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With protective especially, there is no “best.” At some point you are trading degrees of breathability and movement and weight for protection. So, you gotta figure out how to configure those different things that work for you. Think of it like creating a character in a video game. You have an allotted number of points, so you can’t just put every category at 100. If you want lighter, they’ll be slightly less protective, etc It’s been a while since I wore CLs, and everyone liked them, but it’s not like you’re gonna put them on and be like “oh, these are clearly noticeably better than everything else and it was worth paying $200 for a used pair of 10+ year old shoulder pads, plus all the time I spent looking for them.” Rather than thinking about “THE BEST,” the about “these are fine.” Get something that does its job and you don’t notice them much, and spend the money on sticks or drugs or something fun. Protective stuff generally won’t improve your game like sticks or skates might*. Just find something you can be content with and don’t overthink it. *these really don’t either, but let’s pretend.

Quick clarification. In the chart, does -20mm mean the pivot point is moved back 20mm which would translate to forward pitch?

Ouch! That must have been a crazy amount of pitch, poor knees. I'm glad you were able to fix it. Sometimes we really create our own suffering. I remember playing in skates that had a lot of forward pitch and my lower back would be very tired after games. I thought it was normal until I changed skates and it went away, turns out it was the pitch of the boot causing it the whole time.