patrick Roy in 1980’s pads and then look at current-day pads and try and tell me things aren’t wildly different nowadays.

The notion that goalies need to be insulated from 99.9% of possible discomfort while playing their position is part of the problem, and part of the reason teams can trot out their #1’s 80% of the time.

Posted by HockeyinHD on 12/12/07 at 09:18 AM ET

This has been a great conversation so far. I have to agree with HHD above, skill is rare and that fact alone makes Paul’s suggestions about coahces emphasizing offense ineffective in solving the problem of declining goals.

In addition, there’s no incentive for coaches to take up Paul’s challenge to focus more coaching time and effort on offense.

It’s not the coaches job to focus on offense so that the game remains entertaining to the fans. All the incentives they work within force them to focus on their teams win/loss record, not overall fan entertainment. 

Instead, it’s the league’s job to maintain the delicate balance between offense and defense so that the game remains entertaining for the fans and its the league’s responsibility to experiment with the kinds of changes that can keep hockey from becoming too much like soccer in terms of scoring.

Posted by Jim from Idaho on 12/12/07 at 12:48 PM ET

If you want a great example of a coach who followed Paul’s prescriptions and emphasized offense at the expense of defense look at the Buffalo Sabres.

Last year, an offensive jauggernaut. A team that pretty much followed Paul’s prescriptions and said, we’d rather lose 7 to 6 than win 1 to 0. A team that was happy to give up 6 goals, knowing they could probably score seven. All well and fine for creating an entertaining product. But, they also had the talent and skill to win at this as well.

One year later, Buffalo loses two top players and its talent level has diminished significantly. They continue to focus on offense, but without the same skill level, it now results in a lot of losses piling up and very unhappy fans. Sooner or later, Ruff will have to implement stricter defensive responsibilities on his less skilled team to make the playoffs.

What Ruff might want to do (run and gun) and what he has to do to get wins (defense) are two different things and all the incentives are for him to make the playoffs, not have a very entertaining team with a losing record.

It’s not the coaches responsibility to increase offense in the game, it’s the leagues.

Posted by Jim from Idaho on 12/12/07 at 12:55 PM ET

Jim from Idaho, extremely good point! Well said.

For the goaltenders, safety is a concern, but I agree that they shouldn’t have to be guaranteed 100% safety or coverage. The rest of the team throwing their bodies in front of the puck to block shots aren’t covered as much, and yet they do it. Take the pads back to 1980’s era sizes, and if the goalies are worried about composite sticks, then ban them, and only allow wood sticks. (Although, I think old-time players still got their shots up over 100mph with wooden sticks, a la, Al Iafrate.)

Posted by penguinsfan on 12/12/07 at 01:39 PM ET