Curve in between p88 and p92

[JAY4114 6]

is there any curve in between a p88 and p92 in terms of openness? Or even just a more closed p92? The loft of the p92 is the only thing keeping me from fully switching to it. 

[birky 24]

I think the P19 would have been a candidate, but it's not offered at retail anymore. Otherwise you are sorta out of luck here. I'm a long time PM9 and P88 user and there's just nothing out there at retail that matches this description. The closest I have come to finding a loftier P88 is the Pro Backstrom curve from Pro Stock Hockey Sticks. It's closer to a P88 than P92, but it begins to open up in the mid-heel and has a nice, gradual curve. The downsides are that the blade is longer than the P88, has a shaved down toe similar to a P28, and has less overall height than the P88. I really do wish someone, anyone, would come up with exactly what you're looking for - the flat rocker and slightly lower lie of the P88, but with a little more loft.

[flip12 714]

The P46 was close, but it didn't last. I'd love that curve if the heel weren't so aggressive.

[JAY4114 6]

49 minutes ago, birky said:

I think the P19 would have been a candidate, but it's not offered at retail anymore. Otherwise you are sorta out of luck here. I'm a long time PM9 and P88 user and there's just nothing out there at retail that matches this description. The closest I have come to finding a loftier P88 is the Pro Backstrom curve from Pro Stock Hockey Sticks. It's closer to a P88 than P92, but it begins to open up in the mid-heel and has a nice, gradual curve. The downsides are that the blade is longer than the P88, has a shaved down toe similar to a P28, and has less overall height than the P88. I really do wish someone, anyone, would come up with exactly what you're looking for - the flat rocker and slightly lower lie of the P88, but with a little more loft.

have you tried either of the Malkin curves or the point curve? I was looking on that website today and those plus backstrom were the only ones I saw that could be compared to the p88.

[birky 24]

22 hours ago, JAY4114 said:

have you tried either of the Malkin curves or the point curve? I was looking on that website today and those plus backstrom were the only ones I saw that could be compared to the p88.

I've tried the Malkin, McDavid, Barkov, Hossa, Panarin (supposedly a P19 clone but plays just like a P92), P38, and Backstrom curves. Please don't tell my wife. I've talked with Geppetto a number of times about trying to find something like a loftier P88. The Backstom has been the closest in my opinion. The MacDavid is sort of similar to what you're looking for as well, except that it's a 4 lie and that has been a very difficult adjustment for me (it's based off an old Iginla Jr curve). But it shoots nicely. I'm just trying the Barkov right now, which has a bit of loft at the heel like the Darby and a little bit of hook at the toe, but overall is actually a fairly straight curve. I dunno, I feel like I've exhausted all of his options for someone who is not a toe curve shooter, so I might just give up and stick with the P88 as the trade off with the P92 or P90TM is better shooting for worse passing, which isn't worth it to me.

Edited January 26, 2023 by birky

[JAY4114 6]

1 minute ago, birky said:

I've tried the Malkin, McDavid, Barkov, Hossa, Panarin (supposedly a P19 close but plays just like a P92), P38, and Backstrom curves. Please don't tell my wife. I've talked with Geppetto a number of times about trying to find something like a loftier P88. The Backstom has been the closest in my opinion. The MacDavid is sort of similar to what you're looking for as well, except that it's a 4 lie and that has been a very difficult adjustment for me (it's based off an old Iginla Jr curve). But it shoots nicely. I'm just trying the Barkov right now, which has a bit of loft at the heel like the Darby and a little bit of hook at the toe, but overall is actually a fairly straight curve. I dunno, I feel like I've exhausted all of his options for someone who is not a toe curve shooter, so I might just give up and stick with the P88 as the trade off with the P92 or P90TM is better shooting for worse passing, which isn't worth it to me.

does the Malkin play just like a toe curve version of a p88? (assuming you used the first version of his curve)

[birky 24]

1 minute ago, JAY4114 said:

does the Malkin play just like a toe curve version of a p88? (assuming you used the first version of his curve)

Pro Malkin doesn't have much loft, probably even less than the retail P88. And it's not really a toe curve, but a toe kink. If you're looking for something with more loft, I'm not sure it's a great choice. At least, that's what I was looking for and it didn't work for me because I don't shoot off the toe. I shoot closer to the middle of the blade, so I need some loft earlier in the curve (probably a result of long time PM9 usage)

[flip12 714]

 

11 hours ago, JAY4114 said:

does the Malkin play just like a toe curve version of a p88? (assuming you used the first version of his curve)

Malkin’s classic toe kink is a modified PM9, just like Kovalchuk’s curves. I know Gepetto says it’s “just like a P88” but it’s not really. Either he can’t tell the difference or he references P88 because PM9 hasn’t been around much in recent years.

