Wider/Taller Nets....2" I say!!!

[Realist]

Mark Madden brought this up on his radio show yesterday....and I agree:

The game isn't the same game I fell in love with as a kid in the 1980's.....I don't want to see trap D's, cycles, etc. I want finesse: I want Alexander Mogilny's inside out move. I want Alex Kovalev's stickhandling through 3 guys (and then losing the puck). I want someone to close in on Gretzky's 215 points record.

I want 5-4 hockey games....not 2-1....LET THE GOALS BE WIDENED!!!

[meow]

[no name]

I argue and fight this all the time, I want higher scoring. would like to see the Art Ross winner with 120-160pts a year. The first year back from the lockout scoring was up. But they took it away. This is what the game seems like its going to be.

But oddly enough you will be surprised how many people want the game where its at. We are the minority.

[MRandall25]

A true Realist would understand that the game played by Mogilny and Kovalev is nowhere near the game played today.

[count2infinity]

I can only imagine football fans who want the game that they fell in love with... Run, run, run, run, run, run, run, pass, run, run, run, run... The game is fine. I like the way they've cut down on the size of goalie equipment and have made the ice slightly larger. I do not support making the net larger though.

[pcm]

The most popular sport in the world does just fine with 2-1 games... The effect of scoring on hockey's popularity or excitement-level is minimal. And how would widening the nets increase the finesse of the sport? You could easily argue that it could have the opposite effect, making teams more careful, more protective. Today's game is simply a result of people being smarter... about systems, about training, about scouting, preparation, equipment; everything is played at a higher level now.

The heroes are no longer so far above and beyond the average. What you're actually asking for is that you want to watch an inferior game, where stars take advantage of lesser players. There's plenty of hockey that meets that criteria at lower levels. ECHL games can be quite fun.

[Avyran]

Yeah, the problem isn't the nets.

IMO, it's the reffing & the style. If the NHL wanted more goals & offensive flair, all they would need to do is actually enforce their rules. This would force teams to play more disciplined (less hooking, less interference) or get punished by power plays, allowing skill to come through more clearly instead of being muddled down. I've seen people complain that it would cause too many penalties & such, but I instead hold that teams would adapt for their own sake. Players like Crosby would not get worn down from the physical abuse they take, but instead they would score a lot more. Dangling & such would become much more of a thing, resulting in a lot more highlight goals as well.

Using pcm's soccer analogy, the biggest names in soccer are the skilled players: Ronaldo, Messi, and even lesser ones like Hazard, Di Maria, & Silva. Some of them're players that would be described as "diminutive" in the NHL like Messi & Silva, yet because fouls are often punished by free kicks & cards, they have the comparative freedom to juke between defenders & create incredible plays almost every game. Ronaldo & Gerrard, meanwhile, are very known for their ability to punish opposing teams for their fouls through incredible free kicks. Because of this ability to punish opposing teams in such a strong way, you get the problem of diving & so on... something that is growing in hockey to ensure refs actually call trips, high sticks, & hooks. In the NHL, it would work the same way: foul a team, get punished by giving up a power play goal. It would certainly make for a much "cleaner" game, without removing the hits and the corner battles. It would bring back the sort of highlights that we know of Crosby holding the puck against 2, 3 players behind the net with his skill & finesse.

Punish through skill, not physicality. And yes, there are teams in soccer as well known for physical play: Stoke & Sunderland come to mind in England (just as the Kings, the Flyers, & other teams are known in the NHL). Physical play can still sorta work (keep the team in the top league versus going down in relegation), but it is the skill that rises to the top consistently.

Just my opinion, though.

[Kovy27]

Mark Madden brought this up on his radio show yesterday....and I agree:

The game isn't the same game I fell in love with as a kid in the 1980's.....I don't want to see trap D's, cycles, etc. I want finesse: I want Alexander Mogilny's inside out move. I want Alex Kovalev's stickhandling through 3 guys (and then losing the puck). I want someone to close in on Gretzky's 215 points record.

I want 5-4 hockey games....not 2-1....LET THE GOALS BE WIDENED!!!

Thank you Mark. Great idea.

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

Kovalev played during the 80s?

[MRandall25]

Kovalev played in the mid-90s and won a Cup with the Rangers. Mogilny played from 1989-2006.

Their careers definitely overlapped.

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

Kovalev played in the mid-90s and won a Cup with the Rangers. Mogilny played from 1989-2006.

Their careers definitely overlapped.

I think you missed the point.

OP referenced "the game [he] fell in love with in the 1980s" and then referenced a guy who didn't play in the 80s (and another who played just one season)

[mikey287]

You don't want to see the trap, so you want the nets to be bigger...?

