Mike Babcock calls for bigger nets

[DragonfromTO]

The pads goalies wear today are to big. I realize these guys are bigger than goalies of yesteryear, but the pads don't have to be as wide. They don't have to be as bulky. It's hard enough to score as it is. When goalies are made even bigger than they are by the pads they wear it makes it that much tougher to score. The pads would be made of the same stuff they use today. I don't see how there would be a health risk. Their bodies would still have plenty of padding.

You are talking about a question of facts here. I am talking about a question of perception and how it would play.

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

You are talking about a question of facts here. I am talking about a question of perception and how it would play.

I understand your point. I'd just like to see something done because I think it would improve the game.

 

[jstewismybastardson]

I think a good solution is to require the goalies to wear tight-fitting jerseys with greater elasticity to open up the 6 & 7 holes. The advancement in clothing materials within the past decade would allow such a thing without hindering mobility.

agree

this shot from last night most likely goes straight in the net if fleury was wearing a tight jersey

 

[DragonfromTO]

Why not just ban goalies from using team training facilities and nutritionists?

The problem isn't necessarily goalie size but goalie athleticism. A guy like Pekka Rinne isn't going to give a up a lot more goals on a 20% larger net. He's just going to have to move a bit more. And a big goalie like Bishop (when standing) has the crossbar hit him just above the glutes. So he crouches more otherwise he's got body covering places no pucks can go in. Raise the crossbar six inches, and he simply has to crouch a little less. Won't make a lick of difference.

So are they going to make the rink bigger too? Because EVERYONE is bigger now than in the 80's. Look at Gretzky. He probably wouldn't even get invited to camp nowadays. Johnny Hockey is ridiculed for his "miniscule" size. He's only two inches shorter than Gretz was. A lot of players were that size back then. Lindros came in and everyone was like "OMG 6 feet 4!". He was a giant.

The game is different now. Equipment and training regimens make players so much faster. Defenders can attack better, faster forwards run out of space so much sooner now. Remember Messier dancing the D man and streaking down the wing and shooting off the top of the circle? Now if you streak down a wing and beat a defender, by the time you look up the shot is coming from the faceoff dot or below. Shots from there are easier to stop. Even if you had Panger in there. Most guys are not sniping one in from the half wall below the faceoff dot on an NHL goalie regardless of net size.

When I was packing up stuff to move a year or so ago I found my senior year (class of 2000) college yearbook. When I looked at the hockey page there was a picture of my teammate with a step on the defenseman just above the top of the circle coming off the left side. I looked at the goalie in the net and laughed as i tried to remember the last time I had seen that much open net on the far side in that type of situation. And I'm pretty sure that the goalies I faced in college were (relatively) better than the goalies I've been facing in men's league.

 

[Comeds]

I do not disagree, but just a minor change. Maybe an inch wider and an inch taller. Which come to think of it is similar to something my wife says...never mind.

 

[Comeds]

And I'm pretty sure that the goalies I faced in college were (relatively) better than the goalies that the Calgary Flames have.

FIFY.

 

[elocomotive]

What I think they should do is change the size of the goalie pads back to what goalies wore in the 70's & 80's.

I think this is a reasonable alternative. Kind of like how MLB players have to use wooden bats and how pro golfers have limitations on the kinds of clubs they can use (though they started making the courses longer too).

 

[elocomotive]

Why not just ban goalies from using team training facilities and nutritionists?

The problem isn't necessarily goalie size but goalie athleticism. A guy like Pekka Rinne isn't going to give a up a lot more goals on a 20% larger net. He's just going to have to move a bit more. And a big goalie like Bishop (when standing) has the crossbar hit him just above the glutes. So he crouches more otherwise he's got body covering places no pucks can go in. Raise the crossbar six inches, and he simply has to crouch a little less. Won't make a lick of difference.

So are they going to make the rink bigger too? Because EVERYONE is bigger now than in the 80's. Look at Gretzky. He probably wouldn't even get invited to camp nowadays. Johnny Hockey is ridiculed for his "miniscule" size. He's only two inches shorter than Gretz was. A lot of players were that size back then. Lindros came in and everyone was like "OMG 6 feet 4!". He was a giant.

The game is different now. Equipment and training regimens make players so much faster. Defenders can attack better, faster forwards run out of space so much sooner now. Remember Messier dancing the D man and streaking down the wing and shooting off the top of the circle? Now if you streak down a wing and beat a defender, by the time you look up the shot is coming from the faceoff dot or below. Shots from there are easier to stop. Even if you had Panger in there. Most guys are not sniping one in from the half wall below the faceoff dot on an NHL goalie regardless of net size.

I agree with you that a 20% larger goal face does not necessarily equate to 20% more goals... but I do think it would mean 10-15% more goals because you are increasing the miss factor of the players. If right now they have a good angle and a window of 3 inches by 5 inches through one of the holes, and that changes to 3 inches by 9 inches, obviously some of those shots just off the mark are going to now go in.

I'm pro-bigger nets. You can't account for the athleticism and technique improvements, but you can put goalies back to taking up a roughly similar proportion of the next as they did in the 70s and 80s, and I would like to see that. I just see too many games that come down to this puck deflection luckily going in to that one just missing in determining the outcome. And I think with a wider net, you make skill and teamwork more likely to be the determining factor. I think you'd also see a wider separation of goalie performance from team-to-team.

