Hockey is one of the most expensive sports in the world, we all know that. I physically cringe anytime I need to get a new stick for my beer league games.
But what about in the NHL? Players all make enough money that buying new equipment wouldn’t seem like that big of a deal to them, so do NHL players pay for their own gear? Or does someone else cover the tab for them?
NHL players do not pay for their own equipment. Typically, manufacturers will pay NHL players and provide them with free gear in exchange for promotion. This agreement is refereed to as a sponsorship and helps companies get their new hockey equipment in front of the eyes of thousands of potential customers. Furthermore, if NHL players are not sponsored by any hockey equipment manufacturers, their teams will cover the cost of new gear for them.
This is good news for goaltenders, goalie equipment tends to cost far more than regular players.
Breaking in new gear sucks. Something to keep in mind is that NHL players typically only need frequent replacements of sticks, gloves and skates. This is because hockey players are creatures of comfort & superstition, and therefore rarely switch up their gear.
Some players will even use the same pair of shoulder pads for years without requiring a new pair.
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Popular Equipment brands in the NHL
The two major companies who supply players with free equipment in the NHL are Bauer and CCM, with Warrior and True behind them.
To get a better picture of each brand’s standing in the NHL, here’s a chart detailing how many players on each NHL team use each one of these brand’s sticks. Oh, for more detail you can check out this article I wrote about the most used sticks in the NHL.
Chart data from 2020-2021 season, data provided by geargeak.com.
How often do NHL players change gloves?
When it comes to gloves, most players like them a certain way. Some players like their gloves soaking wet, while others can only seem to play with a fresh, dry pair of gloves.
How often NHL players change gloves depends on the player. Some players will change gloves after every period, some will use the same pair of gloves throughout the entire game, and some will change their gloves a few times a period.
Players like Patrick Kane and Alexander Ovechkin tend to switch their gloves 2-3 times a period because, as Ovechkin puts it:
“They become extremely wet”.
When players switch out gloves during games they are typically the exact same brand and model, just you know, dryer.
Unfortunately there is no concrete answer to this question, if you ask 50 different NHL players you would likely come back with 50 different answers.
However, the amount of sticks players go through in a season is enough to annoy people in a team’s head office.
In 2012 while players and the league were negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement, one team owner spoke up with the idea of players having to start paying for their own sticks, stating some teams are forking out well over $500,000 a year just for new sticks for their players.
Some players like to switch sticks every period, some like to use the same stick as a long as possible, and others tend to break their sticks far more often than most.
If you’ve played hockey as an adult, especially in the modern era where sticks are no longer made from wood but rather carbon fiber, you know that they tend to break easily which can increase the number of sticks used per game.
Sticks breaking isn’t the only reason players would change sticks, players tend to be superstitious and if the game isn’t going well for them, they will try using a different stick. If a player is currently in the middle of a hot scoring streak, they will typically avoid changing sticks at all costs.
Some players even switch sticks based on different parts of the game. Patrick Laine is a great example, when his team goes on the power play he switches to a brand-new stick, his reasoning?
“You only get so much flex on those seam passes.”
This is true, every time you flex your stick you are actively weakening it. If you can afford to switch to a brand-new stick every power play, you will end up breaking far fewer sticks on your one-timer attempts.
Alex Pietrangelo breaks a pair of sticks on the same shift
But then again, I’m not playing at an elite level. So, how often do players in the NHL get new skates?
It varies from player to player. Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning says he uses a new pair of skates every ten games. Patrick Marleau of the San Jose Sharks said he used to get a new pair of skates four to five times a season. Travis Dermott a defenceman for the Toronto Maple Leafs has been quoted as saying he gets a fresh pair of skates every 45 days.
Before Patrick Marleau changed to a newer generation of skates, he was actually forced to cut down the number of skates he uses every season to two or three. This is because the brand he used, Reebok 9K Pumps, were no longer available, and he only had about twelve pairs left.
So, as you can see, every player in the NHL is different when it comes to changing their skates. It wouldn’t surprise me if there are players who use a fresh pair of skates every single game.
Final thoughts
It must be nice to be in the NHL, getting paid millions to play a game you love and not having to pay for your own gear.
A lot of teams will hold auctions at the end of each season auctioning off game worn equipment which they donate the proceeds of to charity, so that’s good!
Players in the NHL for one reason or the other don’t like change, main staples of their equipment like shoulder pads, shin pads, jockstrap, etc hardly ever get switched out, or at least not nearly as frequent as sticks and skate blades.