[Desiato]

Before making the nets larger, I would prefer to see goalie equipment reduced to the greatest degree possible. With modern tech, it should be possible to greatly reduce the bulk whist still providing sufficient protection. This goes for the stick too. Plus it would open the door for the skating goalie who can join the rush on occasion! :p

[shmenguin]

Smaller pads would redefine what a scoring chance really is. That would be best.

[ulf]

I think refs consistently calling penalties by the book is the best way to increase scoring.

[Realist]

Kovalev played in the mid-90s and won a Cup with the Rangers. Mogilny played from 1989-2006.

Their careers definitely overlapped.

I think you missed the point.

OP referenced "the game [he] fell in love with in the 1980s" and then referenced a guy who didn't play in the 80s (and another who played just one season)

Huh? The game I fell in love with in the 1980's....then loved into the 90's, etc. I didn't say that "80's hockey when I fell in love with it, and it ended on 12/31/89". Sorry...I should have drawn the Venn Diagram for you bro.

[Realist]

Gang - the point I was making is that we have TRIED other methods....the refs are told to call by the book, but it goes away. The goalie equipment argument won't change. The coaching/trap mentality won't change.

The only way to restore "more scoring" instead of the crap that we are forced to watch now is 1) wider goals and 2) making Dejan K's idea of years ago (giving an extra point to a team that scores 5 goals in a game) to change the "mindset" of "scoring" to win, and not "praying not to be scored upon."

Radical? Yes.....but it is what is needed.

[Realist]

But oddly enough you will be surprised how many people want the game where its at. We are the minority.

I watch old games on NHL network from 80's and into the 90's...thinking its "me" that might have changed and not the game. Watching a 60 minute game and rushes up and down the ice....compared with the dump/chase/cycle and "clog in front of the net" crap we are forced to deal with now...its not me.

Like Hawkeye said during the episode of M.A.S.H when being served liver and fish for the 11th straight day:

"We want something else!! We want something else!! We want something else!!"

[shmenguin]

An unscreened shot from the faceoff dot should be able to go in without blaming the goalie or being an absolute perfect snipe...for instance.

I still want well played games, and if they're 1-0 so be it. But there needs to be more legitimate scoring chances.

[Jim]

You can basically put (not really but it s for dramatic license) the entire catching glove that Barrasso wore during his two cup wins comfortable inside the mesh part of a current catching glove

Larger players does NOT directly relate to the increase on size of goalie equipment. Leg pads might need to be a few inches longer, but there is no reason for them being 1.5x as wide, etc. The bad on the bodies of the goalies are also much larger. They look the the Michelin Man now. There is probably a little increase in the average shot speed, but not enough to justify that. Also, gear tech has improved where you could probably have MORE protection with less size.

They made (extreme) rules to limit the width of shin pads of Dmen... Make an extreme call on goalie equipment and everything will be fine.

Increase the size of the nets... and in 3 years you will see goaltender equipment getting bigger again.

[Bathgate]

Been saying for years that they need a revision to the blueline offsides rule to end trapping as a strategy and to make it a game of mostly end-to-end rushes with a lot fewer dump-and-chases. The current offsides rule came into being around 1930 to prevend cherry picking when forward passing was first permitted. There has to be a better way of preventing cherry picking, one that would keep defensemen backing up as a puck carrier approaches, rather than clogging center ice and stacking the blueline.

[DelPen]

Rather see goalie pads made smaller to the point where they don't impact safety. Blocker and glove can be smaller for sure, pads probably another 2-4 inches narrower too.

I'd also like to see a narrower neutral zone and the nets brought out more, icing would then be only if you clear from your own end, no more gaining the red line. offensive zones would be bigger. Unless you are going to trap at the other blue line all you need to do to dump is clear your zone. That should open the ice up more.

[GSdrums87]

Players should carry double-bladed sticks, a la Darth Maul, to DOUBLE the scoring chances!

[Realist]

I like these ideas too....but, I would LOVE to see pre-season games try out the bigger goals along with other stuff...

Things gotta change...I feel like it's 1994 and Devils have just won the cup and the game sucks again.

[meecrofilm]

I argue and fight this all the time, I want higher scoring. would like to see the Art Ross winner with 120-160pts a year. The first year back from the lockout scoring was up. But they took it away. This is what the game seems like its going to be.

But oddly enough you will be surprised how many people want the game where its at. We are the minority.

Ok. Well then have the Brotherhood of NHL Refs start calling obstruction like they did back then. Simple.

As mikey alluded too, you make the nets bigger but keep the rules the same, there's going to be even more obstruction and more trapping in order to reduce quality scoring chances.