NHL players handedness

[Roboturner913]

I'm righthanded and always shot righthanded and the other way never felt natural. If I need to have one hand on the stick it was the left. Which I guess makes sense?

But then again I've always swung a baseball bat left-handed....but I play golf right-handed...hmm

 

[major major]

The idea is to have your most dexterous hand on top where you can get fancy with it, and use the lower hand as a fulcrum. If you go one-handed for some reason you definitely need your best hand on top.

Americans just play right-shot more because they tend to learn golf and baseball first. But if it was hockey first for everyone you would expect to see shotedness roughly correspond with handedness (in an inverse relationship).

 

[Chrisinroch]

American right handed who shoots lefty. Son is right handed who shoots right.

 

[M88K]

American,
Ambidextrous, I own both left and right sticks and use them depending on how i feel on a particular day, i also have a straight blade which is my preferred stick because of the freedom of handedness in game, but the curved blade has so many benefits over the straight stick that i've got away from using It.
Truthfully i don't even know if they make straight sticks anymore. Once the few i have break I may be SOL

 

[Birko19]

I only play hockey for fun, I'm right handed and shoot right. Using a left stick feels so weird.

Anyways, I think the idea that those who use their dominant hand on top are better stick handlers while those on the bottom are better shooters is not true actually, it just depends what feels natural to you.

 

[ARoggy94]

I'm right handed and would play shoot left. Holding a stick to my right side is just so alien and un-naturally feeling to me.

If you shoot left you have your stick in your right hand 100% of the time

 

[Finnish your Czech]

I'm right handed and shoot right handed. My dad taught me how to play so he just gave me a right handed stick and told me how to use it.

 

[ARoggy94]

The idea is to have your most dexterous hand on top where you can get fancy with it, and use the lower hand as a fulcrum. If you go one-handed for some reason you definitely need your best hand on top.

Americans just play right-shot more because they tend to learn golf and baseball first. But if it was hockey first for everyone you would expect to see shotedness roughly correspond with handedness (in an inverse relationship).

Well put. If you're a left handed shot, your left hand simply stick handles back and forth while your right hand (in our example the dominant hand) is responsible for almost all of the mobility of the stick. Of course this is anecdotal but from my 20 years of playing hockey I really believe the narrative that a righted handed person that shoots left is a more dominant puck carrier while if he shot right his shot would be more powerful.

To test this, a semi skilled hockey player can stick handle with just his right hand on the knob of the stick while it would be difficult to stick handle with your left hand half way down to the stick if that makes sense :p

 

[dr robbie]

Right, right for me.

Growing up, we were always told that right handers shoot right, left shoot left. Once I did it for awhile, it was too difficult to go back, even after I figured out it didn't have to be that way.

Still not sure if it matters much. I feel like it helps more having the dominate hand lower for shooting (wrist shots in particular) but helps more having the dominate hand higher for poke checks and one handed anything really. If it matters at all, probably not much over all compared to practice and talent.

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Players that are right hand dominant and shoot right handed are said to have more power on their shots for example Ovechkin, Stamkos and Laine have some of the best one timers in the game and are all right handed (not sure if theyre right hand dominant though). Where players that are right dominant but shoot left have better puck control and defensive abilities. It would be interesting to determine the dominant hand of certain NHLers.

Why does my shot suck though then?

 

[GBLeaf]

I'm glad this has been highlighted as I couldn't work out why left-handed stick holding was so common, as i'm left-handed writing, but would be right-handed in hockey. Yet would pitch left handed in baseball, but bat right handed.

But then maybe i'm a little odd as I throw tennis balls with my left, but would throw a soccer ball from my right arm.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

I'm right-handed but I can hit from both right-handed and left-handed in baseball as well as use left or right handed hockey sticks, mainly depended what wing I played at the time, because, yay one-timers.

 

[Mad Brills*]

Yeah, I also catch with my right in hockey/baseball despite being left handed

 

[Quarter]

Canadian, right-handed, throw right, bat right, kick right, shoot left.

I have no idea which way my dad shot when he played... then again, he was a goalie in the 1970s so its relevance isn't exactly important.

 

[thepuckmonster]

The Sedins both shoot left but IIRC Henrik is left handed and Daniel is a right handed.

 

[Esq]

Dominant right and do everything right-handed -- hockey, tennis, baseball, football, golf, etc.

Absolutely useless with my left hand.

 

[Clare2904]

If you shoot left you have your stick in your right hand 100% of the time

Sorry maybe I wrote it wrong, I'm still learning about hockey. I meant if I was to place the stick to my right, i.e my left hand at the top. That to me just doesn't feel right.

To add another sport to the mix, does anyone here play Tennis? Again I am right handed (English) whilst I play right handed (one-handed Backhand) yet can actually hit a decent forehand with my left. If I was to play baseball or golf I would hit right.

 

[Morlu]

I'm right handed. Shoot left, golf right, bat right. Shooting right just felt so odd too me.

 

[SnoopDogg]

Right handed and I shoot right

 

[Ceremony]

I'm right handed, I've played sports with a stick and I've no idea how anyone could play them with the stick on the opposite side.

 

[Terry Yake]

right handed

shoot lefty in hockey, golf righty, and bat righty in baseball

having your dominant hand on top gives you more control of your stick, which is why most danglers are lefty. kane, datsyuk, crosby, mcdavid, gaudreau, tavares, thornton, etc

while having your dominant hand on the bottom gives you a more powerful shot, which is why most snipers are righty. ovie, laine, stamkos, carter, seguin, kovalchuk

 

[HoBOonFiRE]

right handed

shoot lefty in hockey, golf righty, and bat righty in baseball

having your dominant hand on top gives you more control of your stick, which is why most danglers are lefty. kane, datsyuk, crosby, mcdavid, gaudreau, tavares, thornton, etc

while having your dominant hand on the bottom gives you a more powerful shot, which is why most snipers are righty. ovie, laine, stamkos, carter, seguin, kovalchuk

Yeah I do think that is the case, assuming they are all right hand dominant.

 

[Slot]

Yeah, I also catch with my right in hockey/baseball despite being left handed

Well yeah in baseball righties catch left so that they can throw right. Lefties catch right so they can throw left.

 

[MessierII]

What does weird me out is how people shoot different in golf than in hockey. I'm Canadian and shoot left as do most people I know but I am one of a small minority who also shoot left in golf.

 

[Linkens Mastery]

What does weird me out is how people shoot different in golf than in hockey. I'm Canadian and shoot left as do most people I know but I am one of a small minority who also shoot left in golf.

I think it's because of how far apart your hands are. Holding a golf club feels different to me than a hockey stick.