How long do NHL players use a pair of skates?

[flip12 710]

5 hours ago, asgoodasdead said:

we have been talking about sticks. the post he quoted me in I clearly said "sticks"

Yes, I read that too. Just the OP was asking about skates and the reference kept swapping, so that it looked like you were talking about 100 pairs of skates per season. That’s more than 2 pair per week (assuming some vacation time).

Do players need to break sticks in?

[theinfamoust94 30]

I haven't ever had custom skates before and I've always bought retail so I don't know how custom skates would feel. How long would it take an NHLer to break in the skates that are custom for them? Like how many skates until it goes from their practice set to their game set?

[adam14 182]

I'm sure that varies from player to player, just because they are custom doesn't mean the break in time is 100% eliminated. Some are still going to be extremely stiff, others might just need a couple sessions to get comfortable on a fresh feeling pair.

[matix218 11]

1 hour ago, theinfamoust94 said:

I haven't ever had custom skates before and I've always bought retail so I don't know how custom skates would feel. How long would it take an NHLer to break in the skates that are custom for them? Like how many skates until it goes from their practice set to their game set?

I would imagine it totally depends on the player as some players might be much more of a "creature of habit" than others.  

[JR Boucicaut 3789]

2 hours ago, flip12 said:

Yes, I read that too. Just the OP was asking about skates and the reference kept swapping, so that it looked like you were talking about 100 pairs of skates per season. That’s more than 2 pair per week (assuming some vacation time).

Do players need to break sticks in?

No, but their threshold for swapping them is much shorter.  

Saw plenty of NFG sticks that looked structurally sound...