I've never been a goalie but I have some observations:
-Patrick Roy brought in the era of the butterfly. It worked well for him and everyone else started to adapt.
-In tight, its hard to lift the puck and there's going to be a defenseman that wants to take your head off. Also if you are on the ice you can trap the puck and stop play. Standing you are going to be looking for a 2nd or third chance. No?
-It seems to me that you have better view of things above than things below. You probably know more about that than I do.
-you can flash a glove faster than a skate.
-I wonder if the dropping to butterfly is a way to get mentally in position? Sort of like being square to the shooter?
-the goalies themselves are bigger than ever so even in the butterfly they are more eye level with the shot coming in. Heck, when Ben Bishop lays down you've got the ice covered.
-just like a face mask made it easier to block a slapshot, the bigger/better pads have made it easier for the goalie to get down where sticks and pucks are flying. Heck, Lundquist uses his face mask to block shots for fun.
There is talk of making the goal bigger. I wonder if that will change people going down so fast.
Personally, my fav goalie of all time was Hasek. You never new what he would do. He would stand, flop, roll, and, best of all, he had flexibility that seemed not humanly possible. Slinky was fun to watch. You just never knew how he would play the puck. He just couldn't stick handle with a darn.
Next in my list is Tim Thomas. Gustsy, gritty, a great eye for the puck, played out beyond the blue paint
and NEVER EVER GAVE UP. Of course being a Bruin and winning the cup didn't hurt either
but I always thought he was a blast to watch.
Third would be Hextall. The only goalie that had more PIMS that most of the team...
He liked to travel around and was a great stick handler (way better than Brodeur IMO)
So what do you think?