Kgbeast

You keep on "either or" thing. Is it impractical to expect aesthetics and fit/performance in the same product? They do that with cars all the time (wink at the quote which, contrary to popular believe, most likely, has not come from Henry Ford). Either way, I am not saying that True skates suck and that I want leather and tube holders back if that is what prompt you to put the quote in. I am just saying that to me, and a couple of other weirdos, they perform great, fit even better, but are ugly ducklings never the less.

1. My mention of Mako is based purely on visual similarity. It has nothing to do with perforamance. All I said the round bulge in the heel look the same as on Mako shape wise as well as texture wise (fabric mesh) which I personally find pretty cheezy. 2. My argument was that skates do not have to look ugly to perform and fit well. There is nothing to inverse. 3. It is not a complaint, but an opinion that the skates look unappealing. When skates were made in a craftsman fashion by SVH... it was a boutique product that was ok to be stylistically challenged, however today, it is out in the mainstream and certain expectation are at play. Again, is is an opinion. 4. I know that the same holder used for the goalie skates... However, it looks a bit botched. You have great performing boot, but holder looks retrofitted. Rockered holder fitted with a runner that is "forced" flat, leaving pretty thin strip in the middle. Holder also puts goalies a bit high (based on some opinions of goalies who tried this). Perhaps, for mainstream argument sake, it might be good to have goalie holder and player holder purposely designed for two different tasks. by the way, can the goalie holder/runner fit in Sparx or prosharp pirtables?

... either way, they do not have to be ugly to fit or perform. For example, remove these weird dimples from true holders and they will look ok and perform just as well as they do now.

There could be something wrong with me, but I think these are pretty ugly. The resin/mesh heel reminds me Makos look which is not a compliment. It almost looks to me that if the side piece that has the VH logo on it, was a one piece with the foxing, completely covering this heel, it would have removed this bursting-out-bubble situation at the back and made this a much more stream-lined and easier on the eye skate.

His masks as well as goalie masks in general are pretty busy with graphics. I do not know if this one is over the top comparing to some others as far as that goes. The hideous yellow paint however looks like a plastic toy gold and I think this takes the obnoxious to the next level. I wish he would have gone with primarily gloss black background, gold leaf accents and gold-plated cage (not sure if gold-plated cage is practical). Unfortunately team name has gold in it, team colors have gold in them... it is nothing but a recipe for something garish and this mask is that. I think that it is pretty unfair for Vegas population to be stereotyped to a shiny and sparkly crap. But perhaps I am overly sensitive to stereotyping, being from Russia and have come across staggering number of people who thinks that Russia is covered in snow 11 month out of the year, brown bears roaming city streets, there is a chronic shortage of toilet paper, and that they need to speak loud and slow in order for me to understand them (but that is for venting spot). Anyways, will see how it looks in concert with the rest of the uniform and gear... perhaps it will look good on TV and from stands. ... I tell you though. This gold paint is pretty nice homage to MSH text color in the title blocks....

It is pretty easy to underestimate a simple and humble guy. I believe we have seeing only the tip of an iceberg. Playing center can take him to the next level and develop his defensive skills. With Jackets, he is the star. I believe that Kane to Panarin was what Sergei Fedorov was to Datsyuk. While it was pretty great, Datsyuk exposed himself as a legendary only after Fedorov was gone. I might be wrong here, but I think Torts here onto something. Then of course, this could be simply because CBJ ended up shy of centers and Panarin is the best choice to convert into one.

Just noticed that Jackets listed Panarin as #9 since his previous numbers are already taken by Murray and Bobrovsky. Also looks like Jackets expecting Panarin to play center. I am looking forward to the start of the season...

Adults getting in hockey skates do suffer from muscle pain and cramping. This is because your feet, instinctively, trying to grab the floor because of instability when you almost loose balance. Or the toes (instinctively) curl to take up the negative space in the boots. One way or another, your body does something to compensate for the lack of stability and balance. It is kind of like trying to walk on a thin curb. Trick is to force yourself to relaxes the toes and keep them straight. The inserts can help as they will take up some of the negative space, but until you become more secure on the skates, there might be a pain in various spots based upon what "you" trying to do. Look up some skates fitting videos on youtube or here, check your fit. If it is fine, just give it some time.

Injected lacing system is probably cheaper in manufacturing as they'd skip the eyelets riveting step as well as the cost of eyelets. I personally think, injected system looks a bit more modern and sporty, but IMO It does exactly zero for the actual skater.

When I hear "hospice" and "my mom" in the same sentence, I am very soreful for your family, especially your dad; loosing the soulmate is like loosing once soul itself. Your art did not need to go, but your dad going through a very unique circumstances, in some cases more difficult than loosing a parent or even a child. Please make him feel as if him throwing your sketchbook is not a big deal, even if it really is. I am sorry for what you and your family is going through.

It is quite likely that the consumables is the name of the game here. At the cost of the Sparks machine and the number of potential sales, it is not an exceedingly lucrative model, unless you factor in a pretty fast going consumables. This has to be a printer model to be interesting - give away the printers at basicaly cost, then make the real money on selling ink cartridges. This model is great and generally works great for both parties. Very smart. Doubt there is any reason to venture into pro market. Sparks is in a nice niche in home user market with a product that is very unappealing to compete against as Sparks has managed to set the standards high while price is pretty low.

