NHL players do wear t-blades

[#1STUD 0]

I noticed last night in the blues - sharks game that one of the sharks was wearing t-blades. I remember in past discussions about t-blades that it was thought that no nhl'ers wear them. Just thought it would be an interesting fact to bring up. I'll see if i can find a pic.

Heres a pic.

Gee, you were right it was Goc.

[GeeZa32 0]

I'm willing to bet it was one of their German players...

[Bruin88 0]

i dont think we thought noone wore them. im pretty sure we just knew only a handful of players did.

[Gongshow11 1]

hecht still wears them

[SR27 0]

Marcel Goc. He is out of Schwenningen which is basically "T-Blade Town". All of their players used to use them. Not sure if this is still the case, though.

[Bruin88 0]

Marcel Goc. He is out of Schwenningen which is basically "T-Blade Town". All of their players used to use them. Not sure if this is still the case, though.

they must have a loud rink

[Chadd 916]

hecht still wears them

As does Seidenberg.

[Michael9 57]

Elais wore them sometimes during the 03/04 season

[colonials22 0]

so does a defenseman on the flyers, sorry i dont know his name

[Chadd 916]

so does a defenseman on the flyers, sorry i dont know his name

Dennis Seidenberg

[Kovy_Ribs_Fedo 3]

Marcel Goc. He is out of Schwenningen which is basically "T-Blade Town". All of their players used to use them. Not sure if this is still the case, though.

they must have a loud rink

yeah ,with all the sounds of the T-blades.

[SR27 0]

Marcel Goc. He is out of Schwenningen which is basically "T-Blade Town". All of their players used to use them. Not sure if this is still the case, though.

they must have a loud rink

yeah ,with all the sounds of the T-blades.

I´m not 100% positive but I think their rink is open on both headsides so it´s not that bad cause it´s pretty lound (and windy) anyway :P

[Buzz_LightBeer 961]

Ehroff too

[Petey21 1]

I wonder why there are only (or at least mostly) German players wearing t-blades, even in the NHL? Even if they're a German invention, that shouldn't stop Canadians and others from using them. Just kinda weird in a way.

[SR27 0]

No reputation and no advertising I guess? I know that in Germany most of the Schwenningen Team and most of the National Players used to (or still) use T-Blades because they were convinced by one of their former teammates, Mark MacKay who was the chief rep for T-Blade last time I checked. He was attending lots of games of other teams as well and tried to explain the system to the players, etc....they also offered very nice custom systems. Seems to have worked pretty well. That did probably not happen in the US or Canada. I´m not into it really but do they actually have reps in the USA or CAN? Or did they have stands at conventions or shows?

[hockechamp14 0]

I wonder why there are only (or at least mostly) German players wearing t-blades, even in the NHL? Even if they're a German invention, that shouldn't stop Canadians and others from using them. Just kinda weird in a way.

Well I would assume they would be easier to come by, cheaper, and more necissary (bad sharpenings) in that area, so it explains why they would want to use them.

[Jason Harris 31]

I wonder why there are only (or at least mostly) German players wearing t-blades, even in the NHL? Even if they're a German invention, that shouldn't stop Canadians and others from using them. Just kinda weird in a way.

Well I would assume they would be easier to come by, cheaper, and more necissary (bad sharpenings) in that area, so it explains why they would want to use them.

1) Yes.

2) Doubtful - Europe's generally more expensive.

3) Why - only North Americans know how to sharpen?

To answer your query, SR27, I think the main reason the penetration has been less in North America is the sales philosophy is different. T-Blade has a joint venture with Graf and CCM in NA, but I had the impression at the tradeshow that Graf oversees it. According to Graf's VP, they have a different philosophy than most other companies; they want to find one to two retailers in an area that they can work more closely with to build a relationship. You can see how limiting your sales channel to 20% of a market would lower the penetration.

I don't want to put words into Mathias Kunz's mouth, but I spoke to him at the show. I think he is more of the philosophy that a wider penetration would help the technology become more mainstream.

[cobrAA 0]

too expensive, not ligther than any other holder...and in the NHL you get custom profilage and sharpening every period of you whant lol!

[Jason Harris 31]

too expensive, not ligther than any other holder...and in the NHL you get custom profilage and sharpening every period of you whant lol!

If you're referring to why more NHL players don't use the T-Blades, cost probably doesn't matter much to the player, since the team is picking up the tab. Now, if the player tried replacing the blades each period, the team would probably tell the player he has to go longer between changes.

If we assume that the majority of NHL players have never tried T-Blade skates and, therefore, have no way of knowing whether they'd like or dislike them, my guess is the answer is similar to why so few players wear visors -- they claim it's for performance, but we all know that's not the answer.

[hockechamp14 0]

I wonder why there are only (or at least mostly) German players wearing t-blades, even in the NHL? Even if they're a German invention, that shouldn't stop Canadians and others from using them. Just kinda weird in a way.

Well I would assume they would be easier to come by, cheaper, and more necissary (bad sharpenings) in that area, so it explains why they would want to use them.

1) Yes.

2) Doubtful - Europe's generally more expensive.

3) Why - only North Americans know how to sharpen?

Well if they were more plentiful in europe, then generally they would be less expensive, or at least have a higher demand because of market awareness. As the sharpenings go, I wasn't saying that north americans can and germans can't, I'm saying that you can go anywhere in canada and get your skates sharpened (and canadians are most of the guys in the show), I'm guessing the idea behind t-blades was that it wasn't so true in germany.

[nate 0]

A good sharpener is still sometimes hard to find in Canada even in big cities.

[Sven 1]

Alright.. so you know how nice tblades for germans are ;)

You can count the good sharpeners on two hands in the whole country