Mixed feelings among NHL coaches in regard to net size

The discussion over the size of nets in the NHL has grown into quite the topic of conversation—as if debating whether three-on-three OT is terrible or the coaches’ challenges are effective aren’t enough to keep everyone occupied in between watching hockey games.

The lack of scoring in conjunction with the size of the nets and goalie equipment reportedly became a talking point at this week’s GM meetings in Toronto, making it even more timely interview material for the hockey media. And like all other hot debate topics, it’s apparently being met with mixed feelings from NHL coaches.

New York Rangers’ coach Alain Vigneault became one of the newest coaches to weigh in on the issue, per Dan Rosen of NHL.com. Vigneault made it clear in an interview prior to Thursday’s contest against the St. Louis Blues that he’s not a fan of changing the size of the net, and that perhaps the focus shouldn’t be on the lack of scoring but on how good the goaltending is, Rosen reported:

"Some people, they say there is not a lot of goals; it seems to me the hardest-working players on every team are the goaltenders," Vigneault said. "They're on 20 minutes before (practice), and they're on 20 minutes after. They work on their skill. They've all got their own coaches. They all work at their game more than anybody else. If the other guys want to score more goals, work at your game because the goalies are."

The heightened skill of the recent crop of starting netminders could indeed be a reason that scoring in the league is at an all-time low. Don’t fans want to watch a good hockey game, as opposed to one with a ton of bad goals scored? Blues’ coach Ken Hitchcock thinks so, Rosen reported:

"We're in the entertainment business, and if a fan sits in the building and the game is hard-played and it's exciting and it's 2-1 or 3-2, and the fan can feel the intensity and they can feel the desire of the players, I don't think a fan leaves here wondering what the score was. It's whether it was a good game and a hard game and they could feel the intensity, or was it a poorly played, casual game? Fans want to see hard hockey. That's what they want to see in our sport. Whatever the score is, it ends up being."

The subject of there not being enough scoring in the NHL isn’t new but really caught fire earlier this month thanks to Toronto Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock. The polarizing coach has said on a couple occasions that the growing size of goaltenders in the league calls for the nets to get bigger as well, Adam Gretz of CBS Sports reported back on Nov. 5:

"You go to 1980 when the puck went in the net. You get the average size of the goalies in the NHL and the average size of the net. You keep growing the net bigger, that would make the game the same. We change the game every year because we don't want to change the game. The net's too small for the size of the goalies. Period. We can talk all we want, we still get quality, quality chances every night, the goals don't go in. The goalies are too good for the size of the net."

Being opposed to “too good” goaltending could be a matter of preferring a highly offensive game to tight-checking, defensive one. Then again, it should also be noted that Babcock’s Leafs are currently ranked 27th in the league in goals scored. Perhaps other clubs with low goal percentages should be giving their two cents on this as well?

This is one topic that clearly isn't going away any time soon—and will continue to get mixed reviews.