Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

The NHL wants to make goalie equipment smaller.

The feeling among the league’s general managers – who met Wednesday at NHL headquarters for their annual meeting – is that after a lot of talk about reducing the size of goalie equipment, they mean it this time.

They are going to work on cutting down the height of goaltenders’ pads so that hopefully more goals are scored and fans go home happy.

It could happen as early as next season.

The issue isn’t really the space the pads take up when the goaltender is upright; it’s how that padding above the knee makes the five-hole disappear when the goaltender goes into the butterfly position.