The NHL has become the fashion police — and goaltenders are at the top of its most-wanted list.
The league has told all teams their goalies must begin wearing a new style of pants beginning with Saturday’s games.
This wasn’t done to impress the judges on an episode of Project Runway. Instead, it’s the latest in the league’s attempt to increase scoring while making minimal changes to the game — and so that means shrinking goaltender equipment. Or to hear goaltenders explain, it’s the latest futile attempt at making them the scapegoats. Just ask Hawks goaltenders Scott Darling and Corey Crawford.
“I think it’s a waste of time and money,” Darling said. “But whatever the league feels they need to do.”
But nonetheless both Darling and Crawford have worked the pants into their game day and practice routines. Darling “begrudgingly” put them on for the Hawks’ morning skate prior to their 3-1 loss to the Sharks Tuesday night while Crawford wore them in the all-star game and a recent loss to the Capitals.
The main difference is that the new pants are contoured more to the goaltender’s body and don’t flare out as much — think of a custom-tailored suit as opposed to one you would buy off the rack. The league took all goaltenders’ measurements and each has the option of picking a manufacturer for the new pants.
“They’re just tighter to your leg so they’re not as wide. They’re tighter to your waist,” Darling said. “It’s not just small, medium, large anymore. There’s like 10 sizes.”
Darling said the untrained eye won’t detect much of a difference, but they do appear thinner from behind and they enlarge the gap between the legs, especially when goaltenders drop to one or both knees.
“You just have to get used to it and squeeze a little bit harder when you go down,” Darling said.
But possibly the largest problem is that the inner thigh is left unpadded and could take the brunt of a shot.
“Hopefully we can do something where we’re completely covered and not exposed,” Crawford said.
Darling said goaltenders are not allowed to add padding on their own in that area and any changes would have to come from the league, leaving him and other open to a bruising. All that’s there is a simple piece of cloth without any protection underneath.
“It’s not ideal . . . but there’s nothing I can do about it,” Darling said.
There’s also nothing that goaltenders can do to stop the league’s effort to increase scoring — with the thinking being that more goals means more interest in the game. While several of the goaltenders at last weekend’s all-star game said they would adjust to the pants, potential plans for the league to make changes to chest protectors could prove more difficult and more of a burden on goaltenders.
“It’s a more finicky piece of equipment,” Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk said. “There’s more moving parts. It’s tougher to figure out how it’s worn and how it fits on certain guys. I’m sure they’ll be looking into that for next year.”
Added the Capitals’ Braden Holtby: “I don’t know if there’s ever going to be a way to make a standardized one. . . . I don’t think you go into a locker room with all the goalies in the NHL and anyone would have the same one. It’s a lot tougher.”
But in the end, goaltenders adjust to their surroundings. Shrink their equipment, widen the nets and ultimately they will find a way to make it work. Recently, Crawford became philosophical when discussing the changes and said if the league really wanted to increase scoring it should improve ice conditions across the league instead of shrinking goalie equipment.
“The game is so fast. Players are so good. Sticks keep getting better, shots keep getting harder and quicker, coming off the stick quicker. There’s only so much a goalie can do to stop some of those plays,” Crawford said. “If the ice is good and it’s not bouncing around. . . and top players have their head up and don’t have to worry about where the puck’s going to be.
“It’s a massive difference between battling with the puck and making sure it’s going to be on the ice and just playing.”
That includes the United Center, which Crawford said “used to be really bad” but now is in the “top one-third of the league” when it comes to ice quality. Although Canucks goaltender Ryan Miller recently called it the worst he has played on.
Crawford said improving the ice can be an expensive undertaking, so the league took the path of least resistance — and money — and altered equipment. It’s a theory other goaltenders share.
“I’m glad he said that,” Dubnyk said. “As goalies it is very frustrating. It just seems like if they want more scoring they just come at us and (imply) the only reason we stop the puck is because we have big gear on and they need to chop it down . . . You look at some teams who are extremely skilled teams and sometimes they just have to flip the puck around because the ice isn’t great. I’d rather them work on the ice than work on my pants and my chest pad.”
But griping isn’t going to change the league’s mind and future changes are likely down the road. All they can do now is put on their (smaller) big boy pants and play.
The Toronto Star and thestar.com, each property of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, One Yonge Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5E 1E6. You can unsubscribe at any time. Please contact us or see our privacy policy for more information.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
