"If I were in charge..."

[joshy207 15]

It's fun time. Time for you guys to suggest products, or improvements to products, that you'd make if you worked for one of the manufacturers.

Just in case, here are the major ones I can think of...

-Bauer/Nike

-Reebok (CCM, Koho, Jofa)

-Easton

-Louisville

-Graf

-Mission-ITECH

-SherWood

-DR (Ferland)

-Eagle

-Vaughn

-Montreal

-Tackla

-Christian

You goalies and roller guys, feel free to include any other brands that are not on the list...

*edit* For those of you who work for any of these manufacturers, this is in no way meant to offend any of you, your products, or the companies you work for. This is just for fun, and if any good ideas come out of this, well... just keep us in mind for product testing!

[Cavs019 710]

eagle - make split fingers a stock option

every company that makes gloves - release nylon versions instead of leather.

[joshy207 15]

Here's mine... let's keep these positive and constructive...

BAUER/NIKE

-An 8000 shell with vinyl nitrile foam, like we saw in the WCOH. (HH7000 maybe?) It can still include all the great features, without the EPP foam.

REEBOK

-Get the Reebok helmet to market ASAP. It's beautiful, except for the grey "stuff" on the sides. EPP and vinyl nitrile versions please.

-Consolidate the lines. Way too many product offerings, especially in skates and protective. Concentrate on the strong points (Jofa cages, CCM pants, Koho wood sticks/blades, CCM OPS, Jofa protective) and maybe even keep all the names, just because it'd be almost impossible to kill any one of the three worldwide. Throw in some Reebok gear too, to compete with Nike in the crossover-name game.

EASTON

-Wood Synthesis blades. I asked my rep about them 2 years ago, but they still aren't on the market. They absolutely should be. A good percentage of people who use OPS, or 2-piece sticks with composite blades, should NOT be using composite blades! They don't have the hands or strength for them. I've seen quite a few coaches tell some players to buy wood blades, stop using composites, because they're hurting their game. With a wood Synthesis, the player gets the benefits of a tapered shaft and lower kickpoint AS WELL AS the feel and forgiveness of a wood blade.

-Make the pro/custom glove shown in the catalog available at retail. A traditional-style, traditional-looking glove, no funky backrolls, no wrist wrap. Start at 11", make it an Air-quality glove or better.

-No Synergy skates in junior sizes, ever. They're way too stiff (and too expensive) for the junior market. They'll be great for bigger, stronger guys though.

EAGLE

-Plastic inserts. They'll maybe add $5 to the price, but they'll add infinitely to the protection value of the otherwise-awesome gloves. Unparalleled comfort and mobility, but right now, poor protection.

Some other, general thoughts...

-More high-end nylon gloves. The synthetic leather ones look great on the wall, but they're not so hot after a year or so.

-Leather palms, for the traditional guys.

-Softer-cap elbow pads, or traditional style with quality (CCM and SherWood have the right idea there)

-Pant thigh zippers as a standard. All pants, all price points.

-Don't change a product just for the sake of change. Some good products have been discontinued prematurely, and their replacements have been BRUTAL. (Flak shoulder pads come to mind.) Let them run their course naturally.

-No more perf steel. More problems than advantages.

[JR Boucicaut 3804]

Here's some -

Easton needs to get rid of the Parabolic steel. The cut-out is exactly where sharpeners mount the skates on the holder. If your sharpening method dictates you taking off the skate to check squareness and hone before a final pass, it is absolutely brutal, because you have to mount it in the EXACT same location, or the sharpening will be off.

This "ultra-premium" trend needs to stop. Don't they know that the sticks that are selling the most right now are the ones at the $100 price point? Nobody wants to drop two bills on a stick...

Perf steel has to go.

Thick-walled copper rivets. It's a pain in the ass for techs to remove - Mission and Nike use them.

Black holders would look hot on a few skates. I told Justin about making a black PITCH, they'd look sinister on S500s.

[JGraz15 53]

For Bauer, put the power return eyestay on the 8090 and the XXX. Minimal weight gain, much more durability. I know its in the process, but put the 8000 liner in all the skates (Nike included)

I agree with the end of perferated steel.

Others that have been mentioned but I agree with....more high end nylon gloves....split fingers on Eagles....

I say a consolidation of stick lines by Easton....ie...eliminating colors....too hard for store owners to order....standard, grip, si-core, si-core grip....different flexes and curves...I like how Bauer makes a standard and grip XX that look the same

Add Easton wood Synthesis blades (much more distribution than most companies)

[43%burnt 0]

any stick/shaft maker: make a shaft that is longer than the "standard" of 48 inches plus the buttend. some companies are slowly coming around on this matter and have started making some 54" shafts, but none of them have been really exciting performance wise. some already do this for pros, just release for the public. this matter is only getting worse as more companies are moving toward short hosel blades.

[Kobe 0]

Long hosel tapered blades. I've said this once in another thread already but they've got to start making long hosel tapered blades again. Damn those were sweet. They provide much more feel and snap imo than their short hosel counterparts.

More patterns with a 5 lie. A lot of people need a lie of around 5 and it's frustrating when there are like 3 patterns available in that lie from all of the companies combined. Guys like me are stuck with searching around for pro patterns. A drury-like pattern with a 5 lie would be ideal. The Sherwood Crosby pattern should be cloned by the more prominent blade manufacturers (i.e. Easton and TPS).

