2 Dallas Stars players have made the switch to VH (Cody Eakin, Ryan Garbutt) and 2 Defenseman are wearing Mako II (Sergei Gonchar, Jyrki Jokipakka). One of my local LHS finally got some in to try. Unfortunately they were about a half size too small so my size would need to be ordered, but I got an idea of the feel. It's very different but as you said, it's not flimsy or soft. The flex feels "right" and not awkward like it does in supremes when you don't use the top eyelets.