The Maple Leafs are awful, but the size of the NHL's nets are the least of their problems.
After his team fell to the Jets, 4-2, Wednesday night and suffered its seventh loss in its last eight outings, coach Mike Babcock may finally be grasping at straws. The Toronto coach took the philosophy on goaltenders that if you can't beat 'em, complain about 'em.
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"It's impossible to score," Babcock said after the game, according to NBC Sports. "All you gotta do is a math equation. You go to 1980 when the puck went in the net. You got the average size of the goalies in the NHL and the average size of the net. You keep growing the net bigger, that would make the game the same. We change the game every year because we don't want to change the game. The net's too small for the size of the goalies. Period."
To be fair, Babcock voiced similar concerns when he was the coach of the Red Wings for the last 10 years. However, Detroit went to the playoffs every year under the head coach, while the Maple Leafs are in the midst of a rebuild and struggling, so the issue may tick him off a little bit more up in Canada.
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According to NBC Sports, in the 1981-82 season, the average team scored 4.01 goals per game, while the highest scorer was Wayne Gretzky (92 goals). Last year, Alex Ovechkin (53) had the most goals in the NHL and the league average was 2.73.
Goalies are also larger this day and age, with the Lightning's Ben Bishop leading the charge at 6-foot-7, but the Maple Leafs' woes are far beyond the size of the net.
For starters, this offseason they dealt away Phil Kessel, who led the team in goals five out of the last six years. Secondly, they have been a complete mess on the campaign, with only five forwards tallying more than once.
Toronto is 28th in the league with an average of 2.17 goals per game. While it's "impossible" for Babcock's group to score, the same can't be said for opposing teams. The Leafs have yielded 3.17 goals per game this season, fourth worst in the NHL.
The problems go beyond the size of the net in Toronto.
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