As more and more goalies begin to ‘fess up and admit that there is room to scale back the size of their equipment, retired goalie Grant Fuhr might just have the answer.
“The lighter it is the bigger they’re going to wear it. All they have to do is put some weight back in it and guys will shrink it on their own,” Fuhr said this week. “You put some weight back into the equipment? It’ll shrink all by itself.”
So, let’s extrapolate on Fuhr’s theory:
What if they layered more protective material inside chest protectors, gloves and pants — even if it weighed slightly more than materials used today — and then took away some of the sheer mass goalies have come to prefer? Police vests don’t make officers look like the Michelin Man, but they stop a bullet. Can’t we do likewise with goalies?
The new goalie pads out today weigh nine pounds — that’s 4.5 pounds per leg pad. And, as Oilers goalie Anders Nilsson told me on Friday, they could take “an inch to an inch and a half” off the width of the current 11-inch leg pads with no safety concerns whatsoever.
With equipment that light, how is it that goalies’ chest protectors got so big?
“I wouldn’t say (goalies have been) cheating,” Fuhr said. “You’re taking advantage of what they’ve allowed you to take advantage of. If it’s going to make you better, obviously you’re going to take advantage of it.”
The debate centres around two things: the size of the goalie underneath all that gear has increased markedly from Fuhr’s day (Nilsson is 6-foot-5); and, with shots being harder, the goalies union claims they need all that protection to avoid injury. Personally, we think they’re fibbing on that one.
Fuhr, who stood about 5-foot-10, played 19 seasons, won 553 games (playoffs included), and had five Stanley Cup rings when they inducted him into the Hall of Fame. He claims he never once missed a game because of an injury suffered by being struck by a puck, despite the fact his gear was far, far less protective than what is worn today.
“As a goalie, there should be a little pain involved. (Bruises) just went with the job. You don’t see goalies with those bruises now,” said Fuhr, who made the obvious leap to the new, composite sticks. “It’s not so much that they shoot it harder now. It’s that more guys shoot it better. I don’t think anyone in the league shoots it harder today than Al MacInnis did.”
Good point.
Al Iafrate won the Hardest Shot competition at the 1993 All-Star game with a wooden stick, at a speed of 105.2 mph, while MacInnis twice topped 100 mph to win the competition. Zdeno Chara owns that All-Star contest now, but has only bettered Iafrate’s mark in the past three years, mostly by a fraction of an mph (105.4, 105.9 and 107 mph).
Let’s say Chara’s shot is seven per cent — even 10 per cent — harder than the best shooter of Fuhr’s day. Why, then, has goalie gear grown by so much more than 7-10 per cent in size?
In Fuhr’s mind, slimming down the goalies’ gear is easy. It’s the pants and chest protectors that make the most saves, and they could easily both be more form-fitting. Figuring out systems that promote more offence will be the tough part, Fuhr said.
“The biggest change in the game is the defensive systems that coaches are teaching now. Our (Oilers) team, we were one of the first to play run and gun hockey … then people tried to put systems in place to try and contain the offence,” he said. “If you go back to run and gun hockey, goalies have to move again. Instead of just taking away angles, the goalies have to become athletic again.”
SHOULDA DRAFTED HIM
If Chicago sensation Artemi Panarin looks at all familiar, think back to the 2011 World Junior Gold Medal Game in Buffalo. Canada led 3-0 after 40 minutes, but had their lunch fed to them in a five-goal Russian third period.
Panarin had two of those goals, yet somehow went undrafted. So he went home, played for head coach (and former San Jose Shark) Andrei Nazarov with Chekhov Vityaz in the KHL, then moved to Ilya Kovalchuk’s St. Petersburg team.
After 26 goals in 54 games last season, the 24-year-old Panarin became the most sought-after European free agent in the business, eventually choosing to play in Chicago.
“I was talking with (former NHL assistant) Barry Smith a lot. The way he explained things to me, this team fits more my style of play,” Panarin said through teammate and excellent interpreter Viktor Tikhonov. “The best players in the world play here. I wanted to challenge myself. I might have regretted it later if I hadn’t tested myself by coming over here.”
He’s second in scoring on the Blackhawks, and as Oilers coach Todd McLellan said after watching some film of Chicago, “It looks like they’ve got two Patrick Kanes out there now.”
“One of the best players I’ve ever seen with his edges, cutting back and forth,” marveled Kane. “Turns on a dime,”
HAMONIC TABS
A quick thought on Travis Hamonic. Remember, the story of his trade request just came out this week via Elliotte Friedman. But New York Islanders GM Garth Snow and all of his possible trading partners have been working this deal since the summertime when Hamonic first made his trade request.
We’re all talking about the deal now, but the fact they’ve been talking for perhaps as long as three months tells me two things: Snow does not feel rushed to make a deal; and, his asking price is high enough that nobody has bit on the deal for a consensus No. 2 defenceman.
It’s complicated, with Snow said to be seeking as much defenceman in return as what he’s trading away. Why would Winnipeg trade a Jacob Trouba, or Vancouver a Chris Tanev, for a player who may or may not be better? Calgary wouldn’t trade TJ Brodie, who is more valuable, just as Edmonton wouldn’t swap Darnell Nurse or Oscar Klefbom — two defencemen who are less valuable today as still-unknown commodities — for Hamonic.
Perhaps a third team is needed in the equation, one that can part with a defenceman to appease Snow, while taking forwards back. St. Louis…?
NEON LEON
After watching Leon Draisaitl play against Chicago recently, an NHL exec texted, “Messier? 97 and 29 — what a one-two punch!”
He was talking about the thought of having Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl as the top two centres in Edmonton. Draisaitl has emerged as a power forward with 14 points in just nine games since being called up, and has really clicked with Taylor Hall. I can tell you, big picture, the emergence of Draisaitl has Edmonton’s front office wondering if centre Ryan Nugent-Hopkins becomes that expendable core piece that GM Peter Chiarelli trades away for help on his blueline, as per the previous item.
SHANK AND DANNY
This, from outstanding hockey scribe Jeff Paterson in Vancouver: “The most surprising (and quirkiest) stat from the Canucks first 20 games is that Daniel leads the team with seven goals, and Henrik does not have a primary assist on any of them.”
I don’t even know where to begin with that one. Funny though — I saw the Sedins school Edmonton three-on-three in a pre-season game and thought to myself, “Whoa, this new overtime is tailor made for the Sedins.”
Thus far, in games settled in overtime, Vancouver’s record is 0-6.
