Goalies are having to make do with smaller equipment and restrictions on where they can play the puck this season. But they have caught a break with the NHL's new standings format.
For five seasons, starting with 1999-2000, goalies were tagged with a loss in their personal record whether it was a loss in regulation time or overtime. But the two were differentiated in the team standings, with a separate ''OTL'' section since overtime losses carried a point.
Goalies didn't think that was fair.
''I remember the last season that we played, I think I had 19 wins and 15 losses on my record, but a number of those losses in overtime,'' Minnesota Wild goalie Dwayne Roloson said Monday.
But with the advent of the shootout, the NHL has revamped its standings format yet again and this time goalies' personal records will reflect that of their team.
There will be no tie games with the introduction of the shootout this season. Instead, the NHL will record standings under three columns: W (wins), L (losses in regulation time) and OT (overtime and shootout losses).
Goalies will also carry the three-column record.
''It's good that the overtime losses are separate,'' star netminder Jose Theodore of the Canadiens said Monday in Montreal. ''I always said that, as a goalie, it was always frustrating to lose in OT. But overall, a loss or a win doesn't matter, we just want that extra point. At the end of the year, those might be big points.''
Said Roloson: ''That'll balance out the guys' records instead of having wins and a huge amount of losses because we lose in overtime. This will give a more fair understanding of what the goalies have been doing for their team and amongst the league.''
If Martin Biron had his way, the NHL would do even more to fix the oversight.
''Personally I think they should go back five years and change everything so that every overtime loss is re-adjusted and taken out of our personal stats,'' the Buffalo Sabres goalie said Monday. ''At least it's fair now. As a goalie you pride yourself on trying to be at a certain level of competitiveness.
''When you look at some guys' win-loss statistics sometimes, it doesn't truly represent what he did for his team.''