flip12

For those turn-and-burn big shops too, where they offer a blanket 1/2" hollow or something and can do a tremendously terrible job depending on who's manning the wheel, a Sparx could be nothing but a drastic improvement in quality and consistency. I once had my skates sharpened at what was supposed to be a specialty shop at the edge of Minneapolis and my edges on one skate were like sine waves afterwards. If they're that busy, then get the juggling-multiple-machines act going previously mentioned by @stevebalchunas and you've got the possibility of offering a little more--a machine running your standard hollow and another one where you change out for a custom hollow; maybe you charge $1-$1.50 more for the employee intervention time to control which hollow is applied on the alternative machine, but suddenly you've still got consistency and quality with less training time required. I'm skeptical about a Sparx beating an engaged veteran sharpener, but I know well the rarity of finding true crafts(wo)men in any field. Curious, will the Pro version have longer lasting grinding wheels?

@IPv6Freely has a point: during that minute, you can do whatever you want. But the reason I mentioned PS in the first place was this: The grinding wheels have 10x the lifespan at 2x the cost.

The ProSharp Home? They say it has just one button. (https://prosharp.ca/products/prosharp-home)

Then maybe a ProSharp would make more sense.

Those who've had Kessels can chime in with better accuracy because, as a lefty, I've only studied his pattern in pictures and the ones I've seen aren't from as much of an overhead angle as the first pic you posted (they're usually a little more looking-down-the-shaft). But it looks really similar if not the same pattern as I've seen of his sticks floating around the web. Every time I see it, if I were a righty, that'd be my pattern! Enjoy!

If it's usual Kessel, he's often got a PM9 with a little open, mid-toe curve added; post some pictures of the curve and we can help identify its closest neighbors.

Marleau's also a similar size but can beat opponents with finesse and is usually pretty good defensively as well. He ticks a lot of the nice-little-things boxes. If he's paired with Matthews and stays healthy he could put in 30 again, maybe 20 the next year, then who knows? It's still a lot of paper for a guy his age.

But who among the TML '16-'17 roster compares to Marleau, experience-wise? I don't know how valuable it is or isn't, but I can see Matthews playing with Marleau for a year could accelerate his ascension, even if his learning curve is already leaps and bounds ahead of most of the pack. I recall Rob Blake saying how he remembers Melrose putting him between Larry Robinson and Gretzky when he was a rookie, because Barry was trying to get it into his head that he could be one of the best defenseman in the world if he would step up to it. https://www.nhl.com/news/blake-used-motivation-to-pave-way-into-hall-of-fame/c-738080 Chemistry's a good way to put it. You put two things together and you're not sure they're going to work...so maybe groundbreaking/theoretical/experimental chemistry. But once in a while it works.

It makes sense if they want to accelerate the young kids' development. Marleau's been a team captain for years and has lots of difficult playoff experience. Moore and Hainsey are also character guys that know what it takes to compete based on the little things that have prolonged their careers, because Marleau's production puts him in the lineup where that's not the case for the other two. It's a lot of money for Marleau, but it seems like all of this is an investment in the team's character. Literally buying experience in the hopes that it will rub off on the young guns.

Totally agree.

Yeah, KGB is right, you were thinking of 2016 Kovy, who was apparently missing Panarin pretty hard. 2017 Kovy was pretty beast again (with strong support from Datsyuk and Voynov). He's still only 34! This could give him the chance to be the second Russian to get 500 NHL goals. And I think he wants to win a Stanley Cup. His chance with the Devils was pretty dim with his injury limiting him and they didn't have so much offense aside from what he could produce when he was healthy.

How much does your girdle weight @Cosmic?

I'm with you personally, but the fact is it is a design product so on that plane it is necessary to discuss concept, fit and finish, etc. And plenty of shallower buyers will be swayed by looks alone.

I assumed that would go out the window, but the level of polish I expected instead is nowhere to be seen.

He had good chemistry with Panarin at SKA.

