Goalies Switching back to hybrid pads?

[Jonathon v]

Hey I’ve noticed goalies are switching to the more “hybrid pad”  of the brand there in. Dubnyk went from 2s to 2x, lehner and raanta and almost every goalie went from the optik to the gnetik 4s which is the hybrid style. Is this becoming a trend again because they want more mobility?

[coopaloop1234]

I mean, I wouldn't consider the 2x to be a "hybrid" pad by any stretch.

Guys will switch up pads. Looking too much into it is kind of pointless. When the 1S came out, they managed to get a lot of guys to switch over, box pad users and hybrid pad users. Didn't mean much then, doesn't mean much now.

Best not to worry about it.

[DL42]

pros wear whatever graphics they need to sell doesnt mean anything

[jayluv54]

Keep in mind that what pros are using may only be a "skin" and quite often can be more custom than anything we can buy.  They may look like the newest stuff but a lot of times are spec'd out like an older model pad, unreleased pad or have special breaks, cores, etc... 

2X's were available to the pro's last spring, but they were skinned 2S, so guys that looked like the were in 2S's may have already been playing in 2X's.

However, I was thinking about this the other day as equipment shrinks and "drop and block" is inevitably less effective, are plywood pads going to become less desirable for those guys.  We'll see.

[coopaloop1234]

43 minutes ago, jayluv54 said:

However, I was thinking about this the other day as equipment shrinks and "drop and block" is inevitably less effective, are plywood pads going to become less desirable for those guys.  We'll see.

Doubt it. The overall feel of boxier pads are what some guys prefer.

[kedjlng3]

3 hours ago, coopaloop1234 said:

Doubt it. The overall feel of boxier pads are what some guys prefer.

I agree with Coop, but I also want to add on. I feel like pads in general have been getting more "plywood-y" over the years.

Before, a significant preference for many was the pads ability to have a nice S curve, and a softer feel for softer rebounds. Now though, everybody is going for a solid seal from top to bottom, better sliding abilities, and reduced weight. Plus, next to nobody offers/orders two external breaks. Corey Crawford used to be one of the few guys that liked a solid, no-break pad. Now everybody is/has been getting behind that trend.

[Max27]

The thing w Brians is you can customize the rate of their breaks, @TheGoalNet has genetik 4s that are much stiffer than retail ones bc he orders them stiffer. You can get the stiffer(1-2) or softer (3-4) on your breaks setup, TGN has 4 boot, 1 knee, 1 thigh, stock is 4-3-1 which is much softer than the TGN Spec ones. You can customize literally everything on a Brians pad and it makes it tricky to decipher if theyre really in a hybrid/soft style pad, or basically a stiff/hybridpad marketed as a hybrid

[coopaloop1234]

8 minutes ago, kedjlng3 said:

. Plus, next to nobody offers/orders two external breaks.

Not true. Aside from Bauer the rest of the crew offer double int/ext breaks on their pads.

[seagoal]

My goalie buddies and I started calling leg pads "leg blockers" a few years back.

[raucebyalien]

There was a podcast I posted a while back where Chris from Brians said that most of their pro's are in Gnetik IV's because they (Brian's not the pro's) consider it their best pad  as they do for any latest design. Which explains why the likes of Anderson, Raanta etc appear to flip from Sub Zero / Gnetik / Optik etc models - each year Brians sends them  the most up to date / technologically advanced pad. As has already been mentioned, they can modify whatever break, strapping they want on it anyways. 

[#16]

Ya I know Dubnyk, and possibly vasilevsky went 1s, 1x, 2s, 2x, it's just all the most updated features, customized  to however they want it.

[southpawtendy48]

I feel like Brian's is way ahead of the game in terms of being up to date but at the same time giving people what specs they're comfortable with. I have a lot of respect for that..

[kyledjean]

On 1/18/2019 at 5:30 PM, kedjlng3 said:

I agree with Coop, but I also want to add on. I feel like pads in general have been getting more "plywood-y" over the years.

Before, a significant preference for many was the pads ability to have a nice S curve, and a softer feel for softer rebounds. Now though, everybody is going for a solid seal from top to bottom, better sliding abilities, and reduced weight. Plus, next to nobody offers/orders two external breaks. Corey Crawford used to be one of the few guys that liked a solid, no-break pad. Now everybody is/has been getting behind that trend.

totally feel you on this. I remember all the advertising for softer rebound so you could get a quick freeze.. Skip ahead 13 years and now its the complete opposite you want rebounds to fly out. I thought it was crazy when i first saw that. From going into a shop back in 05 to going into a shop for the first time in 19 there are no "soft" pads anymore, or heavy pads for that matter. Looking through catalogs recently the tread definitely seems to be hard hard hard face and fairly stiff pad overall. It seems like also you would get the most bang for your buck with just getting stiff pads and over time they will become soft anyways. It also seems like your athletic ability should be able to overcome the stiffness factor.

[TheGoalNet]

On 1/18/2019 at 11:25 AM, Jonathon v said:

Hey I’ve noticed goalies are switching to the more “hybrid pad”  of the brand there in. Dubnyk went from 2s to 2x, lehner and raanta and almost every goalie went from the optik to the gnetik 4s which is the hybrid style. Is this becoming a trend again because they want more mobility?

As a general rule of thumb pros like stiff pads. That's why some guys go through 10 sets a season. Once the pad starts getting soft, they dump it and move on. The only area counter to this is the boot. The trend is softer boots that sit closer to your skate. Guys may like a pad with a bit of torsional flex, but overall it would still be considered stiff.

This has been pretty well addressed, but don't judge a pad by it's skin. So no matter what graphic a goalie has, assume it's a pretty stiff core pad. The main exception to this would be guys in all Vaughn pads like Quick, Schneider, or Rask.

The goalie pad is the core of the pad. It's not the strapping, it's not the boot break angle, and it's not knee rolls or no knee rolls. With custom options available at retail, you can make en EFlex that will turn our stiffer than a P2. However, the stiff E Flex and soft P2 will still have different cores and are different pads. Other than the boot, my EF4 and P2 feel pretty similar in their stiffness.

Other thoughts:

-There is an extra stiff E Flex core option available from Lefevre Canada to NHL goalies only. It's impossible to tell on TV if Binnington is using that or double internal with extra soft boot...

-With Brian's, as @Max27 stated, you can change the pad to make it whatever you want. @Brians_Joz knows his goalies and how they like their gear. Hypothetically, when it's Optik year, Raanta might be in something that is close to stock. When it's a GNetik year, he has the GNetik core, but it's stiffened up a bit. So he changes what line he is in year over year, but Brian's knows how to dial the pads in so the goalie is always happy.

- With Bauer, there's almost no way of telling if the pad is a Vapor or Supreme core. I am pretty sure that Duby is actually in a Supreme pad with tune fit strapping and a 2X badge on it. Bauer pads are very similar in their stiffness, expect for the boot. 2X boot is noticeably softer than Supreme. As a another example, Vasi's pads are tune fit strapping, but they are attached to the pad in a "wide fit". So even though it's the "hybrid" strapping, it's attached very loose like a "butterfly" pad.