What about the Goalies?

One question that I have surprisingly never been asked but that was posed to me by Len the Legend on the NHL 94 Podcast was regarding the goalies in SNES. Thus, I wanted to write a brief summary about why they are not covered in my writeups along with some general observations and anecdotes regarding them in game.

In general, I chose not to write about goalies for SNES because in most cases, a coach is either best off utilizing the starting goalie due to better ratings and/or not even overthinking the choice in general. There is a notable case where one may consider using John Blue instead of Andy Moog for Boston due to a better overall rating. However, in examination of Blue's attributes, it quickly becomes apparent that Blue's overall is boosted by a higher defensive awareness rating but yet his other base attributes are either the same or slightly worse than Moog. Further, there is still not a consensus all these years after the game's release on what difference the defensive awareness rating actually makes for goalies in SNES.

There is also the observation by myself and some others in the SNES community that goalies tend to play the same in Automatic Goalie mode regardless of size, attributes, etc.... Most one timers or dekes seem to result in goals from very similar angles regardless of who is in net. This, and because most goals scored in SNES online matchups come vs Automatic Goalies, is why I tend to lean towards the opinion that Goalie attributes don't matter as much on SNES.

To be fair, there does seem to be some difference in Manual Goalie mode in how fast goalies can slide across the crease to stop one timers/dekes or how easily they can be rammed and knocked out of position by a heavier opposing player. These differences are most likely tied to a goalie's agility, weight or some combination thereof. So this does present a few things to consider regarding goalies and which ones may feel best for a coach in Manual Goalie mode. However, I believe that in most cases, the best Manual Goalie will again be the default starter and that the decision is typically not one that needs to be subject to overthinking.

As always, I welcome any feedback, opinions, anecdotes, thoughts, or even facts drawn from the game's code that may have been discovered but is not widely known or circulated at this point. In the end, the more information shared on subjects like this, the more we all benefit whether in online play or general knowledge of the game. Further, should there be a sizeable wish or demand for Goalies to be included in my writeups, I'm always happy to take that into consideration even despite my opinions noted above.