It's actually kind of a tough problem.

A reserved fan ebug is a no go for reasons you stated and others.

An extra roster spot might work, but that's potentially someone playing not very much hockey. OTOH, we already have that scenario since it's a 23 person roster.

The thing is, this latest ebug appearance was kind of an important game. Goalies seem to get hurt more often now (someone just got hurt tonight), and as good as these stories are, you probably don't want to see an ebug when it matters.

Maybe just add the roster spot after the trade deadline or something

The obvious solution is to allow a trainer/coach to suit up in emergencies, teams travel with enough personnel that I'd be shocked if someone isn't as capable as most of the EBUGs.

And I do think keeping talent playing rather than coaching is one of the primary reasons they don't change the rule. With my rule change, if you're a 24 year old ECHL goalie how much money would it take to accept an EBUG "trainer" job? How would the cap deal with that could also be an issue.

Each team brings their own third goalie when it really matters, in the playoffs, and yeah, sometimes it's one of the coaches or trainers, but more often they just bring somebody who plays goalie a lot in his free time, just not at a professional level.

The third goalie would need to be one of their 50 players under contract, so it'd have to be a professional.

Doesn't mean they do a lot of their playing at a professional level.