Ryan Miller slams goaltending equipment criticism: 'I’m inside the rules'

LOS ANGELES – Vancouver Canucks netminder Ryan Miller still has hard feelings over how he has been portrayed in the debate over the size of goaltending equipment.

Last season, TSN’s Ray Ferraro pointed out how Miller and Carey Price wear the same size pant even though Price is much heavier than the 168-pound Miller. Price is 6-foot-3 and Miller stands 6-foot-2.

According to Vancity Buzz, last season Ferraro told TSN 1040 how he thought goaltending equipment wasn’t just about protection, “it’s about their goals against average.”

The NHL and NHLPA had agreed to streamline goalie gear, which seemed to have gotten too big in recent years, for this season, but that has reportedly hit a snag based on equipment manufacturers and other issues.

Because of these comments, Miller feels singled out as a poster boy for gear that has become too large. Even before Ferraro’s comments, other media outlets have noted how Miller looks much bigger in his gear than he does away from the rink.

[Join a Yahoo Daily Fantasy Hockey contest now]

“They started using my photo because Ray Ferraro started saying my name to correlate with pants and he doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Miller said. “Ray’s never been in the locker room. He’s never seen me in person. I’ve never spoken to him. He’s going off of being a fan, fanboy so if he wants to come in the locker room and have a chat, I’m here every day. We have an open locker room and he can walk in and have a discussion, but he seems to just want to take shots from the outside about something he doesn’t know anything about other than visual.”

This isn’t the first time Miller has called out Ferraro, who is one of the more respected and informed analysts in the NHL. Last season Miller first voiced some displeasure at Ferraro after the analyst initially made the comments. Ferraro then said he understood why Miller would be upset.

“He’s just really sensitive about the fact I named him,” Ferraro said. “You know what, if he was in TV and he’d have named me, I’d be pissed off at him too. My job is to offer opinion, and my opinion is it’s absolutely flat out ridiculous the gear these guys wear.”

Miller was part of the competition committee group that looked at goaltending equipment in the past and believes he’s singled out because of his lean frame and how the equipment appears on him.

“I’m inside the rules. Where my pants look big is there’s proportional goaltending equipment. I was part of the competition committee when that went in. I worked with (senior director of hockey operations) Kay (Whitmore) on that. You’re allowed to cover the width and length of your body. Some of my pants are longer because my hip bone to my knee, this area in between from my belt, so basically my femur, is a couple inches longer than average and the pant is made to the average, so it’s longer,” Miller said. “So I mean if you’re looking at it you see the length. I don’t see the width. The width is the same as everybody.”

Added Miller, “My pants, I mean they have a different look because they aren’t seamed like some of the guys. They’re a really old model but they fit the gauge the way they’re supposed to fit.”

Miller notes there are reasons why other parts of his gear look bigger to the naked eye, but he’s not bending the rules to stop more pucks

“I take the thickness on the front my shoulder and my chest here, so when I bend over it looks big but it’s not the frame,” Miller said. “It’s just forward so I can take that shoulder impact. If guys want to get into it they can come in the locker room, they can look at the gear.”

Overall, it’s not something that often plays into the 36-year-old former Vezina Trophy winner’s daily consciousness, especially in a contract year where he has missed a few games with an undisclosed injury. Last season Miller struggled with a 2.70 goal-against average and .917 save percentage in 51 games and hoped this season he could rediscover some of his earlier form.

Miller has only played once where he picked up a win stopping 25 of 25 Calgary Flames shots on goal in a shootout victory.

“I feel good. I feel like the longer I play the more I understand what I need and I feel like I came in strong, had a good camp and feel like I pretty much established the game I wanted to play,” Miller said. I” think I’m in good position and feel strong coming off a year and a half ago tearing my MCL. I think last year I felt strong but there were some other things correlating to that. Just once you injure something everything else shifts around. I think I worked through a lot of that stuff that was affecting me the last year and a half and I feel like I’m more clear, healthy and balanced than I’ve been in a while so just go from there.”

– – – – – – –

Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper

MORE FROM YAHOO SPORTS