[Chadd 916]

RBK:

Make the shiny part of the helmet removeable and sell inserts to match team colors. The customization factor would be nice.

Real leather or goatskin palms on gloves, that would eliminate the need for grip sticks and only costs a couple of bucks more. Find ways to improve the product without increasing the overall cost, high end products are beyond the means of the average hockey player. Make pro patterns available through retailers by special order, at least the common ones like TPS P13, P27, Easton RP, etc... Require pro shops to actually train peoeple on how to fit customers, etc...

[Keith 0]

Bauer/Nike-Mount your bladeholders properly..... Build a skate off the DAOUST last.

TPS-Bring back a real leather, HG1 style glove.

Easton-Make z-carbon retails like the gi ones. Make your standard shafts longer.... that 50.5" crap has got to stop... Everyone else is 51" with a plug or with full composite while they are 47.5. Bring back the milky z-bubble grip and the gold synergy grip coatings.

ccm-Retire pro lite 3

Graf-Overcome your quality control problems and restore your good name.

Also, perf steel has got to go. Black holders also need to make a comeback.

[stix04 0]

EASTON

-Wood Synthesis blades. I asked my rep about them 2 years ago, but they still aren't on the market. They absolutely should be. A good percentage of people who use OPS, or 2-piece sticks with composite blades, should NOT be using composite blades! They don't have the hands or strength for them. I've seen quite a few coaches tell some players to buy wood blades, stop using composites, because they're hurting their game. With a wood Synthesis, the player gets the benefits of a tapered shaft and lower kickpoint AS WELL AS the feel and forgiveness of a wood blade.

They have Hybird Synthesis blades, which is basically wood. If you want a tapered wood blade just buy a TPS R2 woody.

[Harrage12 0]

id tell easton to bring back the drury curve. im seeing less and less of them in stores and they dont even make a drury stealth

[joshy207 15]

EASTON

-Wood Synthesis blades.  I asked my rep about them 2 years ago, but they still aren't on the market.  They absolutely should be.  A good percentage of people who use OPS, or 2-piece sticks with composite blades, should NOT be using composite blades!  They don't have the hands or strength for them.  I've seen quite a few coaches tell some players to buy wood blades, stop using composites, because they're hurting their game.  With a wood Synthesis, the player gets the benefits of a tapered shaft and lower kickpoint AS WELL AS the feel and forgiveness of a wood blade.

They have Hybird Synthesis blades, which is basically wood. If you want a tapered wood blade just buy a TPS R2 woody.

The Hybrid Synthesis is NOT "basically wood", it's carbon with a wood plug and heel.

TPS wood R2s are pretty tough to find, and if Louisville's doing it, why wouldn't Easton? Easton blades are BY FAR more popular...

[Perry94 0]

TPS wood R2s are pretty tough to find

they have them at the hockey shop...it's in stock all the time...everytime I go there...

The Hockey Shop

[stevoc 0]

Mission lower end skates: lose the 2-piece chassis. (maybe use the penetrator...one of the best looking chassis out there in my opinion)

[LetsGoWings13 0]

for all companys when they come out with a stick like the si-core grip is make it avalible for jr and int at the same time of the sr sticks just a thought

[stevoc 0]

Oh, one more mission:

d1c laces - for 400.00, they could come with some not so cheesy laces.

[lee92 2]

i can see intermediate sticks cuz some ppl are short and/or like a whippy stick, but i don't see a point in junior one pieces. they do sell, but half the kids u see out there using one can't even shoot to begin with

[Jbone 0]

Easton. Drury curves on every single one of there sticks Junior-Senior and every company grip on wood sticks.

[predshockey17 0]

For Mission-dump the whole hi-lo thing.

Nike- Make more of your products available in the states.

[GeeZa32 0]

OH no, keep hi-lo.

[Justin 1933 134]

For Mission-dump the whole hi-lo thing.

Nike- Make more of your products available in the states.

Dump Hi-LO....That is funny....when close to 95% of the market use it, why change it...Don't you think our competitors would be still be using it if they could???

oh well, to each is own.

[Jim Bob 0]

Here is a general thing: make all skate sizes standardized.

Needing a secret decoder ring to figure out what size skate I need based on the manufacturer is annoying.

[G.M. 0]

TPS wood R2s are pretty tough to find, and if Louisville's doing it, why wouldn't Easton? Easton blades are BY FAR more popular...

And they are made in the same factory!

[GekigangarIII 0]

Make Easton pro stock gloves retail available (Z-air, Zero-shock, etc.).

ALL companies *stop* using stickers on sticks/shafts

Higher quality insoles for retail skates ($450 skates with a $1 footbed), better still, package high quality (not some shock doctor or other gimmicky junk) thermoformable insoles for us freaks with uber-high arches. Actually, everyone would benefit comfort-wise having thermoformable footbeds in high end skates.

Enough with the silver on skates already...

Lower lied blades

More R&D money spent on making higher quality mid-range products rather than on features and functions that 99% of the people buying the skate will never be able to utilize.

[43%burnt 0]

Lower lied blades

hell yes, on that one. if it wasn't for pro-stock blades, i don't know what i'd do.

mission: make a size 14 skate or bigger. or at least a small run that you wouldn't have to pay a crap load for to get custom made. seriously, i've been waiting to try a pair of mission since they first got into roller hockey years ago and i've never been able to get a pair that fit.