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GMs discuss protecting goalies at meetings

Lucic Miller

We understand some of you might be getting sick of this whole “protecting the goalie” topic. If that’s the case, we’re sorry. However, the league’s general managers were concerned enough to talk about it this morning during their meetings in Toronto, so we have to report it. If you’re not interested, click here to read Mike Florio’s Week 10 NFL power rankings. The 49ers at No. 2? Whodathunkit!

Anyway, Penguins GM Ray Shero believes the NHL’s decision to not suspend Milan Lucic for his hit on Ryan Miller could have unfortunate consequences.

“If you get into a playoff series and these guys are going to play pucks and you run (goalies) over and get a two-minute penalty, I think you’re going to open up a set of pretty dangerous circumstances,” Shero said, as per NHL.com.

While such concerns were surely raised, it sounds like the meeting was more about clarifying the current rules than anything else.

“Brendan [Shanahan] has said the goalie is not fair game and that’s going to be the message to our team,” Shero said. “The goalie is not fair game. If the guy is going to play it outside the crease you have to be pretty careful.”

So just to reiterate, the goalie is not fair game. It’s right here in the rulebook.

Lucic wasn’t suspended because, as the rulebook states, “incidental contact, at the discretion of the Referee, will be permitted when the goalkeeper is in the act of playing the puck outside his goal crease provided the attacking player has made a reasonable effort to avoid such contact.”

Shanahan accepted Lucic’s defense that contact was unavoidable. I didn’t see it that way, but I’m not Shanahan. If I was, I’d have nicer clothes.