Goalies will fear visits from the pad police

Sporting News, The, Oct 6, 2003 by Kara Yorio

Kris King is on a mission, out to save the NHL from growing goaltender pads. He's trying to keep integrity from getting lost beneath the leg pads that seemingly stretch past a goalie's waist.

We've heard about it constantly over the last few seasons, how goaltenders weren't that good; they're just wearing huge pads. The general managers were listening, apparently, and they passed the hot potato off to Dave Dryden and his injury and equipment panel.

"The added length had nothing to do with protection and had everything to do with increased performance," Dryden, a former goalie, says of the results of his research.

King, a hockey operations consultant for the NHL, is in charge of keeping goalie pads small. Well, at least keeping them within the new length limit of 38 inches. During his three-week tour of training camps, he measured the pads worn by the potential Nos. 1 and 2 goalies on each team. He also photographed the goaltenders wearing their equipment for his files. During the season he'll make frequent surprise trips to measure pads, which can't be wider than 12 inches, and keep teams and goaltenders on their toes. He'll also monitor games on television from Toronto to see whether a goalie has changed equipment without alerting him.

"The only way that we can get the message across that the league means business is to stay on top of it," says King, an enforcer during his playing days. "The only way to do that is to he out in the field and measuring guys after games, whether you think they are abusing the rules or not, just so they know we are following through on our mandate and are very serious about having all our goaltenders on a level playing field."

The rule has teeth. Teams will be fined $25,000 for violations, but more important, the offending goaltender will be suspended one game. The equipment will be confiscated. The teams' equipment managers are now in charge of cataloging every piece of equipment and letting the league know when a goalie changes pads.

Despite all of that, don't expect the enforcement of the new rule to produce a dramatic change on the ice or scoreboard. That isn't the intent. King says the rule is meant to be a precautionary measure as much as anything.

"I don't think decreasing the length of the pad is going to decrease the number of pucks that are being stopped, but I think what it does is it stops in its tracks what could happen going forward," he says. "We had one goalie who wore 47-inch pads in warmups this year, and the crossbar is only 48 inches high. I don't know how a guy can wear 47-inch pads. That's almost halfway up my chest. But this guy wasn't cheating; he was allowed to do it, according to the rules.

"We've tried to take the gray out of Rule 21 (which defines the limits of goalie equipment) and make it black and white. This is what we were asked to do by the majority of the goaltenders--let's make sure everybody's playing under the same rules and we don't have guys getting advantages because there's no rule in place."

But according to last season's Stanley Cup champion goaltender and Vezina winner, Martin Brodeur of the Devils, the rule is misguided. "It's got to be proportional to your body" says Brodeur, who wears 34-inch pads. "That's why the rule should be individual. The advantage of a little goalie wearing 38 is bigger than a bigger goalie wearing 38. Everybody should get measured and say, 'OK, you can have this.' And the guys who don't (follow that) should be penalized. You shouldn't be penalized for being 6-4 or 6-5." The players' association, apparently agreeing, has filed a grievance about the rule, contending the players were not consulted.

Brodeur, 6-2, has tried 35-inch pads but found they disrupted his play. He is mobile and likes to play with his hands near his sides, and the bigger pads get in the way of his glove. He notes other ways goaltenders cheat--such as wearing their goalie pads loose so they drop in a way that covers the net better, even when they can't get into position. And, he says, before the ban on rigid knee guards, goalies would pull the tops of the guards so they were outside the legs of their pants instead of tucking them in. That provided butterfly goalies additional equipment to cover the five-hole. Rules may change, but pushing the envelope will continue, just in different ways.

King says 18 goaltenders had pads longer than 38 inches last season. The Islanders' Garth Snow reportedly topped the pad charts at 44 inches. Identifying last season's culprits shouldn't be too difficult as the season wears on. Brodeur says the overall statistics might not show a huge impact, but there will be a definite effect on an individual basis.

"The middle-of-the-road goalies who right now are good goalies," Brodeur says, "are going to go back to being middle-of-the-road goalies."

SPEED READS

* Judging by the rave reviews, rookie center Tuomo Ruutu is the Blackhawks' new darling. His playing style? Sandpaper meets poison ivy, with a touch of Peter Forsberg. Ruutu's next big test comes when he's forced to defend himself. Pests who run and hide deserve no respect, so Ruutu shouldn't decline invitations to punch up his resume.