Andrei Vasilevskiy Caught Using Equipment Loophole To Cheat

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Tyler Ball
September 22, 2023 (5:35 PM)

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The NHL rules have a lot of grey areas to them. Many rules can be bent or broken by finding slight loopholes within them. This is the case for a new change that Andrei Vasilevskiy has made to give himself and the Lightning an advantage.

Vasliveskiy Finds An Equipment Loophole

The job of an NHL goaltender is incredibly difficult. Giving up less than 3 goals a game generally means you're doing a good job. In a position this difficult any advantage that can be gained needs to be taken advantage of. Andrei Vasilveskiy found one of those advantages this offseason.

Generally, the color of a goaltender's equipment such as pads and mask are mandated by the NHL. One area that the NHL apparently forgot to mandate was the skate holders. These could be any color.

Vasilevskiy must have figured this out and has now made his skate holders black. This makes it more difficult to differentiate a puck from his skate meaning that reviews for pucks crossing the goal line become more difficult.

Potentially going to make it harder to see the puck over the line if it's along or under his skate

No rule on the color there... only requirement is that the stick knob has to be white tape.

Vasilevskiy will likely face controversy at some point during the season if a goal review comes down to a puck blending into his skates.

Will Vasilevskiy Start A Trend?

With this new-found information, I wonder if other goalies will follow Vasilevskiy's lead. If this is completely legal like it seems to be then it should be a no-brainer. A bit of a color switch for a massive advantage on the ice.

If this ends up being outlawed it could also lead teams and goaltenders wanting to get rid of black tape on a skater's stick. This has the same effect as the skate holders do. It will be interesting to see if this becomes a bigger deal as the season continues.

As Read On - Markerzone - Vasilevskiy Caught Trying to Cheat NHL Rules