Watch best analysis of shrinking goalie gear you’ll ever see (Video)

Corey Hirsch might not be invited to the next NHL goalies’ cocktail hour, but that’s OK. The former New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks netminder – now a rising-star analyst for Sportsnet – did the world a favor on Wednesday night and explained, in perfect detail, what the NHL should do to shrink goalie gear and increase scoring.

The key to the whole thing? Accomplishing that shrinkage without compromising player safety. That’s long been the shield used by goalie and by the NHLPA when it comes to equipment changes.

What Hirsch does, rather effectively, is argue that certain parts of the equipment are superfluous – for the love of puck, it’s actually called “The Cheater” – while other parts can be effectively whittled down without rendering them ineffective in protecting a goalie.

Watch it, because it’s succinct and insightful and will give you hope that Kay Whitmore and the NHL will be able to successfully alter goalie gear well before they’ll look to widen the nets.

It might mean they can no longer “make saves they don’t really make,” as was the Washington Capitals’ infamous criticism of Henrik Lundqvist, but that’s better than relearning the position with a giant net behind them.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.