NHL Is Looking To Get Rid Of Emergency Backup Goalies Because They Hate Fun

We are in the dog days of the NHL season now. After the trade deadline there's some playoff races, but for the most part the general sports fan population is just sitting around waiting for the playoffs to start. Once in a blue moon the NHL absolutely takes over social media and it happened the other night in the Toronto-Carolina game because the Canes lost both of their goalies and were forced to call on the EBUG. The emergency backup goalie. And you know what...it was SPECTACULAR. It always is. A regular dude. A men's league guy. A 42 year-old zamboni driver gets to live out all of our dreams and play in an NHL game before going back to his life. He goes viral, his wife goes viral, he goes on the Colbert Report. For once, everyone is talking about hockey and it's beautiful and positive. 

The NHL's response to all of that...get rid of it. 

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“It's something we've given some consideration to over the years. As recently as last year, we discussed [it] with the general managers. It happens very, very rarely, but when it happens, it obviously raises everybody's attention to the issue and whether there are fixes that need to be made to that particular issue,” he explained. “We have to work with the [NHL] Players' Association. Who's a player? Who's not a player? What qualifies all of that? But obviously we want what's best for the game, and we want to make sure people aren't putting themselves in danger by playing goal in a National Hockey League game. ... So that's obviously something we have to continue to work through."

That's from Deputy Commissioner Bill Daley. Shut up man. We all love it. It almost never happens, but it's one of the highlights of the season every year. It was when Scott Foster did it for the Hawks and it was with David Ayres the other night. There's no magic in teams carrying a 3rd goalie that is the equivalent of a bullpen catcher. The proposals I've seen have a travel goalie making like 60k per year. Basically it'd be some junior or college washout who is probably trying to delay starting his real life. I don't want to see that guy in a game. I want the old fat bum who will have a story for the beer league locker room for the rest of his life. Everyone wants that. Nobody would turn that situation down. The excuse of safety is bullshit. Give us the fun. Long live the EBUG.