Promises of change to goalie equipment likely will be broken.

There was a belief that the National Hockey League and National Hockey League Player's Association would have new and streamlined goaltending equipment when it came to the World Cup of Hockey, but commissionGary Bettman appeared to back down from that stance earlier this month when asked about whether or not it would be ready stating "at least for the regular season."

It now sounds like even that may have been a complete fabrication from the commissioner, as a new report from the Canadian Press has revealed that the equipment may not be ready for this season at all, and furthermore that the date could be pushed back to the 2017-2018 NHL season.

I wish no one said that we were going to have this ready for this season because I think that was an aggressive timeline to say that we would have that done," Mathieu Schneider of the Players’ Association said in an interview with the Canadian Press. "Given where we are now and given some of the challenges we’ve had to face, I’m 100 per cent confident that we’re going to achieve our goal, but I’m not sure if and what parts we’re going to be able to try to implement this year."

It doesn't sound like the NHL believes that this will get done any longer either, while they are still hopeful that perhaps some of the changes could be implemented during the season, the full change that was promised almost certainly will not be.

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"It’s been a real battle to get this change put in," Colin Campbell, senior vice-president and director of hockey operations with the NHL, added in a separate interview. "And hopefully we’ll get it done."

NHL goaltender Cory Schneider, one of the goaltenders who have supported this move also expressed some serious doubts about the changes getting done.

"The pants, we’ve always viewed as low-hanging fruit," said Schneider. "We might look at different aspects of the chest protector as well to possibly move on. But to completely overhaul the chest (equipment) mid-season I think would be challenging. To do parts of it might not be, I’m not so sure."

It looks like it will be one more year before goalies have their equipment trimmed down.