2024/2025 NHL/WILD Offseason-Season-Postseason Thread

tswoboda wrote:

Wild are 22nd in remaining strength of schedule, based on current standings (32 being easiest)

Looking at the remaining schedule you can see how that 22nd ranking is a little skewed with teams like the Sabres, Rangers, Sharks and Preds who all had biblically bad starts (or stretches) this season and will likely trend to playing better in back half when the Wild plays them…we haven’t even played the Avs yet this season…The other part about the remaining schedule is that it’s stacked with teams that have good Power Plays, that doesn’t bode well for a team with an atrocious PK…

My entire point is that its going to get alot tougher for the Wild the rest of the season, the good news is that they’ve pretty much survived a ridiculous stretch of injuries to top players, so hopefully that evens out the rest of the season and they can stay relatively healthy…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Looking at the remaining schedule you can see how that 22nd ranking is a little skewed with teams like the Sabres, Rangers, Sharks and Preds who all had biblically bad starts

Maybe YOU can, but you have a special way of seeing things

Results might be a little worse rest of the season since maybe the team won’t be red hot with lights out goaltending and finishing. But the remaining schedule is no tougher than what they’ve played so far. They also have 3 more home games than road games remaining

tswoboda wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
Looking at the remaining schedule you can see how that 22nd ranking is a little skewed with teams like the Sabres, Rangers, Sharks and Preds who all had biblically bad starts

Maybe YOU can, but you have a special way of seeing things

Results might be a little worse rest of the season since maybe the team won’t be red hot with lights out goaltending and finishing. But the remaining schedule is no tougher than what they’ve played so far. They also have 3 more home games than road games remaining

ok Jimmy the Greek, we’ll see how it plays out, I just don’t expect to see the same Colorado team 4 times that started the season in last place through 10 games or a Buffalo team that has lost 10 in a row or a Rangers team currently in freefall the last 15 games and the Preds CAN’T keep playing this bad can they? which are all factored into that 22nd strength of schedule ranking…and through 31 games, home games haven’t been kind to the Wild and the road record % is likely unsustainable… hope i’m wrong and they go 51-0, but there are signs of cracks in the foundation…

The next 5 games will be telling (Florida, Utah, Winnipeg, Chicago, Dallas)…do they go 1-4 or 2-3 (Utah is a wildcard) as the season has played out or do they make a statement and finally beat the Jets, Stars and a healthy Panthers team?

Does the NHL Department of Player safety do anything in regards to the back of a goalies helmet given the trend of players purposely shooting off the side/back of the goalies helmet?

I know its a cool play to see executed (Kirill probably being the player who tries it most often) but when you think about it, it can be a scary play for the goalie health wise…

I’m not saying outlaw the shot attempt, but you gotta think they make goalie helmet manufacturers increase the padding/protection of that rear head support plate right?

Oilers goalie Skinner took a hard shot last night resulting in a goal and alot of discomfort….

https://x.com/dekeypete1640/status/1868873984277987707?s=46&t=uoRWUp28rKzoSODmtmr3Lw

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Does the NHL Department of Player safety do anything about the trend of players purposely shooting off the side/back of the goalies helmet?

no

JoeMX1825 wrote:

I’m not saying outlaw the shot attempt

you answered your own question

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Does the NHL Department of Player safety do anything about the trend of players purposely shooting off the side/back of the goalies helmet?

No, and why should they? It’s not against the rules.

Some consider it bad form to shoot high. Bullshit I say. NHL goalies have 200 cubic feet of high tech padding and can’t be touched anywhere on the ice. Shoot for the head I say.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

I’m not saying outlaw the shot attempt, but you gotta think they make goalie helmet manufacturers increase the padding/protection of that rear head support plate right?

Once upon a time, goaltenders wore full helmets like everyone else. It’s only through seeking every possible competitive advantage to go with the mile wide pads and 12 square foot blockers that today’s goaltender arrived at the current mask design. They can change any time.

