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NAPLES, FLA. — Bulky goaltender equipment is today's version of obstruction – every year the NHL talks about fixing the problem, but nothing ever changes.
“Everybody is tired of the conversation,” Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said Tuesday. “We've got to shrink the goalies.”
The latest effort is being made at the GMs' winter meetings. Tuesday, a small group of GMs put some suggestions in front of their peers. New York Islanders GM Garth Snow, a former goaltender who always figured prominently in previous discussions about cheating, and Dallas Stars interim co-GM Brett Hull, a shooter of note during his playing days, made lengthy presentations.
The league wants to discuss its plans with the National Hockey League Players' Association and then form a committee of GMs, plus current and former goaltenders and other players, to discuss the options in the summer. Then it will go to the league's competition committee, which is up for a reorganization.
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This sounds like a rather lame response to something every GM questioned Tuesday said was a hot issue, but a few of them came out of the meeting talking tough.
Hull aimed his guns at his former union brothers. He thinks the NHLPA is not interested in modifying the goaltenders' equipment or cracking down on cheaters.
“That's a huge problem,” he said. “They have to get on board with us. I'd like to know why they don't. Are we here for the good of the game or what?”
However, Paul Kelly, the executive director of the NHLPA, said the players are willing to consider some changes. He just didn't sound like someone eager to do anything radical.
“The majority of players favour some modest modification of goalie equipment size – pants and chest protectors in particular – so long as the changes are made with input and guidance from a committee of current NHL goalies, and without compromising the safety of our netminders,” he said.
Actually, according to the GMs, the issue is not so much the size of the equipment, because limits were introduced after the 2004-05 lockout. Rather, the focus should be on the measures goaltenders take to get around them. They also insisted no changes would be made that compromise the goaltenders' safety.
“If we felt everybody was complying right now, it wouldn't have been a topic of discussion,” Minnesota Wild GM Doug Risebrough said. “It's obvious there is some leakage. There are some guys that are finding ways to get around it. There are some culprits.”
The latest controversy erupted in Vancouver two weeks ago when Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo was told to remove two flaps from his goal pads. This came a month after Stars goaltenders Marty Turco and Mike Smith mockingly wore outsized cardboard flaps on their pads during a pregame warm-up in Vancouver to draw attention to Luongo.
According to Canucks GM Dave Nonis, Luongo's flaps were not illegal, but he wore them too loosely. The flaps are meant to protect the inside of a goaltender's legs but the league felt Luongo wrapped his pad straps around them in a manner that flared them out so they filled up the space between his legs. Nonis said the league told Luongo he could put them back on, but only if he kept them tight.
The GMs want to crack down on these kinds of modifications, as well as lower the current height of pads and shrink the pants and chest pads. If they can't, Holland said, there could be dire consequences to make sure enough goals are scored to keep the game entertaining.
“We're serious,” Holland said. “If we can't get this right, then we have to sit down and look at the alternatives. And, obviously, bigger nets is one of the alternatives. That's something I don't really think anybody wants to do. Our hope is to get the goalie equipment right.”
So notice was issued to cheaters Tuesday, starting with the flap of the same name that some goaltenders put on their gloves.
“I mean, one piece of goalie equipment is called the cheater,” NHL director of hockey operations Colin Campbell said. “What do you need to say? It's called a cheater.”
Campbell also said teams have to know there will be consequences if anyone is caught with illegal equipment no matter where they are in the season. No one has ever been suspended, as far as anyone knows, or even fined for violations – yet.
“We need to be able to come in in the second round [of the playoffs], Game 3, and say: ‘He's doing this. He's got to sit,'” Campbell said.
