Quote:
Originally Posted by MattyC
As a few of us have pointed out, smaller does not necessarily equate to less protection. These guys could be wearing form fitted kevlar plates that barely take up more room than their naked bodied would and be perfectly protected. Now no body is advocating that extreme but you can see the point.
Are you telling me that the cuff part of this glove couldnt be curved to form fit the wrist more while providing the same protection?
or that pads that extend almost to a players waistline can't be made shorter and the protection supplemented by a knee cap that protects an exposed area when a goalie goes down? Roberto Luongo is not 4 feet wide, why does his chest protector have to be? |
Don't get me wrong, all of these things could be changed. And maybe no injuries happen. Goals will go up for sure. But my point is that the better goalies in the league will adapt.
I'm not arguing from a goalies point a view now, but just based on what I have seen since the lock out. If we went and changed pad sizes tomorrow. Yes goalies would struggle right out of the gates. And maybe the older guys would struggle the rest of their careers.
But what about the guys who come into the league in the next couple years? They will get used to that new smaller form fitting gear and they will put up good numbers once again.
My point is, you can change the gear as much as you want, but its not going to change the game in any long term way. If anything it'll hurt the game. If the size reduction causes current goalies to be giving up a lot more goals, then coaches are going to switch from offensive hockey to boring defense styles.
The best goalies are going to continue to be the best goalies no matter what you do. Look at Brodeur for example. Now look at Giguere. One of them continues to excel and has always had small gear. The other is now only a back up goalie.
Did exposing Giguere as a fraud really make the game better? And when you look at his numbers, since his giant anaheim days...they didnt change all that much.
As a note on the cuff of the glove your talking about...changing that will only hurt us beer leaguers. An NHL goalie is not relying on that part to make a glove save. If he has to make a freak save and flails and it hits that cuff, so be it. How often does that actually happen. Your talking about changing a peice of equipment which will result in just a few more goals going in a year.
Any goalie who is angled right, positioned right, has their glove where its supposed to be, will catch that puck. Not take it off the wrist.