Source Details

{
    "source_type": "extension",
    "content_hash": "e730fbf3591b7496ea608e427d68034b6250195d0fa50e51bd6ce8297f39785a",
    "submitted_via": "chrome_extension",
    "extension_version": "1.0.18",
    "original_url": "https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7620128\/2026\/09\/22\/nhl-sumo-wrestler-goalie-question\/?emc=edit_nn_20260926&nl=the-morning&segment_id=227102",
    "parsed_content": "Red Light newsletter\u00a0\ud83c\udfd2\u00a0| This is\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s\u00a0hockey\u00a0newsletter.\u00a0Sign up here\u00a0to receive Red Light directly in your inbox.Good morning to everyone except people who occasionally catch themselves calling the NHL exhibition season \u201cspring training.\u201d In other words, me. I do that. Somebody, please help me.We\u2019re officially one week away from meaningful NHL hockey. Let\u2019s go.\n Maddie Meyer \/ Getty ImagesNo Dumb QuestionsWe believe that in hockey, as in life, there are no dumb questions. So, if you have something you\u2019ve always wondered about the sport, ask away by emailing us at redlight@theathletic.com.I teased this one last week, calling it \u201cthe single most common (and almost certainly most ridiculous) question\u201d this feature receives. Some of you may have figured out what it would be. Either way, it\u2019s finally time to take it on.The sumo goalie questionAre there any physical restrictions (height, weight) on the goalie position? If not, why has no team thought to sign a sumo wrestler and just plant them in goal? \u2014 Bill P.Ah yes, the idea of finding the widest athlete possible, putting him on skates and wedging him into the net with instructions not to move. This is one of those ideas I\u2019m pretty sure every hockey fan has come up with at some point, right up there with \u201ctell all six players to just lay in a stack in the crease to block the whole net.\u201d It\u2019s ludicrous. It\u2019s also kind of intriguing.But would it work?First things first: No, nothing in the rulebook limits the size of a goalie. (Their equipment, yes, but not the goalie themselves.) With that said, I can think of three main problems with the sumo goalie plan:1. The measurements don\u2019t quite work: Let\u2019s start with the basics. An NHL net is four feet high by six feet wide. As you may have noticed, most people are not. That includes the world\u2019s biggest sumo wrestlers, though they come closer than most. One wrestler, who\u2019s billed as \u201cthe widest sumo in the world,\u201d claims to be 70 inches wide. Even if we take his marketing team at its word, that still leaves us two inches short of covering the whole net.And of course, that guy is much more round than rectangular, meaning the gaps get bigger in the corners \u2014 which is a problem, because \u20262. Today\u2019s snipers would pick them apart: Maybe the sumo plan would have worked at some point in hockey history, when players would focus on shooting as hard as they could while hoping the puck found an opening somewhere. But today\u2019s stars? Give an Alex Ovechkin or Auston Matthews or Connor Bedard even a few inches to shoot at, knowing the goalie wouldn\u2019t move much to react to their shot, and they\u2019d light him up.Put it this way: When a TV show tested the sumo idea many years ago, it brought in an NHL player and found that he had an easy time scoring. The name of that offensive dynamo? George Parros. Yeah, I\u2019m guessing Draisaitl would be able to find the net once or twice.3. Modern goalies do more than stop pucks: Granted, that\u2019s their main job. But let\u2019s imagine we found a willing sumo wrestler and taught him to skate just well enough to get from the bench to the crease and back for each period with some help, wedged him in the net and told him to stay put. That means no playing the puck on shoot-ins, which is a key part of every team\u2019s defensive-zone structure these days. No quick passes back up ice on the power play. You couldn\u2019t pull him for an extra attacker on a delayed penalty or late-game situation. And it\u2019s fair to assume rebound control would be a weakness.\n \n \n \n Those aren\u2019t the only issues; I didn\u2019t even get into how you\u2019d actually find someone willing to do this. (\u201cHey man, I know you\u2019re a famous and highly respected athlete, but would you want to quit that job to get hit by vulcanized rubber going 100 mph for three hours a night? You may need to take a pay cut. Hello? Weird, I think we got disconnected.