The new design looks at least as clunky as the MLX:

I've been watching their stock and they were almost out of the Shifts but recently got a bunch more in. It could be a last push of some stock that was sitting somewhere? I love a lot of the concepts in this boot, though the RPE's have them as well: aggressive forward angle, flexy but reinforced tendon guard, good wrap on the forefoot and extended toecap under the first laces. I'm not sure what size I would need though, and don't really need a new pair of skates yet. It's such a shame Alkali wasn't sold to Warrior instead. They could have been a great addition to the company and a rival on the ice skate market. It was nice having Justin Hoffman's design evolve and such a shame it got abruptly cut off just as it got to the RPD/RPE iteration :/

Are there any online retailers that show them? I'm curious about the pricing of the 68K. Looks like it lines up with the JetSpeed 370 at $300 according to the pricing on a UK retailer I found yesterday. If that's the case, I'm twice as keen on trying these as I was before. It's great what technology you can get for $300 these days. Back in the 90's, that was almost a top of the line skate and it is again, only with a few of the extra bells and whistles and bling excluded.

Bjorkstrand got hunted on a vicious boarding play by Polak, are there other instances where he failed to protect himself? It's not as easy to protect oneself against illegal hits... Another upside on OB you miss is he's a coach's son and he plays like it. It seemed Tortorella was gaga with Bjorkstrand at the end of the season and I think that's why. He makes the right play with and without the puck most of the time. It'll be interesting to see Panarin without Kane. I think Kane boosted him and you think Kane held him back. Interesting :)

I'm curious to see how he'll do out of the shadow of Kane. He created some serious chances for Russia in the World Championship, but that was on the bigger ice surface. He may prove easier to nullify when he's not the 3rd or 4th checking concern. Saad makes perfect sense back in Chicago to replace Hoss's play on both sides of the puck.

MacKinnon was in FT1s for a bit, but for the latest he was in 70Ks at the World Championship. Zucker's also one of the faster skaters in the league and he stuck with VH all year last season.

Totally agree. Unless that area has shown excessive wear, imitating the Bauer Supreme one95 heel cup only detracts from the essence of the VH->True boot. The next iteration could be spot on. But this one is too wishy-washy, lukewarm. Edit: And the new tongue looks cheap by comparison to the old ones.

They look clunkier than before.

Love the look of oughties sticks and shafts.

You make a great point about the certification boards in your second paragraph. It seems, though, there is a key difference in the case of the VT study, which is, all of the helmets they're testing have been approved by those boards. What VT is looking at, then, is "How do these already certified helmets actually perform in terms of damping collision forces similar to those incurred by hockey players in full contact leagues." It's an interesting question to study, and while you're right that it's not the best for companies to develop with, since they're subjected to the lab's analysis after releasing a new helmet, it is interesting to see that high price and high tech in a helmet doesn't perfectly correlate to a high collision damping score. Without having an independent assessment of how these different designs perform, vendors could just increase the price and the tech at will. (Now, though, if they're smart they'll probably just reverse-engineer the best results and package them in the most expensive helmet in their lineup to use VT's ratings to their advantage...and sure enough, the first ≈$300 helmet has the VT lab's current hight score.) This reminds me of when the Bauer 5000 helmet with the stiffer styrofoam-looking padding came out, and how that was supposed to be provide superior concussion protection, but didn't it turn out to be worse than the traditional VN foam in the run-of-the-mill helmets of the late '90's? Sure, helmets won't prevent concussions from whiplash. But that raises the question, what percentage of hockey head injuries are from whiplash? What would the potential benefits be to players if they had optimal collision damping in concussion prone incidents? Is there a difference of degree in concussion symptoms and could the effects of concussions be minimized by better understanding how to soften the blows hockey subjects players to? Almost all that gets discussed with the VT study is concussions, but are there potential benefits for the long-term brain health of hockey players by minimizing the brunt of the repetitive sub-concussive impacts that are more common and get less notice? In spite of helmets being mainly engineered to prevent skull fractures, the list of NHL players who've frantically tried the latest-and-greatest helmet in hopes to avoid an early retirement due to concussions shows there is a yearning for better brain protection. How to achieve that is tough to say, as concussions and brain health are areas of growing knowledge. That is to say, whether it can even be achieved, it is too early to tell. I'm no concussion expert, but these are just bits I've absorbed along the way in trying to keep somewhat informed. It could be drastically off-base. But I appreciate what the VT lab is asking.