LadyStanley
Registered User
Blade whisperers, on-ice tests and a Tijuana trip: How an...
Athletic (paywall)
Interesting look at one player's improvement by changing stick. And how sticks are manufactured by Warrior in Tijuana.
Teams and most players are always for ways to improve offense. Or improve puck handling.
Athletic (paywall)
Interesting look at one player's improvement by changing stick. And how sticks are manufactured by Warrior in Tijuana.
Teams and most players are always for ways to improve offense. Or improve puck handling.
Some players have individual sponsorship deals in which they are paid to use certain sticks. Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews, for example, signed agreements with CCM and Bauer, respectively, even before they played their first NHL game.
But teams pay for most of their players’ sticks. Budgets can vary from $300,000 to half a million annually. Pittsburgh, guessed one equipment manager, is probably spending the most on sticks of any team in the league. It is up to the player to decide which company is best for his needs.
A stick is a player’s most personal piece of equipment. It is a musician’s instrument, a painter’s brush, a chef’s knife, a writer’s pen. The right stick tucks goals in nets and assists on blades. Wins follow. So do raises.And Adam Oates is a stick consultant guru (and charges beaucoup bucks for his services, top guy out there) and helps recommend specific functioning of sticks for his clients. Oates believes about 75% of the NHL players use the wrong sticks.
Better stick play improves scoring for and defense, "improving" the game for the fan, which puts more butts in the seats, eyes on the game, hears to the radio. Bottom line.
