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This season in the National Hockey League, there was only one player who reached the 100-point plateau. There were only three that topped 85 points and seven that reached even 80 points. Mind you, this is in a deliberately sped-up game with the red line removed, rules changed to prevent forecheckers from being held up, the accidental puck-over-the-glass in the defensive zone being an automatic penalty and teams that ice the puck forced to keep the same players on the ice.
Part of the answer for the continued issues team have in scoring goals is all the defensive-minded, shot-blocking heavy systems that clubs employ. That's not just the case in the NHL, of course. It goes on around the world.
There's another factor involved, too.
One of the most obvious changes in hockey over the span of my career has been the goaltending. I'm not just talking about the athleticism and technique of the position, although those have certainly evolved a lot in the last few decades.
For one thing, goalies today tend to be tall men and they seem to be getting bigger and bigger all the time. When I look back to when I was refereeing in the NHL, the league still had a slew of goalies who stood less than six feet tall. Without even thinking too hard about compiling a list, the likes of Dominik Hasek, Mike Richter, John Vanbiesbrouck, Curtis Joseph, Ed Belfour, Grant Fuhr, Bill Ranford and even pint-sized Arturs Irbe had plenty of success despite being what today would be considered undersized goalies.
Nowadays, a goalie who is about 6-foot-1 and 195 pounds is considered an "average" size goalie. More and more, there are goaltenders who are 6-foot-4 or bigger.
Even taking the ever-increasing size of goaltenders into account and given the most changes made to reduce the maximum size of goalie gear, I still think the equipment allowances are way too big. So are the crease dimensions.
Much of the time, even when shooters have a momentary open shooting lane (they close off in a hurry with all the shot blocking nowadays), they still have no net to look at. The goalies and their still-oversized gear leave almost no target, so the only real hope is to try to produce a rebound, get a deflection or else just fire and hope the goalie makes a mistake and it sneaks through the five hole or ticks off the glove or blocker into the net.
To me, this is the number one reason why so many shots are fired high and wide of the net: the target area is just too small.
I am very much in favor of further reduction -- and season-long enforcement -- of goalie gear dimensions. The limits are still too generous to the goalies. By NOT changing them to realistic sizes we have changed the game for the worse yet there is still no shortage of injuries to goalies. Get this particular problem under control and make it both REASONABLE for athletic goaltending. I'm not talking about anything unsafe. I'm talking about something that's fair both to the shooter and the goaltender.
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Paul Stewart holds the distinction of being the first U.S.-born citizen to make it to the NHL as both a player and referee. On March 15, 2003, he became the first American-born referee to officiate in 1,000 NHL games.
Today, Stewart is an officiating and league discipline consultant for the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and serves as director of hockey officiating for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC).
The longtime referee heads Officiating by Stewart, a consulting, training and evaluation service for officials. Stewart also maintains a busy schedule as a public speaker, fund raiser and master-of-ceremonies for a host of private, corporate and public events. As a non-hockey venture, he is the owner of Lest We Forget.
Stewart is currently working with a co-author on an autobiography.
Blogger •Former NHL Referee • 
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