who pays for NHLers gear?

[westcoastsniper 0]

Wow, it's pretty amazing to think that they have to pay close to retail on their gear, but I suppose that makes sense and is probably what it costs in terms of materials and labour, which goes to show you that we probably aren't getting that hosed on retail prices for new skates and sticks. Even at the exaggerated cost of $599 or so that you might pay for top of the line skates, retailers are making slim margins compared to shoe/clothing manufacturers.

[jimmy 194]

The NHLPA would never go for it.

FYI, MLB players pay for their own gear.

Considering the lowest paid NHL payer salary before endorsements, bonus's, etc, is around 1/2 million, you would think he could afford a measly 20k a yr for equipment.

[kurtandshan 0]

So, an organization who's players could be photographed,posted, viewed online, watched on television etc etc have to run down to the LHS and pick up their tape, skates and elbow pads??? I being sarcastic here but you get my point.

Yeah right. The manufacturer reps for EACH and EVERY manufacturer(including tape-think :"official hockey tape of The Calgary Flames" for example) speaks to every team pushing their gear to get in the hands of each player. I am sure their is very little profit made directly from each team...its advertising costs . Do you think the equipment manager spends hours each night taking puck marks off of jerseys??? No, they replace them(then sell them in their proshops ie Hockeytown Authentics). You think Warrior makes a profit from selling a a couple sets of gloves to the Red Wings for Marion Hossa? They make the profit from the 100s of thousands of people seeing Hossa in Warrior gloves and wanting to be like him. The 600 some NHLers are billboards and I bet the companies take a loss on their equipment(including cost of company reps supporting each team) and put that loss on the books as marketing expense.

If I make hockey equipment and I can get a star in my brand, I certainly am going to keep him in my brand and try to get everyone else in it. Free sticks for practice..made to a player's specs, free gloves to try on ,you name it. If you look at candid practice photos from every team you can easily find players in gear that they don't normally use...trying to get them in it. Thus the term "Pro-return" in ebay/used equipment sales.

[Jordan 13]

Given the astronomical increases in equipment (stick/skate) costs, I'm surprised that no team has tried to draw a line and demand that any player paid to wear/use a particular brand should be provided the gear at no cost from the manufacturer.

You have to put "this problem" into perspective. NHL teams have a payroll that runs between a minimum allowed of just over 40 million dollars to the max., which is $56,700,000. The equipment budget is fairly insignificant campared to their other costs.

The salary cap of $56,700,000 is set at 54% of average team revenue (this does NOT include other revenues that accrue from building ownership etc.) So we can calculate average operating revenue to be $105,000,000. This is the average number...Forbes estimates Toronto Maple Leafs revenues at $160,000,000 USD!

If every player went through 5 pairs of skates and 50 sticks and 5 pairs of gloves, they would spend:

5 x 500=2,500 on skates and 50 x 150= 7,500 on sticks and 5 x 150 = 750 on gloves

You would have a total of 10,750 per player. 20 players per team adds up to $215,000, or 2/10 of one percent of revenue. A relatively small cost of doing business.

[Hockeyman11385 1]

I would say that your figures on sticks are WAY off. They probably average one stick for every time they go on the ice.

[Gummer12 134]

What about the Workout stuff, and Shower Supplies and other small stuff like say room fans, or hangers, and shit like that? Does that come out of the EQ budget or does that have a seperate line item?

And don't forget about Repair supplies too, sharpener wheels, rivets, stones, laces, padding, extra holders/steel etc.

[Jordan 13]

You miss the point entirely.

Okay, say my numbers are way off. Let's say that team has $1,000,000 equipment budget...it is still less than 1% of average revenue. In the case of the Leafs, it would be .00625 of their revenue.

[JR97 2]

The NHLPA would never go for it.

FYI, MLB players pay for their own gear.

Considering the lowest paid NHL payer salary before endorsements, bonus's, etc, is around 1/2 million, you would think he could afford a measly 20k a yr for equipment.

Exactly. Plus, since the equipment is for "business"purposes, it would be tax deductible.

[Allsmokenopancake 0]

I wonder how much adam oates cost teams in gloves?

When he was here (caps) they often talked about how he wore his gloves so tight and with such a thin palm, that he would go through up to 5 pairs of gloves in a single game. That he would change his gloves for a new pair after every single period, sometimes during the period if they wore out.

[slacker76 3]

I think you also need to keep in mind that purchased unused equipment can still be very valuable to the teams. Some of the unused player sticks/equipment gets sold to LHS that can resell pro stock equipment. Some of the items are autographed by the players and can be distributed for charities (aka tax breaks) or sold off for auctions. And also most pro teams have end of season equipment sales where new and used gear gets sold.

I'm sure there has to be a pro EQM on here that could give some insight to a particular organizations policy or procedure.

I was fortunate enough to be in the Penguins locker room and equipment storage facilities. I can just say that its a MSHers wet dream. You'd be suprised how much Lemieux stuff is still stored and on hand.

[Jordan 13]

Just to add a even more confusion to this thread, here is link to an article about Wojtek Wolski, who donated equipment to a league for underpriviledged kids. In it they discuss (near the end of the article) an account that Reebok set up for him that they put money into for him to "purchase" Reebok equipment with:

]"I wore Reebok equipment last year," he said. "They paid me in cash and set up an account for products of anything I wanted. I have chosen to donate the money to the program. If the (Jr. Blues) need more, I will gladly pay for it myself."

Here is a link: Toronto Star Article

[doodman 0]

Ok so suppose Scott Niedermayer says every week he wants a new pair of Bauer 60 skates every week. I use him as an example because I've heard he goes through alot of skates. Does the team 'pressure' him to get more time out his equipment?

