flip12 699 Report post Posted January 17 Original Malkin is a modified PM9, I’m 97.1% certain. It’s very close to PSHS’ Kovalchuk-Thrashers without the toe shave. It’s not really P88 in any way other than that PM9 and P88 are two of the lowest curves on the retail market and they’re both relatively consistent in blade height from heel to toe. MacKinnon Pro (Warrior Gionta inspired by Demitra Pro) is closest to a toe-heavy P88. Toe shape is a bit sleeker, but the lie profile and overall shape lines up with P88. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
krisdrum 223 Report post Posted January 17 1 hour ago, flip12 said: MacKinnon Pro (Warrior Gionta inspired by Demitra Pro) is closest to a toe-heavy P88. Toe shape is a bit sleeker, but the lie profile and overall shape lines up with P88. Interesting. I guess I can see that from a shape perspective. I guess I usually think about the curve of the blade and open/closed-ness first. Then the blade shape and lie. But I am definitely no expert. I definitely find the Mac to have a much straighter heel and mid than the retail P88, which is pretty consistently curved heel to toe to create that mid-pocket. So to your point, the Mac is "toe heavy". I'll have to compare the shapes later, that could explain why I have taken to the Mac pretty easily. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
flip12 699 Report post Posted January 17 (edited) 5 hours ago, krisdrum said: Interesting. I guess I can see that from a shape perspective. I guess I usually think about the curve of the blade and open/closed-ness first. Then the blade shape and lie. But I am definitely no expert. I definitely find the Mac to have a much straighter heel and mid than the retail P88, which is pretty consistently curved heel to toe to create that mid-pocket. So to your point, the Mac is "toe heavy". I'll have to compare the shapes later, that could explain why I have taken to the Mac pretty easily. I get why you’d do it that way. I think I developed my blade face comparison after looking at the Warrior Smyth, CCM P46, Malkin Pro (the one most commonly associated with his name—dude’s had more patterns than the rest of the active NHL players combined). All of those are variations on the E4/PM9 (so is Kessel Pro, but I’ve never seen one in person). The Smyth tricked me for the longest time, but once I held it up to the E4 it was as though everything snapped into focus. Once you see the blade shape you can guess which predecessor a pattern might come from and then it’s easy to see how you’d take the older pattern and make the new one from it. That’s how most of these blades (like most if not all art) come about: take a pattern that you like the most but still see a way to tweak it to better suit your own taste. The common theme these days is add toe curve, shave the toe. Those two operations account for all sorts of pro curve variants like… E6 —> E28 E13 —> Kovalev, Barkov, Draisaitl, Hossa -> Jurco (E13 aka Darby I suspect might be Ray Bourque’s pattern) P92 —> Stamkos, Benn, Zegras Demitra Pro is just as you describe, P88 shape but with the curve wiped out, the a twisted toe that comes out of nowhere. But that’s easily done with the wood he was working with until the last moments of his tragically shortened career. Edited January 17 by flip12 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
birky 24 Report post Posted January 18 On 1/16/2024 at 2:36 AM, flip12 said: Some guys I play with ordered Backstroms. They look more like p19 curves with a thinner blade face than anything P88 or PM9. Had a custom Backstrom last about 2 weeks. It's closer to a P88 than a P19, but with a slightly longer blade and the toe shaved down like a P28. I actually found it did play a little loftier than a retail P88, but not dramatically. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
