What's to stop backup goaltenders from stepping into a shootout with illegal equipment?

Some small thoughts at large:

We here at Sportsnet.ca occasionally suggest what we call New Rules (and yes we've been doing it long before Bill Maher and HBO came to Canada).

Our latest offering: no goalie switching for the shootout.

Now on a per-circumstance basis we don't have a problem with what Toronto Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson did when he replaced starting goalie Vesa Toskala with an ice-cold Curtis Joseph at the start of a shootout recently.

We're not overly perturbed with the idea of having a shootout specialist or with the question of who gets the win (rightly or wrongly) or even whether or not Wilson was grandstanding.

We do, however, advocate a no-switching rule for the simple reason that teams can get away with just about anything in the penalty-less extra session, including cheating.

Not to say that it's been done with goaltending equipment, but since switching illegal sticks for legal ones at certain times of the game is something of an art-form for shooters in the NHL today, what's to stop a goaltender from coming off the bench not with the equipment that was measured and certified prior to the start of the game, but with that little extra something that can make a difference at a point where a challenge can't be made?

Now I don't expect a goalie will slip some netting between his pads or anything like Tony Esposito was alleged to have done way back when, but is it outside the realm of consideration to think a netminder might have an equipment guy go back and get that "favourite" glove or blocker, the one that wasn't quite up to stuff at the start of the season when measurements were made?

Who's to determine whether the incoming goalie's stick is extra long or has a paddle that is just a shade wider than the league allows (after all, poke checking is less of an art and more of an advantage if the stick is longer than the rules allow)?

Is it even outside the realm of possibility that those old "slightly" wider or "slightly" longer pads might wrap around the legs of the backup as he exits the locker room for the start of the third period?

New rule: no goalie switch unless there is a legitimate injury to the goalie that has played the third period and/or the overtime. If a new goalie has to come in, there is no measurement before the shootout (so as not to delay the game) but if any of the equipment on the replacement goalie is found to be illegal in a post-game measurement, the goalie is suspended and his team loses the extra point.

I'd go for the team losing the two points, but that's a disservice to the fans and the cheater's teammates who worked hard under the rules to get to the shootout portion of the game.

Your comments are welcome.

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There were more than a few eyebrows raised when the San Jose Sharks went to the Detroit bench for a replacement for the dismissed Wilson.

After all, Todd McLellan wasn't exactly a household name in the San Jose area or in a lot of other markets in the NHL and the general perception was that it was dangerous to take an assistant coach and put him behind the bench of a franchise that is expected to win but never quite gets it done.

We say tip your hat to GM Doug Wilson.

As of this posting, the Sharks are atop the Western Conference standings, slightly ahead of the Red Wings in part because they are unbeaten at home (7-0-0), 8-2-0 in their last 10 and posted a 4-2 win over the visiting Red Wings last week.

True, the Red Wings were on the end of a long West Coast swing, but all teams have to play tired sometimes. The intriguing thing is that the Sharks are suddenly playing an awful lot like the Red Wings.

In fact Detroit coach Mike Babcock noted his team got "winged" in that game, a verbal tip of the hat to McLellan who has been at his side for several years and now has his Sharks playing a similar style.

The Sharks play a puck-control game, fire shots at the net from all over the ice and then charge the rebounds, knowing what would seem to be an obvious premise that you can't get a rebound goal if you don't put the puck on the net and then go in to get a rebound.

It's a tried and true formula and works well when you have the talent. The Sharks have had that for a few seasons now, but McLellan has tweaked their game a bit. "They did everything we do," Babcock noted. It's just that on that night they did it a little better than the Wings.

Scoring short-handed goals (11 so far) has also been a key to San Jose's success, along with improved play from veteran Patrick Marleau who seems to be energized by McLellan's presence or Wilson's absence, take your pick. Marleau is clicking on a line with Joe Thornton and Devin Setoguchi.

Setoguchi is largely unknown, but has 12 points to Marleau's team-leading 13 and is getting lots of room to work because other teams tend to concentrate on Thornton and Marleau. Setoguchi was the team's first pick in the 2005 Entry Draft, the eighth player taken overall.

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The NHL's new "say little or nothing" policy about injuries is having an unintended impact. Reporters in Minnesota have been told they can't talk -- about anything -- to any players who are injured.

That includes defenceman Brent Burns, whose name appears on the NHL All-Star ballot for the first time in his career but was not available to reporters to talk about it because he was recovering from a "lower body" injury and hence off limits to questions.

Nice.

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Things are on the verge of imploding in Dallas, where players have been openly critical of each other. But coach Dave Tippett is looking to heal the wounds.

Tippett is using some off time (a five-day break) for what amounts to a team retreat.

"We're in that mode," coach Dave Tippett told the Dallas Morning News when asked about chemistry repair issues. "There's a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes. There's a lot of work that's going on to try to get this thing going the right way."

It better get going that way fast. Tippett has been in and out of the good graces of management and ownership in recent seasons. This team is expected to do better and it falls on him to create the chemistry to make that happen.

Bet on him to get it done.