Interesting NHL Equipment Stats

[flashgordon 0]

Was curious to see if there was a skate brand that dominates in the NHL. So in a review the top 50 regular season scorers for the 06-07 season, using the most recently available pics from Getty images, the results are below. The results might not surprise some, but the extent of Bauer's popularity did surpise me. I realize that this is of course not representative of the entire NHL, and can also be skewed to the extent some these players have endorsement deals, but the results are likely somewhat telling:

Bauer / 29 / 58%

Rbk / 7 / 14%

CCM / 6 / 12%

Graf / 4 / 8%

Easton / 3 / 6%

NA / 1 / 2%

Total / 50 / 100%

BTW, the one "NA" was Milan Hejduk, unable to tell what skate he is using.

Also, about half of the Bauer users were in XXX / XXXX, three in what appeared to be 8090s and the rest in what appear to be One90s.

[JR Boucicaut 3789]

Hejduk wore Bauer last time I checked.

These numbers give or take are pretty much the same across the board.

[sc37 0]

I was gonna say Hejduk wore Eastons, 1100s I think it was? The all silver/gray....or I think he did the last time I saw him play.

[DarkStar50 679]

Jagr started the season in Graf but switched to ONE90s. Which brand did you count him in?

[flashgordon 0]

Jagr started the season in Graf but switched to ONE90s. Which brand did you count him in?

One90s - the Getty pics are pretty recent for all these guys given their profile (ie top scorer)

[Ogie Oglethorpe 14]

At first I was like "woah, CCM is only 12%" but then I realized you would really have to add CCM and Reebok together to come up with 26% and that seemed more reasonable.

I would have thought Graf would have been higher, too, but not huge overall.

Yes, for whatever reason, the Bauer Supreme line seems to dominate the NHL.

It'd be interesting to see how this changes in a few years as the Easton composite skates are getting better all the time, are protective, and super stiff so pro's might take more of a liking to them.

[flashgordon 0]

At first I was like "woah, CCM is only 12%" but then I realized you would really have to add CCM and Reebok together to come up with 26% and that seemed more reasonable.

I would have thought Graf would have been higher, too, but not huge overall.

Yes, for whatever reason, the Bauer Supreme line seems to dominate the NHL.

It'd be interesting to see how this changes in a few years as the Easton composite skates are getting better all the time, are protective, and super stiff so pro's might take more of a liking to them.

I had the same reaction, but was still surpirsed to see Bauer at almost 60%

[JR Boucicaut 3789]

I was gonna say Hejduk wore Eastons, 1100s I think it was? The all silver/gray....or I think he did the last time I saw him play.

Was it? I can't remember...

[flashgordon 0]

BTW, here is the complete list. Forgive me, but I wasn't that precise on some of the models (ie CCM, Graf) but this was just to get a general sense for the distribution.

1 Sidney Crosby Rbk 9K Rbk

2 Joe Thornton Vector CCM

3 Vincent Lecavalier Vector CCM

4 Dany Heatley Stealth Easton

5 Martin St. Louis Bauer XXX Bauer

6 Marian Hossa Bauer XXX Bauer

7 Joe Sakic Bauer 8090 Bauer

8 Jaromir Jagr Bauer One90 Bauer

9 Marc Savard Bauer One90 Bauer

10 Daniel Briere Stealth Easton

11 Teemu Selanne Bauer 8090 Bauer

12 Jarome Iginla Bauer One90 Bauer

13 Alexander Ovechkin Vector CCM

14 Olli Jokinen Bauer XXXX Bauer

15 Daniel Alfredsson Bauer XXX Bauer

16 Jason Spezza Graf Graf

17 Pavel Datsyuk Rbk 9K Rbk

18 Evgeni Malkin Bauer XXX Bauer

19 Thomas Vanek Vector CCM

20 Daniel Sedin Rbk 9K Rbk

21 Michael Nylander Bauer One90 Bauer

22 Ray Whitney Bauer One90 Bauer

23 Andrew Brunette Bauer XXX Bauer

24 Rod Brind'Amour Bauer XXX Bauer

25 Henrik Sedin Rbk 9K Rbk

26 Alex Tanguay Bauer XXX Bauer

27 Michael Cammalleri Stealth Easton

28 Slava Kozlov Bauer One90 Bauer

29 Patrick Marleau Rbk 9K Rbk

30 Paul Stastny Graf Graf

31 Andy McDonald Graf Graf

32 Kristian Huselius Bauer XXX Bauer

33 Daymond Langkow Bauer XXX Bauer

34 Ilya Kovalchuk Nike Bauer

35 Mats Sundin Vector CCM

36 Paul Kariya Bauer 8090 Bauer

37 Saku Koivu Vector CCM

38 Alexander Semin Bauer XXX Bauer

39 Alexander Frolov Bauer One90 Bauer

40 Eric Staal Bauer XXX Bauer

41 Brad Richards Bauer XXX Bauer

42 Milan Hejduk NA NA

43 Patrice Bergeron Rbk 9K Rbk

44 Martin Straka Graf Graf

45 Chris Drury Bauer One90 Bauer

46 Patrik Elias Bauer One90 Bauer

47 Jonathan Cheechoo Bauer XXX Bauer

48 Scott Niedermayer Bauer One90 Bauer

49 Jason Blake Bauer XXX Bauer

50 Ryan Smyth Rbk 9K Rbk

EDIT: Sorry for the formatting - I pasted from Excel...

