The NHL will use 3-on-3 overtime beginning in 2015-16 and New Jersey Devils goaltender Cory Schneider believes fans will love the new format. At the same time, Schneider is a bit wary about how the open 3-on-3 format in overtime will negatively influence a goaltender’s statistics.
Schneider spoke with ESPN and mentioned his concerns about how the change will be difficult on goalies and their stats will suffer as a result.
“It’s going to be interesting for the goalies. I was a passenger during that discussion. I suggested a side category where a goalie’s 3-on-3 stats could be hidden away and not put into your main stats, because it’s going to be tough. There’s so much talent in the NHL and sometimes 5-on-5 opens up, but 3-on-3 is going to open up and fans are really going to love it. It’s going to be up and down the ice. It’s going to be hard for us goalies, so we’re going to have to be really sharp and ready to go.”
Schneider’s concern is understandable, but it’d probably be a stretch to separate out a goaltender’s OT stats from their other numbers. It’d be a slippery slope as then you’d have to remove every player’s OT stats from their overall total and that would then raise questions about other areas of the game.
As others have mentioned, an empty-net goal scored by a player carries as much weight as a 5-on-4 or even a 4-on-5 goal. If you suddenly make OT stats for goalies fall into their own category, wouldn’t you need to start separating out other offensive categories too?
Hockey is constantly evolving and fans know – or should know – to view stats with the proper lenses.
