I find it bizarre that in this unprecedented era of awareness and enforcement of player safety in pro sports, that you're still allowed to slam into the goalie at full speed. At most, it's a 2 minute penalty if its severe, and usually its nothing at all. I played the position growing up so obviously I'm a little biased, but I just don't get how, in the same league where the open ice hit has essentially been outlawed, players can still blow up goalies at will.
I remember taking up this debate a year or two ago, and the argument against was "when has a goalie ever been injured from that?" Well there you go, it just happened, and removed arguably the best goalie in the world the past 6 months from the playoffs. I know in this case Kreider slipped and it appeared accidental. But this stuff happens all the time, we all see it.
I just find it interesting the double standard that occurs here, which IMO is all about putting as many goals on the board as possible, in the name of growing the game down south. The only "make the game better" off-season debate you hear regarding goalies is about making their gear smaller, or their net bigger. Nothing at all about protection, when that's become a vital league concern for every other position in the sport. If a goalie needs to get destroyed to get a U.S. eye-catching 6-5 game in the news, so be it.
/ biased former goalie rant
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