It seems like such a long time ago now, but back in the 1992-93 season 14 players scored 50 or more goals and 21 players had 100 or more points. In the past two seasons, there have only been two players score 50 or more goals -- Jarome Iginla in 2001-02 and Milan Hejduk last season. Red lights shown brightly -- and offense once was king. Now, however, goaltenders rule and offensive players are trapped by defensive systems. But, in the end, as I've said so many times before, it all comes down to goaltending in hockey. You can't win a thing without great goaltending, in fact.
In using that same 1992-93 season we referred to earlier, there were two more-than-25-game goalies who finished with a goals-against average of lower than 3.00 -- Felix Potvin at 2.50 and Ed Belfour at 2.90. Having a goals-aganst average in the low three's was superb then. Last season, Marty Turco finished with a 1.72 average, Roman Cechmanek was 1.83 and Dwayne Roloson 2.00 and countless others were in the low two's.
Superbly protected by new equipment and carefully developed by goalie coaches, goaltenders have become the great neutralizer in hockey. For the record, goal-scoring has remained static over the past three years from 5.5 a game in 2000-2001 to 5.2 in 2001-2002 to 5.3 goals a game this past season. But criticism of the game's aesthetics has reached a crescendo -- and goaltending has taken center stage from those critics once again. While many critics have cited the defense-first, Anaheim-New Jersey Stanley Cup Final as an example that changes have to be made. One thing is crystal clear:
|
|
Opposing forwards rarely find a lot of room between Mighty Ducks goaltender J.S. Giguere's legs.
|
Wayne Gretzky, who scored 50 or more goals nine times and had more than 100 points 14 times, including four 200-point seasons, doesn't bristle at the game's lack of offense like you might think. But the current co-owner of the Phoenix Coyotes led a group of league executives who were looking to open up the game a little earlier this summer with a suggestion to crack down on the size of goaltender's equipment.
"They can call all the hooking and holding and interference they want, but that's not opening up the game," Gretzky told us at the league meetings at Nashville in June. "I thought the playoffs featured some pretty good hockey, but the goaltenders still dominated. It became clear that nobody comes back from a 3-0 or 2-0 lead any more. The game's over."
Pittsburgh owner-player Mario Lemieux took it a step further when he said, "When you come in on a goalie now, all you see is the pipes -- no holes."
In the past, League officials have conducted cursory checks on goalie equipment -- from the size of a goaltender's jersey to the width of pads and add-ons to those pads. But that was usually just at the start of the season and before the playoffs -- and the netminders were ready for those spot-checks.
Now, however, League officials say there will be crackdowns and fines of up to $25,000 for teams caught with illegal equipment. No longer will goalies be allowed to wear pads wider than 12 inches and longer than 38 inches.
|
|
Ottawa Senators goaltender Patrick Lalime is another proponent of the "butterfly" style that takes away the low portion of the net.
|
"We had a lot of guys who were wearing 42-inch pads (insiders suggest at least one-third of the goalies wore pads at least 42 inches) and even some bigger ones," says NHL Vice President of Hockey Operations Mike Murphy, who wouldn't confirm or deny that New York Islanders goalie Garth Snow was caught using 47-inch pads in practice last season.
Much was made of the pads used by Jean-Sebastien Giguere in taking the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim to the Stanley Cup Finals and that the fact that Quebec-trained goaltenders all made it to the NHL's Final Four. Giguere, Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils, Minnesota's Manny Fernandez and Ottawa's Patrick Lalime all use a form of the butterfly style of going down to the ice and basically eliminating the 5-hole between the pads, thereby taking away almost the entire bottom half of the net from shooters to find an opening.
Count ESPN hockey analyst and former NHL goalie Darren Pang among those who believe the equipment worn by Giguere is on the big side.
"I have had so many people tell me, 'There is no way his equipment is legal,''' the diminutive Pang told me at the Finals. ''I remember seeing his backup (Martin Gerber) in warmups one night and thinking, 'I could have been in those pants while he was out there and he'd never know it.' A crackdown is definitely warranted.''
Brodeur, who led the Devils over Giguere's Mighty Ducks for the Stanley Cup, told Le Journal de Montreal recently, said that complaints by his goaltending brethren that restrictions to the size of the equipment -- and more precisely many flaps used as add-ons by goalies -- leave them vulnerable to injuries is not true.
|
|
After a year of rest, Red Wings goalie Dominik Hasek returns to the NHL for a new season, and new rules regarding the size of goaltender equipment.
|
"The limit for the height of goaltender's pads is 38 inches, so?" said Brodeur, a three-time Cup winner. "Mine have always been 34 inches and that's enough. I've always preferred less bulky equipment so I could move around easier. Certain goaltenders have really gone too far in the last few years and I can understand why the League wants to stop it.
"I have to point out that I don't use the butterfly style, unlike most Quebec goaltenders. With plastic foils attached to their pads, butterfly goalies could completely close the space between their legs. I can understand why forwards complained they can't score when they shoot for the 5-hole. Jean-Sebastien Giguere was the target of such complaints last year."
It should be pointed out that the Mighty Ducks claim that Giguere's pads were 36 inches long, while Gerber's were 38. But that's for League officials to find out.
"Those flaps (or foam protective guards above the pads) could be used to completely close the 5-hole and can no longer be worn outside, where they can flop around and stop pucks,'' says St. Louis Blues goalie Chris Osgood, who along with Brodeur, Detroit's Dominik Hasek and Toronto's Ed Belfour are the only remaining active goalies who have won a Stanley Cup. ''At one time goaltender's equipment was for protection, now, it seems, like most goalies use it just to stop pucks.
"I was brought up using my stick to help close the 5-hole. Now, some goalies wave their sticks around in the air and a goalie like Dominik Hasek often just tosses his stick aside because their pads are so big. All I know is I've already seen a lot of shots squirting through the 5-hole of a lot of goalies in the preseason."
We've noticed the same vulnerability by butterfly-style goalies: A weakness through their previously-impenetrable 5-hole.
|
|
Toronto's Ed Belfour, St. Louis' Chris Osgood, Detroit's Dominik Hasek and New Jersey's Martin Brodeur
are the only remaining active goalies who have won a Stanley Cup.
|
NHL VP Colin Campbell, who will supervise most of the spot-checking, says no goaltender has ever been fined for using illegal equipment. But he promises the League will do a better job of measuring goaltender's equipment.
Campbell says snap inspections will be conducted in places where teams don't expect to be check to make this crackdown work.
"We're going to make it work this time," Campbell says. "It's going to be costly to do. The goalies may not like it. And their agents and lawyers may not like it. But we're doing this for the good of the game.''
The days of watching ESPN Classic and seeing the likes of Billy Smith and Grant Fuhr setting the pace of the game's championship teams playing with those skimpy pads are over. And while pads and jerseys and shoulder pads and all parts of goaltender's equipment increasing, the fact remains that goaltending has become a science.
Goaltenders are much bigger today -- and they are more athletic, for the most part. Much bigger, much quicker. So, while we will see a few more goals squirting through goalie's pads, 50-goal scorers and 100-point players will likely never revert to 1992-93 totals.
But, there will be a few more goals scored this season ... perhaps restoring the evolutionary balance between the shooters and their prey.
Larry Wigge has covered all things NHL since 1969. He is a frequent contributor to NHL.com.