\u201d) But, as athletic as sumo wrestlers are, we can safely conclude that the idea wouldn\u2019t work. At least not in today\u2019s game.Could it work someday? Never say never \u2014 I\u2019m old enough to remember a time when we thought it was an immutable rule of physics that goalies couldn\u2019t be over 6 feet tall, and now they\u2019re all either lumbering giants or Juuse Saros. Maybe we see the same thing happen with width.But I\u2019m not banking on it. And now you know why you shouldn\u2019t either.\n Jeremy Swayman.Joe Hrycych \/ Getty ImagesModelingProjections march onWe\u2019ve reached the halfway point of The Athletic\u2019s NHL season projections. Do you know where your favorite team is?Hopefully not. After all, these previews are released in reverse order of the forecast standings, starting with the lowly Vancouver Canucks and working up to the actual contenders. If you haven\u2019t seen your team yet, that\u2019s good news.The 16 teams revealed so far don\u2019t include any true shockers, though there were some surprises. Three playoff teams from last season are projected for under 90 points this year, including the Anaheim Ducks (who won a round), the Boston Bruins (who had 100 points) and the Pittsburgh Penguins (who have Sidney Crosby).On the flip side, we haven\u2019t seen teams such as the Ottawa Senators or Columbus Blue Jackets yet, despite their drama-filled offseasons. The Philadelphia Flyers haven\u2019t appeared yet either, meaning the model believes last year wasn\u2019t a fluke. The New Jersey Devils aren\u2019t on the list yet either, despite putting up a meager 87 points last season and trading their starting goalie in the offseason.Out west, there are fewer surprises; with the Winnipeg Jets appearing in today\u2019s list, all eight teams that missed the playoffs in the Western Conference last year have already made their appearance. The model is pessimistic about the West in general, with all four of the worst teams and six of the bottom seven being from the conference.None of this will matter much once the season starts and we start seeing games that count. But for now, it\u2019s a great chance to calibrate those expectations. If you can\u2019t get enough of season lookaheads, I\u2019ll have my annual four-division dive into the entire league later in the week. Here\u2019s hoping you won\u2019t have seen your team show up on the big list yet by then.\n Bruce Bennett \/ Getty ImagesTomorrow, it\u2019s your turnSpeaking of content that\u2019s on its way, the annual prediction contest is set to publish tomorrow morning. It will be similar to last year\u2019s contest, so you can get a refresher on how it all works by looking back at that one.That makes today a good day to start working on your entry. You\u2019ll just need up to five teams you feel sure will make the playoffs, and up to five more that won\u2019t. Figure out your awards favorites, hit the books on those rookies and start putting together your list of guys who\u2019ll definitely get traded.And of course, there\u2019s always the dreaded bonus question, which gives you the chance to risk your entire score on the added points that could put your entry over the top. That question changes every year, and as a special thank you to Red Light subscribers, I\u2019m revealing it for you here a day early:Name one player who will score at least 50 goals this year.That\u2019s it. No qualifiers or exceptions, for the first time in contest history. Of course, only two players in the entire league managed to hit the 50-goal mark last year, and neither was a usual suspect like Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl or Auston Matthews.Do you have the nerve to offer up an answer? Will there even be a right answer this year? It\u2019s not an easy choice to make, but your good taste in newsletters means that at least now you\u2019ve got an extra 24 hours to make it.To enter the contest, visit our NHL page (or my author page) tomorrow around 9 a.m. ET and leave your entry in the comments section of the post.\n The \u201cRocket\u201d Richard Trophy.Ethan Miller \/ Getty Images\ud83d\udca1 Trivia Time!On the subject of 50-goal scorers or lack thereof, we should point out that it\u2019s rare but not unheard of for the NHL to go a full season without a single 50-goal scorer. It happened in the two Covid-shortened seasons, as well as the 2013 lockout year. But those weren\u2019t the only times.So, for today\u2019s question: Can you name all of the players who\u2019ve won the \u201cRocket\u201d Richard Trophy without scoring 50 goals in that season?\nA few hints: First, remember that the Rocket, given annually to the league\u2019s top regular-season goal scorer, has existed as an award only since 1999, so you don\u2019t need to go too far back. And there\u2019s at least one player who appears on the list multiple times, and at least one season with multiple winners due to a tie.