NHL Tests Prototype Goalie Gear Sizing

From  22hockey.com:

http://22hockey.com/nhl-tests-prototype-goalie-gear-sizing

NEW YORK, NY – The NHL’s competition committee has formed a group to examine the size and configuration of goalie equipment this summer, and it appears that the first prototypes are already being tested.

22hockey was contacted by an anonymous employee at an NHL testing facility with the first known picture of the new goalie equipment prototypes. The picture was taken with a cellular phone, in order to avoid alerting NHL security at the facility.

To see picture of test goaltender click here

From what our experts can gather from the digital photograph, it appears that the prototype sizing has been substantially reduced from current legal sizing.

The goalie’s leg pads appear to be no larger than 30” in length by 9” in width. The current max legal sizing is 38” in length by 11” in width. The goalie’s gloves are tougher to gauge, but our experts have estimated them to be about 25 percent smaller than current regulation sizing.

It remains unknown if the NHL plans to reduce the size of the chest protector or the pants. Speculation among experts suggests that the NHL plans to test a 30 percent reduction in those pieces of equipment before making a decision.

There is belief among top NHL officials and committee members that a large reduction in the size of goalie equipment would increase scoring. Testing of these changes to equipment was authorized after unanimous consent in a February meeting of all 30 NHL general managers.