Mailbag #69: Equipment Talk

RALEIGH, NC. - All hockey players are talented, but each and every one is different when it comes to their equipment.

From stick height, to skate lace length, to glove palm color and beyond, it's sporadic to find two players that are the exact same.

With that being said, you had questions about equipment, and who better to answer them than Equipment Manager Nick Roy?

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How long does a player wear a pair of skates for? - @StormSurgeCards

It all depends on the player.

Brett Pesce will go the longest without changing, he'll only wear one or two pairs throughout the entire season.

Jordan Staal will go through the most pairs. The way he's built, it breaks down the skate boots so much quicker than a player like Seth Jarvis. The padding in the boot will just become weak and soft over time, so it's like your shoe loosening up.

A lot of guys will average a new pair every three or four weeks.

Has there ever been a time when something didn't make the trip? - @HowieHandorf

There has. Maybe it's best we not say what it was.

We try and set the truck up the same way every time we load, so that way we can notice if a trunk or a bag is missing. We also run through a checklist of everything.

What's the worst damage a player has done to a piece of equipment? - @AnnieGoldman

Seth Jarvis got his cup destroyed by friendly fire from Brendan Smith a few years ago in the playoffs. I think it was in Boston. Either that or a kneecap on a shinguard cracking.

Nine out of ten times something like that happens, it's from blocking a shot.

How many sticks do the players go through in a season? - @CaniacCarla / @bethmysoul / @_cathyyy82

Again, that depends on the player. Some guys will use a new stick every game. So, that's guaranteed 82.

Brett Pesce is a new stick every game. Jordan Staal is a new stick every game. Dmitry Orlov is a new stick every game.

Other guys may be two sticks in three games. You usually plan for one stick per game, per player. So, let's say you're carrying 20 players and there are 82 games, that's over 1,600 sticks per year.

When a player decides they are done with a stick, what do they do with it?

It then becomes a practice stick.

The life cycle of a stick is that they'll start a game with a new stick. Their other two sticks are two sticks from previous games. Unless, of course, they broke.

When it's time to make room for a new one, the one becomes a practice stick. As they add a new stick to the practice rotation, one comes out of that mix. That's when it will go the yard sale inventory, community relations, auctions, and stuff like that.

How do they know which one to take out of the rotation?

They can tell. It's not always the one that's been in the rotation the longest that then comes out.

When they're using a stick, they'll be able to tell when the fiberglass is breaking down and the flex isn't what it should be.

The snap-in skate blades seem to be the norm now. Do any Canes players still use conventional (fixed) blades? - @HMof2

No. The only one that would be close to using a fixed blade is Frederik Andersen.

The only reason that it’s close is because you need a drill with a hex head to be able to get it out. But you can still get a new one in, it’s just not a quick trigger release like the other ones.

If you polled the league, there’s probably only a handful of guys that are in fixed blades. Let’s just say Jordo was in a fixed blade and needed his skate sharpened mid-period. Well, if he wants a sharpen, the whole thing has got to come off and he’s going to miss a shift or two.

If that were to happen during a penalty kill, he’d automatically be sidelined. The quick trigger releases allow us to just pop the old one out and slide a new one in in just seconds. He won’t miss a shift at all.

Do the players buy their own equipment etc or is it all paid for by the NHL or a sponsorship? - @forevercanesfan / @eyeInTeravainen

The team has an equipment budget each season.

The only thing that some guys will bring themselves is workout gear. We provide the players with shoes, shorts, sandals, and shirts, but if a player really prefers working out in certain gear, they’re more than welcome to bring whatever they want.

We have maybe three or four guys who bring in their own stuff, but other than that, everything is paid for by the team.

How much is the budget?

Without disclosing exactly what ours is, I know there is one team in the league that has an operating budget of $3.3M just for equipment.

Are there any players that have superstitions about their equipment? - @BlakeCCole94

I will say Burnzie is very in tune with his equipment. Everything from his steel to his shot blockers to his shin pads.