The back padding on a goalie helmet is the same as the rest of the helmet.

bah, stupid site, now my last post disappeared…

It’s not 1990, there’s padding in the back

Ripjiggen wrote:

The back padding on a goalie helmet is the same as the rest of the helmet.

but the front of the helmet is purposely angled to deflect the shot power away and the face is sunk in so direct shots dont take as much brunt of the shot force right? The back plate is flush against the head/skull and will take the full impact…I don’t know, i’m not a goalie, I just thought its interesting that Kirill and a few other players are trying this shot alot more frequently now and its probably not a scenario goalie gear companies thought of very much…

The goal on Otter caught mostly the side but some on the backplate…I think he tried on Columbus’s Elvis Merzlikans last season and it was a full power shot that deflected across the rink way up into the crowd…that one could have been deadly…

tswoboda wrote:

tswoboda
Posts: 8683
December 17, 2024 at 12:40 pm#2305440
It’s not 1990, there’s padding in the back

lol, it’s literally 1/4 inch or less foam tape…hopefully an NHL goalie talks about how they feel about it sometime…would love to hear Flower’s perspective…

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

It’s only through seeking every possible competitive advantage to go with the mile wide pads and 12 square foot blockers SKILLETS that today’s goaltender arrived at the current mask design. They can change any time.

Fixed it for you because Lapanta found a new catch phrase that is stupid.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

lol, it’s literally 1/4 inch or less foam tape…hopefully an NHL goalie talks about how they feel about it sometime…would love to hear Flower’s perspective…

5 minutes ago you wrote you didn’t know what padding was there in modern helmets and now you know the exact thickness and what it is

My brother had a mask similar to those used today over 20 years ago and there was MORE than a quarter inch of foam on the back for crying out loud. And he was in HS not NHL. Most guys exaggerate size but this is next level.

i’m just basing that off a few Bauer 960 goalie helmet review and foam replacement kit videos I watched on youtube after some searching…you guys f’ing crack me up…

We’re like 12 posts deep on this “goalie helmet issue” you just dreamed up. It hurts goalies when they get hit anywhere in the head, some handle it better than others

tswoboda wrote:

We’re like 12 posts deep on this “goalie helmet issue” you just dreamed up. It hurts goalies when they get hit anywhere in the head, some handle it better than others

No arguing with you…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

i’m just basing that off a few Bauer 960 goalie helmet review and foam replacement kit videos I watched on youtube after some searching…you guys f’ing crack me up…

So watching a youtube video makes you an expert? Holy crap Joe you are on the bottle early today LOL

tswoboda wrote:

We’re like 12 posts deep on this “goalie helmet issue” you just dreamed up. It hurts goalies when they get hit anywhere in the head, some handle it better than others

My brother took a slapshot right square in the metal cage in warmups and bent it all the way back to his nose in HS. He said his ears were ringing the entire game.

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
i’m just basing that off a few Bauer 960 goalie helmet review and foam replacement kit videos I watched on youtube after some searching…you guys f’ing crack me up…

So watching a youtube video makes you an expert? Holy crap Joe you are on the bottle early today LOL

when did I say I was an expert? I specifically pointed out that i’m basing my impressions on a mask I held many years ago and if that example was out of date then the entire post was moot…(looking back in the posts this is the one that disappeared when I tried to insert 2 links in a thread)

but i’d love to hear more expert feedback from your brother’s high school experience 20+ years ago…

Joe as a parent of a goaltender, I feel I am well versed in the construction of a goalie helmet. Yes the back plate is not as stout as the rest of the helmet. However, that back plate should never be the direct locsation of a shot. A goaltender would need to be looking straight away from the puck. The current helmets extent well past the back plate.

Now shots that hit any goaltender in the helmet, anywhere, especially at the pro level is going to leave some level of discomfort. It doesn’t matter if it is in the cage, ear hole or the top of the helmet, it hurts.
Shots from behind the goal line, intended to deflect off of the goalie are usually not the hardest shots, either. From what I have seen.

Plus, todays style of play by goalies creates the likely contact to helmets due to always being in the butterfly.

Anyfish2 wrote:

Joe as a parent of a goaltender, I feel I am well versed in the construction of a goalie helmet. Yes the back plate is not as stout as the rest of the helmet. However, that back plate should never be the direct locsation of a shot. A goaltender would need to be looking straight away from the puck. The current helmets extent well past the back plate.

Now shots that hit any goaltender in the helmet, anywhere, especially at the pro level is going to leave some level of discomfort. It doesn’t matter if it is in the cage, ear hole or the top of the helmet, it hurts.
Shots from behind the goal line, intended to deflect off of the goalie are usually not the hardest shots, either. From what I have seen.

