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Well I’m no longer young and am far from a pro, so I’d say they work for the lazy old man stride. lol! I’ve been spoiled with how True skates fit/feel and these are similar. When I tried FT6 Pros after they were released they never felt ‘right’ even after months of skating on them. With the Warriors I just needed to tweak the lacing a bit and I was good to go. The boot is definitely stiff and I can barely flex the ankle opening but they do allow me to move easily when wearing them. Not exactly sure how they’re doing it, but CCM is claiming something similar with flex zones on the Vizion skate so like you said, manufacturers seem to be figuring this out. Height of the boot is also on the shorter side. Measuring the inside of the boot to the ankle cuff without an insole my True 9x4 are ~6.5” whereas the Warrior Alpha Pro are 6”. One less eyelet as well

I’ve been in a pro stock pair for a month or two at this point. Very comfortable and feel a lot like the True skates I’m used to. Since I have a lot of CCM Step steel I already swapped holders which was easy since the hole pattern is the same. Time will tell how they hold up although certain elements of the pro stock version (that may be tweaked for the retail version) felt a little cheap. As in, not a $1200 skate, but maybe an $800 skate

No, that's just the shell and liner. It's not made to reduce shock per se but some skates naturally hold up better against pucks than others due to the amount of padding they have, but it's not a feature that is considered or marketed with retail skates. For example, retail true skates are pretty good at preventing a degree of pain when taking shots, but if you want a beefed up shell for the purpose of blocking shots, you can get that option with custom true skates, or get aftermarket stick on heat moldable pieces similar to kydex.

Oh man, too loud for ice, but I may have to pick these up for roller… https://www.instagram.com/p/DY5Y-LGkria/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

left to right. P92, Pro97, Easton Iginla - not the best angle on the Easton.

No. Same size as the senior Iginla (little longer) with a lower lie.

I use the PRO97 mostly because of the 4 lie, so that's another factor to consider.

I think you’re giving an opinion “I like the p28,” without paying any attention to the question - “what plays similar to a p88.” That’s cool that you like the p28, there are other threads for that. It’s hardly an unpopular opinion, it’s easily one of the top three stock curves regularly available (ahem), and super popular at all levels of play. When someone asks what curve is similar to X, they aren’t asking you to just name other random curves. This is like if this were alcohol forum, and someone asked for a red wine recommendation, and you said “try and IPA, I love them.”

P28's my favorite retail curve at present as well, but it really comes down to personal preference. The P28's aggressive toe rocker and loft give a lot of people trouble, causing puck flutter, and sending shots high, respectively. Both of those pain points are even worse coming from P88, as it has the flattest toe rocker and least loft of the commonly available blades. It could be a few years before P86 becomes mainstream, but it would be a safer bet than P28 for anyone coming from P88.

Having read more on this and having looked at the skates in person it definitely doesn’t look like Vizion is the new Tacks. It’s new 100k. they are less stiff than tacks, and have less padding. McKinnon switched from 100k to Vizion. The toe cup is padded, overall skates feel very nice! $1500 CDN is a lot of money for the retail skate. and the shim is 6mm - massive!

ProStockHockeySticks is a good option if you don't want to switch from the pattern you know.

Fill with epoxy, redrill and secure with copper rivet?

Alternatively you could delay going to a curve boot even longer by trying to source the Pro Stock Bauer V Cut skates https://www.sighockey.com/collections/player-skates/products/bauer-vapor-2x-pro-v-cut-hockey-skates-9-d-a-280-ls-fly-ti