Good call on his behalf. As far if he is the same or not, hard to say, but he is still a powerhouse, very fast, sniper and a one of the best danglers, and can drop gloves with the best of them. If he comes back next year, he should be able to put together a nice highlight reel.

Not sure about healthy scratch. He has 87 points in 17-18 season, second in KHL. Still a sniper and a dangler. Pretty fast and pretty furious. CBJ could use his size and experience. That said, it makes sense for him to sit out in KHL for one more year. In 2018, we will be an unrestricted free agent with no ties to Devils. He will be able to go with anyone who sign him, without any hoops to jump through. Another huge thing for Kovalchuck is to go and play in Winter Olympics which is his last chance. Plus since NHL will not be there in any capacity, it will take a miracle on ice for Russia not to take gold. I think Kovy will be really looking at that. Next year, at 35, with his experience and level of play, he can have a very good run in the right team, so he can bag a Stanley as well. If it was me, I would have gone to Olympics, then next year take a low contract from an NHL team that has good chance at the cup. Lots of changes in NHL this year, so it is pretty difficult to see who is what. This is another reason to wait.

... phone double post

IMO Looks unbalanced. Huge top tapers down to a dress shoe toe. VH never was an easy on the eye skate, but this one is pretty off putting. The vulcanized rubber look is not my cup of tee, neither is the shiny fiberglass hardhat looking heel. Is this a hinged top for forward flex kind of design? That rear view reminds me an actual skiboot sonehow.

Very well. I missed that until now... better yet(for me) one of the likely new homes for him is Columbus. Looks like Kovy was "getting familiar" with the area, whatever that means.

Noise in Russian hockey press suggesting that Kovalchuck will start 2017-2018 season in NHL.

It is pretty hard with goalies. Ferguson is not a prodigy, but is 3rd in WHL with saving percentage (922) which is pretty good out of a couple of dozen other goalies in the league. Even 194th pick is not that bad for a goalie. His NHL ranking is 8 out of 31 for NA which I think is pretty high.

...well, they also got high prospect goalie. But yeah. Did not see that coming.

OB is one of my faves, and I am looking forward to see him play. He tends to drop his eyes on the puck just after picking it up and kind of tunnels puck to target, be it a net or possible pass destinations. Imo this leaves him less aware of surrounding, opening him to hits and takeaways. Panarin is rarely gets hit and is very hard to take the puck away from. Other than that they have similar skills at scoring and creating plays. I was not saying OB does not know how to protect himself, it just he does not do it as well as Panarin. As for Kane boosting Panarin. I see that Panarin kind of takes a back seat when Kane is on the ice and instead of trying to score and create plays, he is more of a expecting Kane to do that. Lose of that connection and move to a different club should prompt him to be more independent and be the player he can be. But we will see. Jackets have pretty complicated raster I think.

Just noticed some welcome by me changes to the CBJ raster besides addition of Artemi Panarin. Vitaly Abramov - explosive forward who has lots of puck-handling skill, beautiful skating, and heart of a lion to go in the thick of it. A QMJHL graduate who have been a menace of the offensive zone for a couple of years now. He is a smaller guy and as of now has not shown lots of defensive value, but offensively is quite spectacular. Provided he is not intimidated and outplayed by NHL level, he should bring a slew of memorable highlights. Seeing him on the raster is a bit surprise, but it also shows CBJs willingness to give a shot to someone with a great promise. I hope Abramov will hit the NHL ice running and play his way out of being demoted to AHL as it often happens in situations like this. Oliver Bjorkstrandt - is a guy who showed lots of promise, but was not able to deliver in his start in NHL. He had to prove himself in AHL for a season or so. As anyone who watched him last season noticed, he showed worthy talent and an ability to score. create plays, and do all that in a quite spectacular manner last season. Love to see him on the raster as a proper part of the CBJ team. Those are some good offensive end gains, unfortunately, Jackets have not scored a great deal in the defensive area. So unless they do some more trading to reinforce the blue line, it will be left as it was last season with perhaps a chance of Gabriel Carlsson improving from his rather modest production. Perhaps, once again, Bobrovski will be able to compensate for any lacking in this area, which can get him another Vezina and Hart nomination next year.

I was delighted to see that Ivan Lodnia got drafted by Wild. He is our local, SoCal product. Born into hockey. Probably learned to skate before he learned to flush toilet. I am happy for his father who dedicated his life to the sport. Job well done! I have watched Ivan play a little bit and he is quite a treat. Now, I am adding Minnesota Wild to my NHL watch list.

"What's a YUOT?".... love that movie, going to watch it tonight now that you brought it up :).

Salary Caps are not my money to count, so I do not really care. Skill wise Panarin is excelent. I think Kane's shadow was holding him back, nor he needs Kane to set him up. He can be setup by anybody. He is a heads up player from birth and protects himself verywell (unlike Bjorkstrand for example) His big weakness is that he is a bit timid. Not a fighter, nor a hitter. He is also pretty small. But (the new) Torts seems to have a touch to get players like that to shine. I am totally expect Panarin to become as prominent as Atkinson if not more so. I can't wait for the season to start.

First, as I came across "Saad back to Chicago" headline, I was "you've got to be kidding me", but when articles opened up, I did the yes thing in my mind. While it is sad to loose Saad, I feel that Panarin is a much better fit to Jackets. Not sure how Blackhawks will do out of this, but I am pretty excited to see Panarin in blue. I think he will do exceptionally good this season if he stays.