In Search of More Goals
Posted 6:14 PM ET | Comments 0
It's obvious at this point how the NHL views its profits - more goals = more fans = more money. Changes dating back to the 2004-05 lockout have largely entailed an eye for more scoring. Whether right or wrong, the game we all know and love is inevitably destined to continuously evolve into a more offensively oriented outing. It would be futile to argue against this ongoing adjustment, so I would implore hockey diehards to instead think of better ways to reach the intended goals (pun may or may not have been intended).
In my personal opinion, I think making goalie equipment smaller is something of a cop out. It's like saying, "we can't beat goalies, so we're going to make them worse." In reality, over the history of the NHL the goaltending position has seen the most change and advancement from a personal, skill based perspective. Goalies move better than ever before, track the puck better than ever before, and read the play better than ever before. Conversely, recent advancements in goal scoring are limited to better stick technology. More flexible yet sturdy sticks allow more torque and consequently faster shots.
While strength training is significantly better for the modern goal scorers, the same holds true for goaltenders. I don't believe the actual skill of goal scorers has improved at the same rate as the skill of goalkeepers. Take, for example, the extremely limited number of NHL hockey players (the world's best) who can't take a strong backhand shot. It's almost as rare as a hip check in the modern era. I'm not talking about shelfing a deke on your backhand - a peewee can do that. I'm talking about a backhand from the hashmarks that can beat a goalie clean. Patrick Kane and Sidney Crosby can do that, but the list is extremely limited and doesn't include any of the supposed best goal scorers in the league, such as Ovechkin and Stamkos. Kane and Crosby themselves are more often thought of as playmakers than snipers.
So while shrinking goalie gear may be the simple solution, it's not necessarily a just adjustment. Ultimately, I believe goalies will adapt after a single season of higher goal scoring and within three seasons we'll be right back where we are. That's the exact result from when they shrunk leg pads to 11", and glove and blocker size as well. League officials were happy to have more goals, but before they knew it we were right back to where we started. So now, they are looking at more "out of the box" options, namely making nets bigger. This change, however, will completely change the way the game is played. Professional goaltenders rely on muscle memory and familiarity to fulfill their roles. Now you increase the size of their net, and those movements they've been drilling for decades no longer take them where they need to be. It would undoubtedly increase scoring, but it would also forever change the game and invalidate any records currently held. In that sense, it wouldn't be a new NHL, but a new game.
Yet there are still possibilities to increase scoring without changing the fabric of the game. I implore hockey fans and league officials to think creatively, in the hopes that a series of minor adjustments could yield a more successful and more pure result. I believe that such an adjustment would include changing the home and away team benches. Everyone knows the second period is more likely to result in scoring chances as teams are forced to adjust to the dreaded "long change". Imagine playing two of three periods this way, instead of the other way around.
I believe that the key to evolving the game without changing it drastically lies in these tactical changes. There has been success in increasing the size of offensive zones, or giving players more room behind the net - changes that go hardly unnoticed when it comes to how the game is played.
Thanks for reading, and please share your opinion on the subject. What are your thoughts on making similar adjustments, as opposed to more drastic changes such as bigger nets? What are some other changes that could produce more offense without changing the fabric of the game?
In my personal opinion, I think making goalie equipment smaller is something of a cop out. It's like saying, "we can't beat goalies, so we're going to make them worse." In reality, over the history of the NHL the goaltending position has seen the most change and advancement from a personal, skill based perspective. Goalies move better than ever before, track the puck better than ever before, and read the play better than ever before. Conversely, recent advancements in goal scoring are limited to better stick technology. More flexible yet sturdy sticks allow more torque and consequently faster shots.
While strength training is significantly better for the modern goal scorers, the same holds true for goaltenders. I don't believe the actual skill of goal scorers has improved at the same rate as the skill of goalkeepers. Take, for example, the extremely limited number of NHL hockey players (the world's best) who can't take a strong backhand shot. It's almost as rare as a hip check in the modern era. I'm not talking about shelfing a deke on your backhand - a peewee can do that. I'm talking about a backhand from the hashmarks that can beat a goalie clean. Patrick Kane and Sidney Crosby can do that, but the list is extremely limited and doesn't include any of the supposed best goal scorers in the league, such as Ovechkin and Stamkos. Kane and Crosby themselves are more often thought of as playmakers than snipers.
So while shrinking goalie gear may be the simple solution, it's not necessarily a just adjustment. Ultimately, I believe goalies will adapt after a single season of higher goal scoring and within three seasons we'll be right back where we are. That's the exact result from when they shrunk leg pads to 11", and glove and blocker size as well. League officials were happy to have more goals, but before they knew it we were right back to where we started. So now, they are looking at more "out of the box" options, namely making nets bigger. This change, however, will completely change the way the game is played. Professional goaltenders rely on muscle memory and familiarity to fulfill their roles. Now you increase the size of their net, and those movements they've been drilling for decades no longer take them where they need to be. It would undoubtedly increase scoring, but it would also forever change the game and invalidate any records currently held. In that sense, it wouldn't be a new NHL, but a new game.
Yet there are still possibilities to increase scoring without changing the fabric of the game. I implore hockey fans and league officials to think creatively, in the hopes that a series of minor adjustments could yield a more successful and more pure result. I believe that such an adjustment would include changing the home and away team benches. Everyone knows the second period is more likely to result in scoring chances as teams are forced to adjust to the dreaded "long change". Imagine playing two of three periods this way, instead of the other way around.
I believe that the key to evolving the game without changing it drastically lies in these tactical changes. There has been success in increasing the size of offensive zones, or giving players more room behind the net - changes that go hardly unnoticed when it comes to how the game is played.
Thanks for reading, and please share your opinion on the subject. What are your thoughts on making similar adjustments, as opposed to more drastic changes such as bigger nets? What are some other changes that could produce more offense without changing the fabric of the game?