Plus, todays style of play by goalies creates the likely contact to helmets due to always being in the butterfly.

I appreciate the post and the scenario i’m asking about is a bit more hypothetical as I don’t think we’ve yet to see a full shot go directly off the backplate of a goalie helmet (last night’s goal off Skinner was probably 50/50 back and side, Ottenger’s was very close as well) and I tried but couldn’t find the Merzlinkin attempt by Kirill as that was a full power shot attempt…The Reinhart goal from last night was pretty friggin hard and looked to clip alot off the backplate, it also clipped off a strap snap so that likely means it caught the bit of the side too? That’s what got me to thinking about if the back plate was truly designed to take a direct shot or not because up until Kirill got to the league nobody was trying it?
We’ve all see goals over the past 20-30 years where players bank a shot off the back of a goalies leg pads or skates from behind the goal line, but the likely invention of the shot off the side/back of the goalie helmet started with Crosby (THANKS WIZ)

JoeMX1825 wrote:

but i’d love to hear more expert feedback from your brother’s high school experience 20+ years ago…

Well if it was thicker than 1/4″ 20 years ago I would bet dollars to donuts its thicker now than then. Wouldnt you think? Unless its some proprietary new material and not “foam” like you referenced. No way they would go backwards. Look at all the rest of the goalie equipment and how big its gotten. Sure, it may be lighter now, but its huge. They wouldnt sacrifice safety for a measly half inch of foam. Besides, when was the last time you saw a goalie take a shot to the back of the head? That would be a rather obscure technique for a goalie looking away from the puck?

JoeMX1825 wrote:

the shot off the side/back of the goalie helmet probably started with Kirill

I can’t handle this s anymore today

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
but i’d love to hear more expert feedback from your brother’s high school experience 20+ years ago…

Well if it was thicker than 1/4″ 20 years ago I would bet dollars to donuts its thicker now than then. Wouldnt you think? Unless its some proprietary new material and not “foam” like you referenced. No way they would go backwards. Look at all the rest of the goalie equipment and how big its gotten. Sure, it may be lighter now, but its huge. They wouldnt sacrifice safety for a measly half inch of foam. Besides, when was the last time you saw a goalie take a shot to the back of the head? That would be a rather obscure technique for a goalie looking away from the puck?

The Bauer 960 goalie helmet (I assume this model is very similar to a pro model?) review video I watched detailed the foam, it was 1/4 inch thick and “very soft to the touch” as the reviewer loved to mention, another video was on foam replacement kit showed the same thing, one reviewer said they used thinner foam for the backplate because its less pressure on his head and as you said “nobody shoots there”…

We’ll Crosby, Kirill, Rienhart, Marchenko and Hughes (those I know of scoring this way) said “hold my beer” and yes, no full on back of the head shots have happened yet, but the Ottenger and Skinner goals were pretty dang close to full backplate shots, so its only a matter of time…

tswoboda wrote:

I can’t handle this s anymore today

ok Wiz, who did it earlier and on purpose? if you can give me an example i’ll happily change my post…

This took me 30 seconds to find, Crosby 7 years ago:

I’m sure Kirill was doing this off Lundquist for years right. Maybe Sid picked it up from watching KHL highlights?

Go take a nap, Joe

JoeMX1825 wrote:

…but the invention of the shot off the side/back of the goalie helmet probably started with Kirill (if you know of others earlier i’d love to know who) I can’t think of any earlier than him…

I can remember youth hockey coaches in the 1970s and 80s telling me to “buzz the ear” of the goaltender, especially on the blocker side when he went down. I’m sure it goes back way further than that, it is very difficult to stop shot that’s blocker side and at ear level.

We even had training aids that attached to the front of the goal, and more than one of them I can recall featured a target hole on either side of the goalie’s head.

tswoboda wrote:

This took me 30 seconds to find, Crosby 7 years ago:

I’m sure Kirill was doing this off Lundquist for years right. Maybe Sid picked it up from watching KHL highlights?

Go take a nap, Joe

Congrats Wiz, i’ll gladly go update my post…

Who cares? I mean a full page of how thick the foam is in the back of a goalie helmet for a hypothetical scenario.
Slow day for sure.