Pro stick blades - why don't retail patterns have the same heights and lengths

[seangriffin 0]

Watching a few games tonight and there's lots of guys using pretty big blades (ie ottawa's karlsson). Retail blades are all pretty much the "standard" size. Beer-leaguers and kids could benefit from those extra few millimeters (or inches!) too, not sure why this isn't trickling down given the very little added weight these days?

[stevelknievel 51]

Iirc Karlsson uses a retail w28. On the topic of why they don't make them bigger I'd imagine any demand they might have is outweighed by the masses who don't really care or have never thought about it.

[Cavs019 710]

A longer or taller blade isn't necessarily better. I prefer the more compact P106 and P88 to the longer options (P92, P91A, etc).

As far as pro use goes, a lot of guys in the league now grew up with the Easton Sakic/Modano, and Bauer Lindros curves of the world which is why the majority of pro stock sticks these days are clones of popular retail patterns that have stood up for years.

[Cosmic 178]

I thought that the majority of pro stock blades are shorter:

http://www.prostockhockey.com/pro-stock-vs-retail/

Either way, retail companies design products that they think will sell. If they see a demand for longer, taller paddles, then they will produce.