from the CP at TSN,

The aim, like the other streamlined goalie gear, is to boost scoring while at the same time rewarding athletic ability in the crease by eliminating unnecessary padding that wasn't protecting goalies, but instead simply helping them block pucks.

In short, a 190-pound goalie and a 240-pound goalie will no longer cut the same figure on the ice.

"Three or four years ago, talking to some of the best goalies in hockey ... they wanted us to try to find a way to make goalies look closer to the size they were," NHL vice-president of hockey operations Kay Whitmore said. "The biggest complaint was, 'If I weigh 50 pounds more than another guy, why do we look the same?'"

The focus of the league, in conjunction with the NHL Players' Association, on chest protectors has been reducing the size of the shoulders by roughly an inch to make them less boxy and more form-fitting. The same goes for the padding on a goalie's arms.

"When you buy a suit, everyone wears different sizes," Whitmore said. "That was our challenge — adding different sizes to encompass all goalies."

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