Bears Goalie Cut
Death of the Trapezoid?
I was listening during intermission on Versus, and the GM's are contemplating eliminating the trapezoid immediately. They finally admitted it was a mistake and are hoping by allowing the goalie to once again play the puck outside of the trapezoid, it will cut down on blind-side hits to defenseman by opposing wingers bearing down on them.
So my question is, will eliminating the trapezoid help cut down on injuries? What about a possible scoring reduction? Any other benefits/detriments to eliminating this?
**An Ivy League education is not required to answer the question.**
It will cut down the potential for injury since defensemen will have a decreased need to turn and chase down pucks in some dump and chase situations. I don't think the rule will actually cut down any injuries because I don't think that installing the trapezoid actually caused an increase in injuries.
Quite simply, I think the trapezoid was one of the most pointless rules the NHL has ever instituted. I have personally only witnessed only 2 trapezoid infractions, both were on TV. One was Marty Turco a couple of years back. The other was this season, one of the goaltenders just in from the European leagues a little less familiar with the rule.
I think the actual benefit may be an increase in scoring opportunities, but at the far end of the ice. A good puck handling goaltender like Brodeur will be able to turn the puck back up ice faster which has the potential to do three things. First, it could create an immediate scoring opportunity. Picture a team making a dump for a line change and Brodeur hitting Parise in stride for an odd man rush. Second, it could prevent a line change which has the potential to create a scoring opportunity a bit later in the process. Third, it has the potential to create a turnover which could lead to a scoring opportunity in the opposite direction.
bengt
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