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By Goalie
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Noeller Grand Master

Noeller

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Amd think of how much better it would be of rosters were smaller and only the best of the best were in the NHL. Less yes and smaller sched is only smart.

17to85 Grand Master

17to85

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Immediately after they expanded however long ago that was your argument made sense, there were a lot more crappy players around, but that's been offset by development around the world. These days every one in the NHL can at very least skate at a high level. The days for the big slow defenseman are over. If a D can't skate he won't play in the NHL because he's not good enough. A forward who can't skate doesn't have much of a career. The skill level is just so high compared to what it was in the past. There will always be a gap between the best players and the worst players, but it's not as wide as it used to be. 

 

That's one of the reasons scoring is down. There are less mismatches to be found on the ice. 

Brandon Grand Master

Brandon

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Watch espn classics the sheer difference in basic skills like skating is night and day different.

Its funny watching guys like Bourque, Sakic just skating circles around all the mediocre guys.

Cutting a couple of teams would increase the talent pool a small bit. Bit even watching last night O'Dell didn't look completely out of place.

Mr Dee Newbie

Mr Dee

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If you're going to bring up goaltenders, you have to bring up their equipment too.

There are many reasons why goal scoring is down. Goalies are better at what they do and are bigger and trained more, but the size of their equipment, including sweaters, makes the difference noticeable and has to contribute to less scoring in some part.

sweep the leg Enthusiast

sweep the leg

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If you're going to bring up goaltenders, you have to bring up their equipment too.

There are many reasons why goal scoring is down. Goalies are better at what they do and are bigger and trained more, but the size of their equipment, including sweaters, makes the difference noticeable and has to contribute to less scoring in some part.

Sure their equipment helps. Shooters also have composite sticks now compared to the logs they used to carry.

 

Goalie equipment was out of control for awhile, but they've scaled it back a lot in the past few years.

Mark F Grand Master

Mark F

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Watching old highlights of goalies falling backwards after slapshots from the top of the circle beat them are pretty funny. Shows how far goaltending has come. Most of today's goalies are big guys too. The days of guys like Darren Pang are over.

 

 

but but but

 

 that was only after a cannonading drive.

Noeller Grand Master

Noeller

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I think a lot of people are missing my original point. It's not a question of whether players are better than before...that's obvious. Obviously 4th liners now aren't as plug-y as they used to be. But the point is, "imagine how much better the rosters would be, top to bottom" if there were less teams and less players needed. I mean, it'd be like Olympics all the time, almost. If you had only the best of the best players going?? How is that not a good thing?

17to85 Grand Master

17to85

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I dunno that contracting teams really does much, a shorter schedule would absolutely improve the quality of play though. 82 games plus playoffs is too much. No time for players to recover between games and not a lot of practise time throughout the season. 

Goalie Grand Master

Goalie

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Teams are also playing a way more defensive based system now. That's a huge difference too, Back in the Day, it was basically score score score score score and no D, now a days you see a lot more 2-1 3-2 etc type of games because teams are concentrating more on defense now. Goalies are also better, people can talk about the equipment all they want but.. these guys can shoot the puck over 100 miles per hour for gods sake, you need that equipment on and even with it on if it hits you in a specific spot, it stings like crazy. I remember playing a few years ago in a tournament, 16 year old kid took a shot from the point, went down, between the shorts and the top of the pad, when you go down theres a spot that gets exposed a bit, upper leg really, above the knee but not really too far above it, hit me in that spot, went down like i was shot , finished the game in pain, took the equipment off after and i had a bruise the size of a golf ball there, from a 16 year old. Hit me in the soft spot really is what i called it. No protection there. Couldn't imagine if that was a PRO doing that. 

 

Defense tho and goaltenders just being better, they are more advanced now, positionally stronger than they were in the past even, makes a huge difference. 

 

Personally, i like the 2-1 games more than the 6-5 games. The best game of the Jets season, one could argue it was their most recent game against st Louis, what a game really, hitting, chances at both ends, outstanding game. 1-1 through regulation and OT.  Great game tho. 

 

Players have evolved, D men are bigger, they are better, forwards are better, not neccesarily bigger tho, goaltenders are indeed bigger and are much much better, 6'3 goalies plus are the norm these days, back in the day, were there any goalies even 6'3? 

johnzo Veteran

johnzo

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Watching old highlights of goalies falling backwards after slapshots from the top of the circle beat them are pretty funny. Shows how far goaltending has come. Most of today's goalies are big guys too. The days of guys like Darren Pang are over.

I miss the smaller acrobatic goaltenders -- guys like Grant Fuhr or Billy Smith who made the position exciting to watch. Today it's all huge butterfly-style puck absorbers who always make the first save.

I grew up in the era of ten-goal games where a good goalie would be slightly under 3.00GAA and .900SV%. To me, a come-from-behind 5-4 game is the perfect hockey game. Jesus Christ, I'm old.

While we're fixing the NHL and talking about impossible things, let's make the ice a bit wider. Players are so much bigger now, let's expand the ice to match and open things up a bit.

iso_55 Newbie

iso_55

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I saw a game from about 1982 on tv earlier this week. Watched it for about 10 minutes.

The Rangers were playing & Glen Hanlon was in goal. I always thought he was a pretty decent goalie back in the day but he looked terribly slow on one goal. I forget who the Rangers were playing but they came in on a 3 on 2. Tick, tack, toe they scored. Defense out of position.

Hanlon had to get from the left side of his crease to the right basically throwing himself in front of the shot. Today's game the goalie would have had reflexes like a cat, anticipate, fly across & stack the pads with at least a chance to make the save. We've all seen it before how it's done. However, Hanlon came across on his left knee & left a big hole between his right & left leg where the shooter put the puck for  the goal.

You'd just never see that kind of sloppy play from any goalie in the NHL today. I was wondering what he was doing as he looked terrible. He really never left his feet. Just threw out his rt pad hoping for the best while sliding across on his knees. No wonder there were 60 goal scorers back then. And Gretzky was scoring 200 points plus.

When Gary "Suitcase" Smith & Pierre Hamel were our starting goalies you can see why the Jets struggled for a few years in net. But I will say, the goalie equipment was MUCH smaller than today. You can really see the difference. And the hockey helmets the goalies wore with the cages back then couldn't have been very safe. 

  • 3 weeks later...

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