Behind Mask, Hextall Gives NHL New Look

Philadelphia goalie Ron Hextall gave Washington a lot to think about when the Flyers knocked the Capitals out of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Perhaps it is time for the entire National Hockey League to give some thought to Hextall, whose play promises to revolutionize hockey as much as Bobby Orr’s did in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.

It is traditional thinking that a goalie’s job is to stop the puck. In the last two decades that role has been expanded to blocking the puck behind the net when it’s dumped in, then leaving it for a defenseman.

Hextall obviously has taken it a lot further. He leaves his net to move the puck like a defenseman and other Flyers sometimes pass the puck back to him, so he can begin the play in the manner of a lacrosse goalie. His goal, the first by a goaltender in playoff history, into an empty net in the fifth game illustrates how much he can accomplish.

Hextall can do this with impunity, because he is protected by the rules while being subject to few restrictions. A goalie cannot carry the puck across the red line; otherwise, he is free to roam.

There is no limit to the curvature of a goalie’s stick. He can catch the puck at any time, anywhere, as long as he drops it within three seconds. Yet the goalie is not considered fair game for checkers. If you knock him down, you most likely face a penalty.

So the Flyers lined their defenders across the blueline and dared the Capitals to skate the puck across. If Washington dumped it in, Hextall dumped it out. A defenseman who turned to play the puck in that situation could expect to be blasted into the boards. Hextall’s sole concern after firing the puck up ice was to hustle back to his net.

“We wanted to be very aggressive when he played the puck and get in his way,” said Capitals Coach Bryan Murray. “But it has been debated at the league level and it’s pretty much a certainty, that if the goaltender is touched, it is a penalty.

“You want to check him and we talked about it a great deal. If he went to a certain corner, then we wanted to challenge him. But knocking him down wasn’t really an option.

“At the (league) meetings, Philly as much as anybody complained about the goaltender getting bumped. So having a rule like that is right down his alley. He’s a big part of their game plan. He makes their defense so confident.”

Washington General Manager David Poile indicated that a reassessment of the rules involving goaltenders would be a priority at the June meetings, because of the impact of Hextall’s playmaking.

“We need to talk about it, because it’s really been brought to light for the first time in this series,” Poile said. “Here you have a goaltender used as an integral part of a team’s strategy, not to stop the puck but to move it out of the zone.

“There’s a continual debate about goaltenders, and it’s almost unanimous that they’re sacred players and can’t be touched. It’s traditional thinking. But if this becomes the vogue, there should be no such thing that you can’t check them.”

Perhaps the most significant item in the NHL rule book is the one that differentiates between “players” and goalkeepers. There is a note in rule 15 that a “player” may be substituted for a goalkeeper, but that he shall not be permitted the “privileges” of the goalkeeper.

It may be time to take the goalie’s privileges away if he wanders away from the net. Certainly, there will be strong arguments for including goalies in the rule that limits stick curvature to a half inch.

“That was discussed at one time and everyone laughed,” Poile said. “They figured if a goalie’s stick was curved, he couldn’t stop the puck. But Hextall stops it pretty well.”

As the Flyers play the Patrick Division final series against Pittsburgh, it will be interesting to see whether the Penguins try to be more aggressive in combating Philadelphia’s goalie-integrated defense--and how closely the officials penalize contact with Hextall.