@birky have you been able to compare the Barkov to a Darby side by side? Barkov looks like a modified Darby to me, but I’ve never gotten my hands on one.

[Westside 232]

Is the Mackinnon curve anywhere close to P88? Gepetto has suggested that curve to me in the past 

8 hours ago, flip12 said:

Malkin’s classic toe kink is a modified PM9, just like Kovalchuk’s curves. I know Gepetto says it’s “just like a P88” but it’s not really. Either he can’t tell the difference or he references P88 because PM9 hasn’t been around much in recent years.@birky

 

[birky 24]

1 hour ago, Westside said:

Is the Mackinnon curve anywhere close to P88? Gepetto has suggested that curve to me in the past 

 

The Mackinnon is a Warrior Gionta/P14 (Bauer)/P30 type. It has a big hook at the toe. I don't think it's much like the P88 in that regard, but it has a similar lie.

[birky 24]

10 hours ago, flip12 said:

 

Malkin’s classic toe kink is a modified PM9, just like Kovalchuk’s curves. I know Gepetto says it’s “just like a P88” but it’s not really. Either he can’t tell the difference or he references P88 because PM9 hasn’t been around much in recent years.

@birky have you been able to compare the Barkov to a Darby side by side? Barkov looks like a modified Darby to me, but I’ve never gotten my hands on one.

Here's a couple shots of the Barkov. It's been a long time since I've seen a Darby in person, but there is definitely some loft at the heel on the Barkov, and overall pretty straight through the first 2/3rds of the blade, then a small hook at the end. The only thing I'm not crazy about is the huge rocker, which you can see in the 2nd pic.

I've also included shots of the McDavid, Pro Malkin, and Backstrom curves.

https://imgur.com/a/BBOW4FE

 

 

Edited January 26, 2023 by birky

[flip12 714]

2 hours ago, Westside said:

Is the Mackinnon curve anywhere close to P88? Gepetto has suggested that curve to me in the past 

 

42 minutes ago, birky said:

The Mackinnon is a Warrior Gionta/P14 (Bauer)/P30 type. It has a big hook at the toe. I don't think it's much like the P88 in that regard, but it has a similar lie.

I'll second @birky here, the curve is more like a P88 with a deep toe curve. In other respects, it's quite similar to P88. I wonder if Demitra wasn't starting with something extremely close to a P88 pattern when tinkering with his patterns in this cluster. It's more rounded at the heel than just about any other blade at retail followed up by one of the flattest rocker profiles at retail, even flatter than a PM9. The toe shape is kind of a rounded P88, but similar down-shoe style where the tip of the toe shape is in the bottom half. If you want a P88 that's more open, BigMacPro isn't going to help.

[flip12 714]

33 minutes ago, birky said:

Here's a couple shots of the Barkov. It's been a long time since I've seen a Darby in person, but there is definitely some loft at the heel on the Barkov, and overall pretty straight through the first 2/3rds of the blade, then a small hook at the end. The only thing I'm not crazy about is the huge rocker, which you can see in the 2nd pic.

I've also included shots of the McDavid, Pro Malkin, and Backstrom curves.

https://imgur.com/a/BBOW4FE

Thank you for those shots. It's easier to see the subtleties of the patterns from your pictures than from the Praux site itself. I often wonder why product shots are set in outer-space, where it's hard to get a proper look at what you're potentially about to plop a load of money on. And I have to say

Damn, that Barkov looks perfect. I love that curve profile. Just like a P28 on a diet. It looks almost identical in curve to my S.Niedermayer blade, but with the heel radius added to the Darby rocker just like Kovalev did.

Darby's my favorite retail pattern of all time. A toe focused curve would make it even more perfect for me. The extra aggressive heel radius is a nice to have, but I never have the puck that far away from my body with that curve and feel like it's too square there for me.

[Buzz_LightBeer 969]

There’s a Warrior W90 in the midrange pro sticks that I believe is a less open W03

[Krev 86]

[start_today 770]

On 1/26/2023 at 11:16 AM, Westside said:

Is the Mackinnon curve anywhere close to P88? Gepetto has suggested that curve to me in the past 

I wish he’d just make a p88 curve. He’s got 69 slight variations on a p28 in stock.  Am I that wrong to think him making an easily purchasable p88 would just be printing money? Unless he’s trying to drive people to the custom ordering. 

[flip12 714]

On 1/27/2023 at 12:23 AM, Krev said:

Looks like a nice curve. Is the lie on the high side?

[decoy 164]

On 1/26/2023 at 8:29 PM, birky said:

Here's a couple shots of the Barkov. It's been a long time since I've seen a Darby in person, but there is definitely some loft at the heel on the Barkov, and overall pretty straight through the first 2/3rds of the blade, then a small hook at the end. The only thing I'm not crazy about is the huge rocker, which you can see in the 2nd pic.