\nCoast to Coast\ud83c\udfcb\ufe0f The new NHL CBA bans fitness tests at training camp, and not everyone is thrilled about it.\ud83e\uddf3 You\u2019ve heard a lot about this new era of players forcing trades. But is it all that new? I built an All-Star team of players who said \u201cget me out of here.\u201d\ud83e\udd11 Shayna Goldman has a contract vibe check after a wild summer of spending.\ud83d\udc31 Aleksander Barkov\u2019s long road: Julian McKenzie talks to the Panthers captain about his rehab and return from knee surgery. Good read.\ud83e\udd88 Expectations are much higher in San Jose this year. Is that good? And how are they dealing with it?\ud83c\udf99\ufe0f On Monday\u2019s \u201cThe Athletic Hockey Show\u201d podcast, it\u2019s Max Bultman and Mark Lazerus on the ongoing issues for the Blue Jackets, with Kirill Marchenko refusing to commit long-term and Adam Fantilli unsigned and absent from camp. Plus: Who really holds the power in today\u2019s NHL after a seemingly unprecedented offseason? Watch or listen here.\n Jarome Iginla.Jeff Vinnick \/ Getty ImagesTrivia AnswerEight players have won the Rocket Richard Trophy without scoring 50 goals, including one who did it three times.They are:\nTeemu Selanne in 1999 (47 goals)\nRick Nash, Jarome Iginla\u00a0and Ilya Kovalchuk in 2004 (three-way tie, 41 goals each)\nAlex Ovechkin in 2013 (32 goals in a 48-game season)\nSidney Crosby in 2017 (44 goals)\nOvechkin in 2018 (49 goals)\nOvechkin and David Pastr\u0148\u00e1k in 2020 (48 goals each in a 70-ish-game season)\nAuston Matthews in 2021 (41 goals in a 56-game season)\nMost clicked in Friday\u2019s newsletter: Why the Winnipeg Jets can\u2019t afford to make an example of Connor Hellebuyck.\ud83d\udceb Love Red Light? Check out The Athletic\u2019s other newsletters.\nSean McIndoe has been a senior NHL writer with The Athletic since 2018. He launched Down Goes Brown in 2008 and has been writing about hockey ever since, with stops including Grantland, Sportsnet and Vice Sports. His book, \"The Down Goes Brown History of the NHL,\" is available in book stores now.Follow Sep 26, 2026Connections: Sports EditionSpot the pattern. Connect the termsFind the hidden link between sports termsPlay today's puzzleWhat did you think of this story?MEHSOLIDAWESOME",
    "published_at": "2026-09-22T14:59:25+00:00",
    "author_name": "Sean McIndoe",
    "site_name": "The Athletic",
    "section": null,
    "publisher": "The Athletic",
    "ai_headline": "The sumo goalie question",
    "ai_simplified_title": "NHL Analyst Debunks Sumo Goalie Theory",
    "ai_excerpt": "An NHL analyst addresses the popular 'sumo goalie' question, exploring why a sumo wrestler would not be effective as a hockey goalie due to physical limitations and modern game demands. The article also covers NHL season projections and a 50-goal scorer prediction contest.",
    "ai_subject_tags": [
        "NHL",
        "Hockey",
        "Goalies",
        "Sumo Wrestling",
        "Sports Analysis",
        "NHL Projections",
        "Sports Trivia",
        "Red Light Newsletter"
    ],
    "ai_context_type": "Analysis",
    "ai_context_details": {
        "tone": "informative",
        "perspective": "analytical",
        "audience": "specialized",
        "credibility_indicators": [
            "expert_opinion",
            "data_cited"
        ]
    },
    "ai_source_vector": null,
    "ai_confidence_score": 0.9999999999999999,
    "ai_extraction_metadata": {
        "extracted_at": "2026-09-30T21:03:14.565393Z",
        "ai_model": "gemini-2.5-flash",
        "extraction_method": "automated",
        "content_length": 10896,
        "metadata_prompt_body_chars": 10896,
        "metadata_prompt_truncated": false,
        "url": "https:\/\/nytimes.com\/athletic\/7620128\/2026\/09\/22\/nhl-sumo-wrestler-goalie-question",
        "existing_metadata": {
            "author_name": null,
            "published_at": null,
            "domain_name": "nytimes.com",
            "site_name": null,
            "section": null,
            "publisher": null
        },
        "openai_refusal_gemini_fallback": false
    }
}

{
    "extracted_at": "2026-09-30T21:03:14.565393Z",
    "ai_model": "gemini-2.5-flash",
    "extraction_method": "automated",
    "content_length": 10896,
    "metadata_prompt_body_chars": 10896,
    "metadata_prompt_truncated": false,
    "url": "https:\/\/nytimes.com\/athletic\/7620128\/2026\/09\/22\/nhl-sumo-wrestler-goalie-question",
    "existing_metadata": {
        "author_name": null,
        "published_at": null,
        "domain_name": "nytimes.com",
        "site_name": null,
        "section": null,
        "publisher": null
    },
    "openai_refusal_gemini_fallback": false
}