Shrinkage

Goalies will likely be using smaller pads when the NHL resumes play.

That was the big news out of the General Manager meetings in Detroit yesterday. The GMs also met with a select group of players, including goaltenders Martin Brodeur and Marty Turco. Brodeur also criticized the idea of bigger nets, saying "I hope they're not really serious about [them]. They are kind of ridiculous when you see them." Defenceman Rob Blake chimed in with the hopes that the net idea would be used as a "last, last resort," and it looks like he'll get that wish. THANK GOD. The new designs looked nothing short of absurd - see one of them here - and seemed way too gimmicky to be taken seriously. If Rodney Dangerfield was still with us, I'm sure he would have been amending his stand-up routine: "I went to a fight the other day, and a hockey game broke out. And what about those wacky new nets? They get no respect, I tell ya!"

The meetings also included a presentation on new, smaller goalie equipment by CCM, which obviously won the approval of players and managers alike. Brodeur's only problem was that the goalie's level of protection might be compromised, but I don't think there's much to worry about there - I think we crossed the line from "protective equipment" to "it's like having another goalie in there with you" a long time ago. There was also the now-obligatory "crackdown on obstruction" talk...you know, the one that'll make referees call all the hooks and holds in the first two-and-a-half periods, just to take the third period - and all of May and June - off.

Hopefully these developments see some more goal production in the league, just to keep Colin Campbell, the mastermind behind the bigger net idea, happy. If he's not, I'm sure he could bring his big nets along with that blue ice over to ESPN 8 ("The Ocho") so they could start airing XHL games, right after Dodgeball coverage every night.