Everything with him is to keep him in the game. He’s always in the shooting lanes, so he needs to be able to feel comfortable letting a shot hit him just about anywhere.

Been wondering this for soooo long, I used to read a lot about Zdeno Chara having a custom-length stick cause of his height, I was wondering if we ever had a player on the Canes that had anything like that? - @viewwaves

Maybe not to a crazy height like Chara had, but everything is customized these days.

When Sebastian Aho’s new sticks come in, they’re all an exact certain height. He may cut a tiny bit off.

Svech, his old sticks were right to his height, but now he gets them in taller so he can cut them down a bit.

Burnzie, his sticks come in at the height he asks, but he’ll cut them down and then put in a plug to get them back to that height.

What's the weirdest tape job you've ever seen? - @chloealys0n

I’d probably have to go with Dylan Coghlan. He puts fiberglass in the handle, then wraps it with gauze and grip tape to make it round.

So, instead of holding a rectangle in his hand, the head of his stick is round like a baseball bat.

It’s all the preference to the player. There’s no right or wrong answer, it’s all about whatever helps them perform better.

What kind of stick is Martin Necas' new one? - @cherre88 / @Bloatox

It’s a Bauer AG5NT.

His white stick falls under the new Proto-R stick design with new updated graphics and specs to his current AG5NT stick.  Both incorporate the Bauer-specific Boron5 technology.

Coming from someone who once forgot to pack soccer balls, what is the most important thing you have forgotten to pack for a trip? - @KickerandWB

Jerseys and tracker tags that go into the jerseys for the in-game data.

Skate sharpeners too.

Pretty much everything we bring on the road is important. We have extra helmets, extra gloves, and extra pants.

Last year Raanta’s pants ripped. If he were a position player, he would’ve been able to have new pants for the next period. Goalies are a little different, so it would probably be a game or two until he’d get into new gear.

A lot of stuff is backed up so that way if something breaks, they can get right back into the game. Our job is to try and ensure they don’t miss a single shift.

What wound up happening with his pants?

We just had to let him finish the game as is because of where the rip was. It ripped on the seam of where it stretched and met the vinyl fabric. If we had sewn it, it would’ve just ripped the cloth part even more.

So we ended up just patching it after the game.

Why are the palm of Teravainen's gloves yellow when other player’s gloves are not? - @cwineyb

It’s another custom thing. You can get leather palms, cotton palms, faux leather palms. That’s just what he prefers.

So he could have any color palms, in theory.

Pink?

Well, maybe not any color, but sometimes the manufacturers only make things in certain colors.

Coghlan and Stefan Noesen have grey palms. Jordan has white palms.

We didn’t tell him he has to have yellow palms, he just tried something, liked it, and stuck with them.

For a lot of the guys, it’s just stuff they’ve become accustomed to and liked, so they stick with it.

What’re some of the biggest differences between working in the AHL and NHL? - @Helmsey_41 / @anthony_rascati

You have to really be on top of what you’re traveling with in the American League. You don’t have trunks to travel with. You can only have so many bags in the back of a Penske or what can fit under the bus.

You have to be dialed in with everything.

You have guys coming down from the NHL and up from the ECHL. Thankfully, when I was with Charlotte, and they were affiliated with the Canes, both teams obviously wore red as their primary color.

When guys would come down, they’d come with pants, a helmet, and gloves. We’d only have to cover the guys coming from the ECHL.

Here, or when we were affiliated with Chicago, we had to travel with all of the guys that could potentially be called up, their gear. Helmet, pants, gloves, shoes, socks, workout gear, etc.

In the AHL, you can’t waste any space. Logistics-wise, it was a real help in learning how to pack and time management.

You’re also playing three games in three days a lot. So Friday night you’re playing a game, Saturday night you’re playing a game in a different city. Sunday, different game, different city.

You have to really be able to move quickly and diligently.

Here, travel is a little easier, locker rooms are bigger, you have more people, etc.

So, if you bring your skills and add them to a team of guys all working together on it, it’s a good thing.

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