Bigger Nets

[PostandIn]

During the second intermission of last nights game, and in various other places throughout hockeydom, the talking heads had a discussion about making the nets bigger. Although I've been a traditionalist on this topic til now, I think the concept of maintaining a goalie to net ratio that is conducive to more goals would be an improvement to today's game.

For me the game is not as exciting as it used to be and massive goalies, bigger players and sophisticated defensive schemes all play a part in stifling offence. Three or four-way passing plays off the rush are almost extinct (excepting a handful of number one lines, i.e. Crosby, Benn, Toews). There seems to be as many goals bounced in off skates and legs as there is on two-on-ones or three-on-two's. We know that making the ice surface bigger is a non-starter, and defensive systems, line-matching, etc., cannot be legislated out of the game, so is making nets bigger a place where the NHL should go?

[heep223]

Originally Posted by PostandIn

During the second intermission of last nights game, and in various other places throughout hockeydom, the talking heads had a discussion about making the nets bigger. Although I've been a traditionalist on this topic til now, I think the concept of maintaining a goalie to net ratio that is conducive to more goals would be an improvement to today's game.

For me the game is not as exciting as it used to be and massive goalies, bigger players and sophisticated defensive schemes all play a part in stifling offence. Three or four-way passing plays off the rush are almost extinct (excepting a handful of number one lines, i.e. Crosby, Benn, Toews, Gaudreau). There seems to be as many goals bounced in off skates and legs as there is on two-on-ones or three-on-two's. We know that making the ice surface bigger is a non-starter, and defensive systems, line-matching, etc., cannot be legislated out of the game, so is making nets bigger a place where the NHL should go?

fyp

[CroFlames]

No.

[King Theo]

NO! Please No!

[CliffFletcher]

I think it is. When you dramatically increase the size of goalies, dramatically increase the size of their equipment, and dramatically increase their training and skill, you're effectively reducing the size of the net. Even with the increased power and skill of players, and composite sticks, scoring is going relentlessly down.

Hockey is entertainment. Scoring off the rush and from passing plays is far more entertaining than garbage goals, rebounds, and tipped point shots. I don't want hockey to become a 2-1 sport. And before people chime in with reducto absurdum claims that about 7-5 games, the proposals out there are about tweaking the game, not radically remaking it.

[Flash Walken]

I have never understood this concept of increasing the net size because goalies are twice as big as they used to be.

Just restrict goalie equipment to get the same dimensions.

It's just ass backward thinking. Are goalies being hurt by shots? Besides a goalie taking a puck in the neck, have we had any injuries in the last 20 years to goalies from shots?

If no, why on earth is the padding so big?

[Jacks]

I'd rather they went back to normal sized goalie pads instead.

[troutman]

1980s equipment:

[1qqaaz]

I agree that it would be nice if goal scoring increased. I think the NHL is in need of a bit more star power. Markets like Arizona would probably appreciate more offense.

Do large pad sizes result in fewer goalie injuries?

[CroFlames]

I feel like I coulda been a star player in the NHL in the 80s.

[Flash Walken]

Can you imagine Hiller wearing Billy Smith's pads?

LOL

[RM14]

Reduce goalie equipment, get rid of the cheater on the glove. 4 x 6 should never change.

[Iveman]

I feel that increasing net sizes would increase scoring for only a short time. Goalies would change play style and become bigger, players and tactics would change and scoring would come back down. In the long run it would solve nothing.imo of course.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by RM14

Reduce goalie equipment, get rid of the cheater on the glove. 4 x 6 should never change.

I believe the league would if it could but the players union has to agree and goaltenders are always going to claim it's a safety thing even if we all know they are using oversize equipment to stop pucks. They will just claim the players are shooting the puck harder, going to the net harder, etc. Making the nets slightly larger is likely the only thing that can be done here.

[RM14]

Goalies will just keep increasing their equipment. Maybe pick up some Lacrosse chest pads.

Spoiler!

[Benched]

I feel at some point we're just going to plop sumo wrestlers down in front of the net and cover the full thing. Goalies are sooooo huge now. Maybe the net should be bigger if the average goalie size is larger.

But I'm also for reducing equipment size. Maybe not as drastically as it looks like in the 80s, but I'm sure there is a happy medium.

Definitely something that needs to be looked at.

[flylock shox]

I'd be interested to see the numbers over a few dozen games if nets were increased in size by 1 inch in every direction (i.e. elevate the crossbar an inch and widen the goal by 2 inches.

It would be an almost invisible change, and one goalies shouldn't have a hard time adapting to, but it would also mean that every shot that hits the post today would be a goal in future. As tiny a change as it might be I could see it increasing goals by about .5 per game.

I don't want to see anything dramatic though, like bowed posts or a net that's a foot wider or something.

If I really had my druthers though, I'd expand the rink by 2 feet in every direction to improve flow and scoring opportunities, and would leave the nets alone. Great passing plays and skills are more exciting than goals, and the league is pretty stifled by the small ice surface.

[CroFlames]

If people want scoring so badly, why not just remove goalies and make the nets twice as big? Remove offside too.

[PostandIn]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I believe the league would if it could but the players union has to agree and goaltenders are always going to claim it's a safety thing even if we all know they are using oversize equipment to stop pucks. They will just claim the players are shooting the puck harder, going to the net harder, etc. Making the nets slightly larger is likely the only thing that can be done here.

Agreed. The goalie safety thing is a ruse. There is probably no one today firing the puck harder than Bobby Hull did in 1961.

[Drak]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

If people want scoring so badly, why not just remove goalies and make the nets twice as big? Remove offside too.

Then replace the ice with a court, and the puck with a large bouncy ball.