 

[forty_three]

I think this is a reasonable alternative. Kind of like how MLB players have to use wooden bats and how pro golfers have limitations on the kinds of clubs they can use (though they started making the courses longer too).

Skaters have to give up composite sticks? I like it.

I agree with you that a 20% larger goal face does not necessarily equate to 20% more goals... but I do think it would mean 10-15% more goals because you are increasing the miss factor of the players. If right now they have a good angle and a window of 3 inches by 5 inches through one of the holes, and that changes to 3 inches by 9 inches, obviously some of those shots just off the mark are going to now go in.

I'm pro-bigger nets. You can't account for the athleticism and technique improvements, but you can put goalies back to taking up a roughly similar proportion of the next as they did in the 70s and 80s, and I would like to see that. I just see too many games that come down to this puck deflection luckily going in to that one just missing in determining the outcome. And I think with a wider net, you make skill and teamwork more likely to be the determining factor. I think you'd also see a wider separation of goalie performance from team-to-team.

So why put it all on the goalies? Everyone is bigger, so why only adjust that one aspect? Make the rinks bigger. Make the puck smaller. Make the game four on four. All of those things would get the same effect of putting skill and teamwork more into the role of determining factor. Remember when 4 on 4 overtime was going to solve the tie issue? Coaches and players figured out how to suck the life out of that and now we have 3 on 3. They'll suck the life out of that. Everyone on the team wants to get to a coin flip for OT - better odds. Goalies will figure out how to make larger nets irrelevant. And the vast majority have the tools to do it already.




In short, goalies rule. Quit crying you cake eating pansies.

 

[esls79]

Ban goalies all together. The only time they are useful is for the extremely rare goalie fight and since fighting is on the way out, might as well take goalies with it when it goes.

 

[dash]

Looks at Leafs current goaltending tandem of Reimer and Bernier and wonders why Babcock would want larger nets...

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Looks at Leafs current goaltending tandem of Reimer and Bernier and wonders why Babcock would want larger nets...

To secure first place in the Auston Matthews standings. Duh.

Don't you know anything about the Shanaplan?

 

[elocomotive]

Skaters have to give up composite sticks? I like it.

So why put it all on the goalies? Everyone is bigger, so why only adjust that one aspect? Make the rinks bigger. Make the puck smaller. Make the game four on four. All of those things would get the same effect of putting skill and teamwork more into the role of determining factor. Remember when 4 on 4 overtime was going to solve the tie issue? Coaches and players figured out how to suck the life out of that and now we have 3 on 3. They'll suck the life out of that. Everyone on the team wants to get to a coin flip for OT - better odds. Goalies will figure out how to make larger nets irrelevant. And the vast majority have the tools to do it already.

In short, goalies rule. Quit crying you cake eating pansies.

Uh, I'm okay with making the rinks bigger, too. International hockey is pretty damn entertaining on the wider pond. And it's not just on the goalies, there have been a number of rule changes to modify the speed and quality of the game. It just seems like if what the NHL (and fans) want is more goals, and for me some consistency with eras gone by, that the goal size is the simplest change that requires no ref re-training and few overall changes to the game outside of the fact that slightly more shots will end up in the net.

In short, goalies be scurrrrrred!

 

[elocomotive]

Ban goalies all together. The only time they are useful is for the extremely rare goalie fight and since fighting is on the way out, might as well take goalies with it when it goes.

So... this?

 

[esls79]

So... this?

View attachment 48810

Ah, the seldom seen shooter tutor in the bank.

/why does it have a cactus on its blocker?

 

[dash]

Ban goalies all together.

Even robot goalies?

 

[DragonfromTO]

So... this?

View attachment 48810

Or play posts.

That's actually something I always wondered about. When I was growing up, no goalie always meant posts. Then I went to college and whenever I saw shinny with no goalie (or had optional practice with no goalies dressing) they'd put the net down and shoot at the top. I've alqays wondered, was that difference a US/Canada thing or was there a point where posts universally gave way to flipping the net that just sort of coincided with when I moved?

 

[dash]

why does it have a cactus on its blocker?

Because all his defensemen have deserted him...

/nyuk nyuk nyuk

 

[Comeds]

Uh, I'm okay with making the rinks bigger, too. International hockey is pretty damn entertaining on the wider pond. And it's not just on the goalies, there have been a number of rule changes to modify the speed and quality of the game. It just seems like if what the NHL (and fans) want is more goals, and for me some consistency with eras gone by, that the goal size is the simplest change that requires no ref re-training and few overall changes to the game outside of the fact that slightly more shots will end up in the net.

In short, goalies be scurrrrrred!

I'd like a slightly bigger ice surface too, but I do not see that happening. In fact, I wouldn't mind seeing arenas have a choice of ice size. A little more home ice advantage. Naturally, not too much difference between minimum and maximum size, but some leeway.

Didnt Buffalo have the last odd sized surface in the mid 90s?

 

[puckhead]

its not just the pads ... its too much "draping" they say

View attachment 48714

I SAID "DRAPING" PARTRICK KANE!!!!

"You said 'drape' twice"

"I like drape"





/never did get to use that one in the Kane thread.