Leafs goalie Sparks calls out NHL for unsafe policies

This could be trouble for the NHL, especially if other goalies join the fight.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 5 years ago
Leafs goalie Sparks calls out NHL for unsafe policies
Zuma Press

Hot on the heels of a report this past Friday from ESPN in which NHL goaltenders Ben Bishop, Brian Elliott and Sergei Bobrovsky called out the NHL for allowing slimmer, more form fitting chest protectors and exposing goaltenders to injury, Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Garret Sparks is joining the fight.

In a conversation with Sportsnet.ca this past week Sparks weighed in on the changes and spoke candidly about the bumps and bruises that he’s been forced to endure as a result of the NHL’s new equipment specifications.

Check out some of these strong comments from the Leafs; back up:

SPORTSNET.CA: So, you’ve been bruised too?
GARRET SPARKS: I was with my first unit—to the point where you don’t even want to track down on pucks. You don’t even want to attack pucks. You’re just trying to make saves and not wear the brunt of it.
Do guys around the league discuss it?
I’ve had guys ask me what I’m wearing and how I feel about it and stuff like that. You see guys experimenting with gear brands they’d normally never consider, just because they’re looking for protection from somewhere else. Because their sponsored brand or preferred brand isn’t adequately protecting them. There’s a level of discomfort with that, as guys are running around between brands trying different things. They’re trying to find a solution to a padding problem, not a functioning movement problem. Early in the season I made comments like, ‘It’s not that bad. It’s not a big deal,’ and I know guys around the league weren’t even happy hearing that. They were like, ‘This guy’s a sellout.’
Did they tell you that directly?
No. [I found out] second-hand from other goalies. The comments you make obviously have implications even if you don’t intend them to, but when they make rule changes at the beginning of the summer and manufacturers aren’t fully prepared for it and the season starts and units haven’t been made for guys, and guys are wearing demo gear for two or three months, that’s not like a calculated, prepared and effective change. The guys who end up eating the brunt of it are the goalies. It’s not the fans, not the players, not the coaches, not the GMs. It’s the goalies.
And you had bruises all over.
Yeah, and I had pieces of padding falling out. Stuff that wasn’t working the way it should. It wasn’t functioning the right way. At the end of the day, that makes it really hard to practice. It makes it hard to make a team. It makes it hard to play a game in pre-season when your career — your life — is on the line, just so they can look for two extra goals a year, three extra goals a year on a guy.

So… will Sparks put the heat on the NHL to turn back the rules? Not quite…

Are enough goalies speaking out about the padding now that it could result in change?
I don’t want to see a change.
Really?
No. I just want them to continue to improve the units that they’re saying are legal so guys don’t get hurt. Don’t go back to the old sizing. Just make this one better. If you had to have it, keep it—but make it better.

Whether Sparks wants change or not may be irrelevant though. If enough goalies keep coming forward with similar sentiments, the NHL will have no choice but to better protect their players and remove the new equipment requirements.

Source: Sportsnet