I've also included shots of the McDavid, Pro Malkin, and Backstrom curves.

https://imgur.com/a/BBOW4FE

 

 

How is the length of these blades, especially the Barkov?

[birky 24]

8 hours ago, decoy said:

How is the length of these blades, especially the Barkov?

Most of the blades are roughly the same length (~30cm) as the P92 or P88. In my garage right now I have the McDavid, Barkov, and P38, as well as a retail PP88 (from Sherwood, which has a weird version of the P88). The Barkov is about 1cm longer than the PP88 and P38. Maybe .5cm longer than the McDavid. The Backstrom I had (which broke) was probably about as long as the Barkov. So just a touch longer than the retail P88.

Edited January 28, 2023 by birky

[birky 24]

On 1/27/2023 at 10:38 PM, start_today said:

I wish he’d just make a p88 curve. He’s got 69 slight variations on a p28 in stock.  Am I that wrong to think him making an easily purchasable p88 would just be printing money? Unless he’s trying to drive people to the custom ordering. 

Probably because he can barely handle the current volume without expanding. And, just speculating here, the selling point for his product is curves you can't get anywhere else. So I guess I can understand why he keeps the retail curves in the customizer only. Although I'd like to see him preserve some more of the older retail curves that we've lost, like the P106 or the P89.

Edited January 29, 2023 by birky

[sturdy22 28]

2 hours ago, birky said:

Probably because he can barely handle the current volume without expanding. And, just speculating here, the selling point for his product is curves you can't get anywhere else. So I guess I can understand why he keeps the retail curves in the customizer only. Although I'd like to see him preserve some more of the older retail curves that we've lost, like the P106.

I was thinking the P106 might be in between the P88 and and P92. But those are hard to find.  I still have several P106 blades, when I compare to the P92/W03 blades I have been using, the P106 aren’t as open at the toe as I remember.

[birky 24]

2 hours ago, sturdy22 said:

I was thinking the P106 might be in between the P88 and and P92. But those are hard to find.  I still have several P106 blades, when I compare to the P92/W03 blades I have been using, the P106 aren’t as open at the toe as I remember.

You can still get the P106 via Bauer custom sticks, but the whole point of PSHS is getting a great stick with the specs you want for <$200.

I'd love to see him do the P106, the Kessel pro curve, maybe Crosby's pro curve, a few others. There are a million P92 and P28 derivatives, and I understand why, but I'd love to see some other options.

[innotastic 12]

How would you compare the depth of the barkov and backstrom to the p88? I tried the Malkin pro and was disappointed to find it was basically flat for most of the blade. I always liked the deep pocket of the p88, but the p106 was my favorite before because of the rocker and not so crazy heel.

[start_today 770]

On 1/28/2023 at 8:26 PM, birky said:

I'd love to see him do the P106, the Kessel pro curve, maybe Crosby's pro curve, a few others. There are a million P92 and P28 derivatives, and I understand why, but I'd love to see some other options.

That’s what kinda confuses me about his selection, that he is choosing to produce and stock. There are 69 p28 variants available to ship right now that are more or less the exact same, but not a basic 88 clone. I would love to just hand this guy some of my money, and he’s making it inconvenient. 

And I stubbornly don’t want to do a custom order because it costs slightly more and takes more time, but I whine about it for 2 months and my stick would have been here by now.

On the other hand, I kinda love that he is a mad scientist just doing things his way and is like “screw your basic needs, you can buy this curve that’s a p28 mixed with a p28 with a 5.6 lie, or you can go somewhere else.”

[flip12 714]

1 hour ago, start_today said:

That’s what kinda confuses me about his selection, that he is choosing to produce and stock. There are 69 p28 variants available to ship right now that are more or less the exact same, but not a basic 88 clone. I would love to just hand this guy some of my money, and he’s making it inconvenient. 

And I stubbornly don’t want to do a custom order because it costs slightly more and takes more time, but I whine about it for 2 months and my stick would have been here by now.

On the other hand, I kinda love that he is a mad scientist just doing things his way and is like “screw your basic needs, you can buy this curve that’s a p28 mixed with a p28 with a 5.6 lie, or you can go somewhere else.”

You’re giving him too much credit. He doesn’t know the curves that well. Just watch his McDavid curve video for example. He’s surprised the blade shoots so well, but it’s because he can’t see it has a slight toe curve to it, which suits his mechanics better than a P92. He’s can’t even see what he’s looking at. A lot of his blade categorizations are quite off the mark. I’d still be interested if it weren’t doubtful what he’s actually got. He modifies curves away from what the original, but doesn’t always clarify the details.