During my hockey infancy, I have learned of all the great names:   Cheevers, Dryden, Esposito, Parent, Plante and Sawchuk.  These are the vague images in the collective hockey memory, like ghosts of Christmas Past.  Today, we follow the exploits of Brodeur, Hasek and Roy and say that giants still walk among us.  And they do.

But could that be in jersey size only?

For the majority of this decade, we have been treated to a wide variety of goaltending fireworks (sometimes the action spilling out to center ice in the case of Messrs. Vernon and Roy) leaving many to wonder, "How did they do that?"   That included the powers-that-be at the NHL home office.  They noticed a trend more disturbing than the number of times Bryan Marchment disabled someone.   Somehow, Garth Snow's shoulders stood higher than the top of his mask.  For some strange reason, Patrick Roy's jersey was being rented out by the Ringling Bros. in the off-season.  The League had been looking all over to find ways of increasing scoring except at the reason the pucks weren't going in:  the goalie.

So the League clamped down on oversized gear.

And as the size of the pads went down, so did many goalie's save percentage.  The League's elite three are finding themselves lit up more than fatties at a NBPA meeting.  Which has left many of us wondering things like, "Who the hell is Jimmy Waite?" and, "Has Tommy Salo always been this good?"

I don't think that these journeymen have gotten any better, it's just that the greats don't look so great any more.  Truthfully, I would attribute it more to anemic defenses in Colorado, Buffalo, and surprisingly, in New Jersey.   There are more players camping out in front of Patrick Roy than there were people waiting to score tickets for the last Rolling Stones tour . . . though that might be saying much. Could it be that maybe the League was right?  That maybe goalies had taken unfair advantage of the Selannes and the Jagrs of the world.

Could it be that with expansion and free agency there is still more parity in an already evenly-matched league. 

Or maybe it's just that the age of giants has past.

"Get out the A-1 sauce, I'm done."