NHL and NHLPA To Examine Goalie Equipment

It was decided upon in February at the General Managers meetings in Florida that the size of the Goalie's Equipment needs to be reviewed once again. If you remember, the size of the equipment was reduced after the lockout when then new CBA was put in place, as well as the size of the nets.

The league and it's players association have formed the group that will determine whether or not the size of the goalie's equipment needs to be changed again. The group says that reducing the size of their pads will help increase offense. The league will be represented by Doug Risebrough from Minnesota, Garth Snow from the NY Islanders, Jim Rutherford from Carolina, and Brett Hull from Dallas. The players will be represented by goalies Martin Brodeur, Rick DiPietro, and Ryan Miller, along with skaters Dany Heatley and Mike Cammalleri.

The group will meet on June 11th in Toronto to discuss the issue. A unanimous decision was reached at the GM meetings to do something about the size of the equipment. If it is determined that the size of the equipment needs to be reduced, and it will not jeopardize the safety of the goalies, the new rules will be submitted to the NHL's Competition Committee for consideration.

Source: NHL.com

Is that really necessary? I see nothing wrong with the size of the pads that they have now, especially since they were already reduced once. How many times is the league gonna change their size? And what I don't understand is how does the size of the goalie's equipment effect the games offense? If they keep reducing the size of their pads, they might as well get rid of goalies altogether and make it a free for all on the net if they want more offense. The goalie is there to prevent the other team from scoring, not to allow them to score, and if their equipment keeps getting smaller, that will become a harder task for them to accomplish.

With the new CBA in place, the game is already faster and allows for more offense. How much more do they want? In my opinion, high scoring games are boring and really take away the spirit of competition from the game. The lower scoring games are more exciting because you're on the edge of your seats, watching to see who's going to finally score and give their team the win. Not to mention, higher scoring games would take longer because of all the stoppages in play after each goal, on top of penalties, icing calls, and tv timeouts. Games would take forever.

While smaller equipment would make for ease of motion and better flexibility for goaltenders, I don't think it would be a wise decision to change the size of their equipment. As I pointed out already, goalies are there to prevent scoring chances and goals, not add to them.

So, what are your thoughts? Do you think it's necessary for the goaltender's equipment to be reduced again, or do you think it's fine the way it is? I want to hear what you have to say, so feel free to comment.