[JR Boucicaut 3789]

At first I was like "woah, CCM is only 12%" but then I realized you would really have to add CCM and Reebok together to come up with 26% and that seemed more reasonable.

I would have thought Graf would have been higher, too, but not huge overall.

Yes, for whatever reason, the Bauer Supreme line seems to dominate the NHL.

It'd be interesting to see how this changes in a few years as the Easton composite skates are getting better all the time, are protective, and super stiff so pro's might take more of a liking to them.

I don't think it will change a thing.

NBH's support/service at the pro level is nuts.

[DarkStar50 679]

Easton actually made the S15 a bit softer, not stiffer this year. Easton still has a huge mountain to climb to gain market share among NHLers. Just check out the Team Canada Juniors. Are there any S15 skates there?

[Michael9 57]

not even one mission

[JR Boucicaut 3789]

At first I was like "woah, CCM is only 12%" but then I realized you would really have to add CCM and Reebok together to come up with 26% and that seemed more reasonable.

I would have thought Graf would have been higher, too, but not huge overall.

Yes, for whatever reason, the Bauer Supreme line seems to dominate the NHL.

It'd be interesting to see how this changes in a few years as the Easton composite skates are getting better all the time, are protective, and super stiff so pro's might take more of a liking to them.

I had the same reaction, but was still surpirsed to see Bauer at almost 60%

I had the league wide numbers last year and NBH was at 63%, with 33% of the league in Vapor.

[Ogie Oglethorpe 14]

NBH's support/service at the pro level is nuts.

Actually, one should take this into account - i.e., us "normal folk" won't be able to get custom fitted like the pro's can. Furthermore, a lot of them may not choose a particular skate based on it's performance, fit, styling, etc but which one gives them the best deal (i.e., perhaps Bauer gives away more free custom skates than Graf) sponsorship wise.

[JGraz15 53]

Hejduk does wear Easton 1100

[JR Boucicaut 3789]

NBH's support/service at the pro level is nuts.

Actually, one should take this into account - i.e., us "normal folk" won't be able to get custom fitted like the pro's can. Furthermore, a lot of them may not choose a particular skate based on it's performance, fit, styling, etc but which one gives them the best deal (i.e., perhaps Bauer gives away more free custom skates than Graf) sponsorship wise.

Skates are part of the equipment budget. They're not free. And every player is not endorsed.

And the reference to Graf may have been valid 10 years ago, but they are behind in terms of performance, which is why you see less skaters in them.

[flashgordon 0]

NBH's support/service at the pro level is nuts.

Actually, one should take this into account - i.e., us "normal folk" won't be able to get custom fitted like the pro's can. Furthermore, a lot of them may not choose a particular skate based on it's performance, fit, styling, etc but which one gives them the best deal (i.e., perhaps Bauer gives away more free custom skates than Graf) sponsorship wise.

Skates are part of the equipment budget. They're not free. And every player is not endorsed.

And the reference to Graf may have been valid 10 years ago, but they are behind in terms of performance, which is why you see less skaters in them.

Very small sample set, but of the 4 wearing Graf, 2 were still using the older Supra line, and the other 2 were in G series.

[cause4alarm 6]

not even one mission

And while we're at it, how come no Itech or Sher-Wood?

[Michael9 57]

not even one mission

And while we're at it, how come no Itech or Sher-Wood?

well itech and sher-wood aren't very big names in the skate departement and don't really have a top end model. While mission does. I was just surprised I thought there would of been atleast one player in the top 50 with mission skates.

[InTeN5ITy 7]

is there any comparison with sticks?

[Gongshow11 1]

too tough with sticks as paint can cover the real manufacturer sometimes

[flashgordon 0]

is there any comparison with sticks?

Nope - maybe I'll get to that. But maybe someone has an NHL-wide stat they can share.

not even one mission

And while we're at it, how come no Itech or Sher-Wood?

well itech and sher-wood aren't very big names in the skate departement and don't really have a top end model. While mission does. I was just surprised I thought there would of been atleast one player in the top 50 with mission skates.

Raflaski and Parrish wear Mission skates, not sure if any others

[chikinpotpie 137]

Ribero does but in the grand scheme of things, he really doesn't matter

[JR Boucicaut 3789]

is there any comparison with sticks?

Nope - maybe I'll get to that. But maybe someone has an NHL-wide stat they can share.

I had those numbers as well, but it's probably outdated.

No surprise there. Easton wins.

[TBLfan 25]

St Louis started using XXXXs at the very end of the season.