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Goal scoring in the NHL (5.41 goals per game through the first month as of Thursday) and it seems everybody has an opinion on why it's down and what can be done to reverse that trend.Perhaps the biggest reason for the dip in scoring is the current state of goaltending in the NHL which is better than it's ever been before. Just about every team in the league has a quality starter, while the position receives far more individual coaching than it did it in the past. The style of play is more efficient, and the position is not only played by people with remarkable athleticism, but by people that are also bigger than anybody that's ever played the position in the history NHL.The most common suggestion for boosting scoring and countering the improved play of goaltending in the league: Just make the net bigger.That's what coach Mike Babcock suggested on Wednesday (and it's not the first time he's suggested Tre Jones Jersey it) when asked about the video review proce s and the taking away of goals on goalie interference calls. From there, Babcock used that as a reason to get into . "Its impo sible to score," Babcock said. "All you gotta do is a math equation. You go to 1980 when the puck went in the net. You get the average size of the goalies in the NHL and the average size of the net. You keep growing the net bigger, that would make the game the same. We change the game every year because we dont want to change the game. The nets too small for the size of the goalies. Period. We can talk all we want, we still get quality, quality chances every night, the goals don't go in. The goalies are too good for the size of the net."When asked a follow-up question about wanting to see a standard for what goalie intereference is, he responded with this:"It is defined. You're not allowed to bump them. But how do you score if you don't bump them? We can do two-on-one drills in practice until the cows come home but the puck doesn't go in the net. Why? Because they're big, and they're square, and they're good." You .The goalie and net discu sion starts about two minutes in.He's not wrong on any of that, especially when it comes to the size of the goalies.The size of goalie is often cited as a reason for the improved play at the position and the drop in scoring (and that is certainly a part of it), but it's not just the equipment that is getting bigger. It's the goalies themselves. They're not just better players wearing bigger padding. They're players. And it's not just guys like Tampa Bay's Ben Bishop (6-7, 217 pounds), Arizona's Anders Lindback (6'6, 215), or Nashville's Pekka Rinne (6-5, 204) at the extreme end of the spectrum. It's everybody that plays the position.So far this season half of the goalies that have appeared in an NHL goal (32 out of 65) are 6-2 and 200 pounds. That is by far the highest percentage in league history.Compare that to the 1990-91 season (average goals per game in the NHL: 6.92) when only three of the 77 goalies (that is just over 3 percent) to appear in a game fit into that size range.Just look at how much it's increased in the years between (data via NHL.com).In 1983-84, there was only one goalie that fit into that size range ( goalie Tom Barra so). LaMarcus Aldridge Jersey |
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