If you've watched NHL channel "Day in the Life" one player hinted at going through alot of sticks and he offhandedly remarked they weren't too happy about it. Remember there was a day when teams used wooden sticks which we all know are infinitely cheaper. I remember reading this was a sticking point in the CBA. 20 players snapping $200 sticks over a season adds up to way more dollars than using wooden sticks.

This is what prompted my original question, the cost of top of the line gear adds up to tremendous costs

[Jason Harris 31]

If I make hockey equipment and I can get a star in my brand, I certainly am going to keep him in my brand and try to get everyone else in it. Free sticks for practice..made to a player's specs, free gloves to try on ,you name it. If you look at candid practice photos from every team you can easily find players in gear that they don't normally use...trying to get them in it. Thus the term "Pro-return" in ebay/used equipment sales.

That's true to a point, but if you are a small equipment manufacturer, getting a star player to like your brand is just the start. Four years ago, the manufacturer had to pay the NHL $25K annually for licensing rights; it could be higher today. So let's take the case of a small manufacturer of gloves and give them an average profit of $50 per pair, although there's no way they are making that much money on their low end gloves. They'd have to sell 500 more pairs of gloves just to break even at the end of the year, and possibly more if they have to pay money to this star.

You might say that it is easy to sell 500 more pairs of gloves, but it isn't when you are a small brand. I bought about 800 pairs of gloves in 2004 when I became involved with Salming, and I probably have 400 pairs still sitting in storage. My problem is Salming changed the design almost immediately after I received the gloves, so they no longer matched the catalogue, but that's somewhat the point. The industry has evolved into a constant need to upgrade product, so it's not that difficult for any manufacturer to be stuck with way too much inventory in any given year.

[maskateguy 0]

Having worked as an equipment manager in the NHL, I can tell you that if a player wanted an extra ordinary number of skates, they would have to pay for them themselves. I would say that guys average about 3-4 pairs of skates a year. So if a guy wanted 10 pairs he might have to call the manufacturer with his credit card. Some guys might use 2 pair others 5, but 10 pairs is a bit extreme.

[TBLfan 25]

Don't most teams limit their goalies to around 3 sets a year? I recall hearing that when Tim Thomas was switching pads left and right, he had to pay for pretty much half of them out of pocket because that year he went through 5 or more sets during the season that year.

[halfmoonyote 0]

If you've watched NHL channel "Day in the Life" one player hinted at going through alot of sticks and he offhandedly remarked they weren't too happy about it. Remember there was a day when teams used wooden sticks which we all know are infinitely cheaper. I remember reading this was a sticking point in the CBA. 20 players snapping $200 sticks over a season adds up to way more dollars than using wooden sticks.

That was Scott Hartnell.

He was using Warrior at the time, and has since switched to Bauer sticks. I often wondered (in jest) if the EQM of the Philadelphia Flyers (Derrick Settylmyre) received some type of kickback from (Nike) Bauer to get players in their gear, or if the Flyers are getting some type of discount. Just about every player that comes to the Flyers has switched to Bauer sticks. (Lupul/Warrior, Knuble/Easton, Coburn/Easton and Timonen/Warrior the exceptions)

[maskateguy 0]

There is a Bauer Pro rep who lives in Philly, so I'm sure he is in there every day working on the Flyers

[dsjunior1388 81]

First off, fascinating topic, thanks to those of you "in the know" for adding your input and enlightening the rest of us.

Lets say for posterboys like Datsyuk or Malkin or Marian Gaborik: How much is an average endorsement contract? Ballpark figure, how much do these guys make, and when a guy like Eric staal temporarily ditches his NBH stick for an easton, does that have any effect on his endorsment? how are these things structured?

Also when a guy like Thornton is wearing eagles with CCM logos, whos doing the legwork to get that done? is it the equipment manager doing the surgery? or do Eagle and CCM cooperate and produce the gloves?

[maskateguy 0]

As for the endorsement contract piece, I cannot say those deals are usually run between the player, their agent and the manufacturer.

The gloves on the other hand are easy. I'm not sure the specifics on Thornton's gloves ,but Eagle used to make the CCM pro gloves a while ago when there factory was in Montreal. Now I'm not so sure, but to answer your question the manufactures take care of that not the EQM.

[K9 Unit 1]

always wondered how teams picked the EQM..i know its real hard to get into but seems like a real fun job

[metalwinger13 1]

I saw an episode of "Red Wings Weekly" and they showed what happens on road trips etc..the EQM have it rough in a sense.. long hours it seems and your always going it seemed on there. but im sure maskateguy can fill ya in

[K9 Unit 1]

I saw an episode of "Red Wings Weekly" and they showed what happens on road trips etc..the EQM have it rough in a sense.. long hours it seems and your always going it seemed on there. but im sure maskateguy can fill ya in

ye i saw on youtube about dallas stars EQM...longs hours for sure still seems fun in my opinion better than being a doctor =P

[maskateguy 0]

I'd take the Dr's paycheck

[K9 Unit 1]

haha but you get front row seatings to every game ;)

[ISTOUT 0]

I saw an episode of "Red Wings Weekly" and they showed what happens on road trips etc..the EQM have it rough in a sense.. long hours it seems and your always going it seemed on there. but im sure maskateguy can fill ya in

ye i saw on youtube about dallas stars EQM...longs hours for sure still seems fun in my opinion better than being a doctor =P

Was that on Steve AKA "Sudsey"? He is a great guy and pretty funny... I remember him when he and "Tipper" were with the Aeros and he used to do my skates and hook me up quite a bit on the side gear wise..