flip12

But isn’t the nature of Pascal’s wager that it’s in Kierkegaard’s terms “an infinite movement” requiring literally everything, not just a throwaway trifle, unless one considers one’s life a throwaway.

Depending on the flex profile of the tongue, less interaction between the shin and the tongue maybe? That could make ankle rotations less noisy cognitively. Less weight (10g roughly per skate) with a slight effect on skate center of gravity. Maybe he likes the look…like tongues in with even freer tongues out feel. Lots of potential subtle differences that could go into his thinking. I like how detailed a modification it is.

Like this?

What is your foot type? What’s wonky about your feet? I didn’t see you added felt. Where did you add it and what for? A lot of questions, I know… I’m a Graf nerd of sorts, have a collection of 701, 501, 707 and 703 all in size 10 (gave up on G35x because their Graf-CA build and design quality was dreadful). Where this might be relevant to you: I’ve been on the fence with my 703s because they’re much more snug than the others and the heel padding felt too low the first time out…like they were causing the skates to tip side to side like crazy. After giving them a couple more chances I’m wondering if they’re not actually going to fit perfectly after a few more hours of ice. Right now they have less than 5 hours on them. The heel padding feels amazing now, my big toes are just about 1mm too jammed… All that to say, if that heel padding isn’t lining up right it might only be a matter of time before it takes a set to your bone structure and the heel fit is right as it should be.

What model and liner type? How much have you skated in them?

I like my Trigger 2. I'm not a fan of the new shaft shapes in the top 2/3 of the shaft.

That’s interesting. I think of TC4 as the odd one out of the bunch.

True doesn’t have protective anymore. What if you don’t have a default brand for any of the categories?

Looks like a nice curve. Is the lie on the high side?

Thank you for those shots. It's easier to see the subtleties of the patterns from your pictures than from the Praux site itself. I often wonder why product shots are set in outer-space, where it's hard to get a proper look at what you're potentially about to plop a load of money on. And I have to say Damn, that Barkov looks perfect. I love that curve profile. Just like a P28 on a diet. It looks almost identical in curve to my S.Niedermayer blade, but with the heel radius added to the Darby rocker just like Kovalev did. Darby's my favorite retail pattern of all time. A toe focused curve would make it even more perfect for me. The extra aggressive heel radius is a nice to have, but I never have the puck that far away from my body with that curve and feel like it's too square there for me.

I'll second @birky here, the curve is more like a P88 with a deep toe curve. In other respects, it's quite similar to P88. I wonder if Demitra wasn't starting with something extremely close to a P88 pattern when tinkering with his patterns in this cluster. It's more rounded at the heel than just about any other blade at retail followed up by one of the flattest rocker profiles at retail, even flatter than a PM9. The toe shape is kind of a rounded P88, but similar down-shoe style where the tip of the toe shape is in the bottom half. If you want a P88 that's more open, BigMacPro isn't going to help.

Malkin’s classic toe kink is a modified PM9, just like Kovalchuk’s curves. I know Gepetto says it’s “just like a P88” but it’s not really. Either he can’t tell the difference or he references P88 because PM9 hasn’t been around much in recent years. @birky have you been able to compare the Barkov to a Darby side by side? Barkov looks like a modified Darby to me, but I’ve never gotten my hands on one.

The P46 was close, but it didn't last. I'd love that curve if the heel weren't so aggressive.

From factory videos I’ve seen, eyelets are punched out, not drilled. It’s probably easier to get a clean cut that way, and I imagine drilling would stress the material beyond the eyelet area. RocketFrame composite is a kind of fibreglass blend if i remember right, only the Tacks mention carbon. That doesn’t change the contact surface qualities much, though, which makes me think of monocoque boots having rivet issues. Maybe there’s not enough tooth to the combo of smooth quarter panels and eyelet rings to hold on as well as when there’s some pleather facing there.

But that’s just like your opinion man. Better concussion protection by what measure?

The weight could be for the lightest blade pattern in that model at a certain length. It’s probably not a max-height blade. I think 60” is the standard height they weigh; not sure if that 60 is heel to top of the shaft or standing against the wall.

That flex makes me really want a pair of Catalysts. Plus the yellow/black/silver matches our club's uniforms perfectly.

It's the first helmet I've owned that I actually look forward to wearing.

If the only issue is the top outside eyelet, why not spot heat that area with a heat gun to work it out of the way. That way you can fully focus on the problem area and leave what’s good alone.

@pgeorgan did you try the TF9s with a thicker tongue? The TF7 traditional felt tongue would change the fit in the direction of what it sounds like you’re after.

Even the Catalyst line got a lot of hate.

It’s something you could easily test out. Give it a shot and let us know.

Ah. Gotcha. I was indeed focused on height, in the line of the Powerfoot solution. The replacement for the TF looks like it has a sleeker toe cap. I’m not sure about toe cap width after the TF because I haven’t been able to try on Catalysts yet. I vaguely remember the TF toe being pretty wide, but it’s been quite a while since I tried them on.

My view on the tall toe box was they wanted the players to have the option of a roomy cap or repositioning the tongue down inside the cap to make it snug. Since they’ve gone to shallower toe caps in everything after TF, it seems the optional stuffing route didn’t work out the way they were planning.

Pasta’s got little to no ankle involved in his skating, so it’s not a huge surprise. Krejci too. Krejci actually tapes the tendon guard though, along with a handful of players that still do: Coyle, Panarin, Perron, Rasmus Andersson, Pacioretty, and Barbashev. Coyle only started doing it in the last few years, maybe after he started playing for the Bruins. Pacioretty started a couple of years in. I wonder if his brother-in-law, Maxim Afinogenov, got him into it, but that’a pure speculation.