The collective-bargaining agreement now rules that only players on three-year, entry-level contracts have roommates. After that, every player gets his own room on the road. Poulin doesn't think that's a good thing.
In the NHL, players will have freshly sharpened skates for every game, but not in between periods. The closer you get to the best player in the league, the more demands you can make (and rightly so). Sydney Crosby, for example, gets his skates sharpened between every period.
Very broad question with literally too many right replies for me or any human to get 100% right. NHL guys generally (average) have picked up some new gear annually, other gear same since Jr and/or before if comfortable & not water absorbant.
Amateur and recreational leagues typically enforce the wearing of some mandatory pieces of equipment while professional players have more freedom of choice. A full set of NHL hockey gear costs approximately $3,000 U.S., with goalie equipment costing up to about $10,000.
Virtanen, who averages between six and 15 personal visitors per game, simply tells friends to text his dad if they want tickets, though the NHL's collective bargaining agreement only gives two complimentary seats per player on the home team.
Successful professional hockey players eat, drink, sleep and train with purpose. In the arena of sports nutrition, significant attention is given to pre-game meals when instead, the arguably most vital meal may be after the game.
Blackhawks equipment manager Troy Parchman said in 2015 that his team typically breaks at least two to three sticks per game. Regardless, some players, such as Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, use a new stick each game.
It's not uncommon for NHL players to use a new stick every game and their teams pay for them — an average of about $200 per stick, which is about $100 less than they cost in a sports store. The regular season is 82 games — not including practices — so the stick bill for NHL teams can get very expensive.
“Mark Stone uses three pairs of gloves per period and rotates them every timeout,” Davidson-Adams said. “So his gloves don't end up being that sweaty. We dry them after every TV timeout, and he goes to a fresh pair, so his gloves aren't naturally that sweaty.
In recent years NHL teams generally give players 3-4 sets of white and dark jerseys annually, with special sets being introduced for alternate/heritage designs or special games.
Fun fact: Desjardins and forward Melvin Angelstad (two games with the Washington Capitals in 2003-04) are the only players in NHL history to wear No.69.
Allow players 15 - 30 minutes to dress before they are ready for the ice. Please be early, dressing young players can be VERY stressfull and we are here to have FUN.
How much do hockey skates cost? Ice hockey skates for senior-level players run from $130 for rec league skates to $1120 for top-of-the-line models for elite players. Entry-level youth skates start at $50 and go up to $230 for a high-end pair.
Only once has a father played with his sons, when Gordie Howe played with Mark and Marty for one season with the Hartford Whalers. The Chicago Blackhawks have seen the most familial connections with 31: twenty sets of brothers, five father-son combinations, three uncle-nephew combinations, and three sets of cousins.
NHL teams are only allowed to dress a maximum of 20 players – 18 skaters and two goaltenders – for any given game, but those 20 must come from the 23-player active roster. Both the 23-player active roster and 20-player game roster can change day-to-day and game-to-game.
Some players will take a shower during the intermission to feel revitalized for the upcoming period. Other players choose to meditate, closing their eyes, staying silent and visualizing their success for the remainder of the game.
Players can consume easy-to-digest carb's such as graham crackers, animal crackers, orange slices, or apple slices for a quick between period snack between periods. Sports drinks (NOT ENERGY DRINKS) are also okay, but be sure that they don't contain any caffeine.
(a) Any player whose stick is broken must drop his stick prior to participating in the play. A player or goalkeeper shall be allowed reasonable time to be aware that the stick is broken. A minor penalty for an equipment violation shall be assessed for participating in play with a broken stick.
When a player retires, they no longer receive the pay remaining on their contract. If players have contracts but no longer wish to play, the more common result is that they go on the injured list for the remainder of their contracts as that way they still get paid. In that case, the retained cap hit would remain.
A player who has lost or broken their stick may only receive another stick at their own Players' Bench or be handed one from a teammate on the ice. They may not receive a stick thrown on the ice from any part of the rink, nor can they receive a stick handed to them from the Penalty Bench.
Even the most durable carbon stick, players note, can break in a week or can last a year. Most people cite frequency and level of play as two central factors for determining the lifespan of a hockey stick. Remember, too, you may want to replace a stick when it's not broken—it may have lost its stiffness, its pop.
"There's not many of us left," Chicago Blackhawks goalie Marc-Andre Fleury said. Fleury is one of three goalies in the NHL still using the old blend of wood with foam injected in the paddle and blade, a number that has dropped significantly since 2016.
The Stanley Cup playoff beard has been an NHL tradition since the early 1980s, when the shaggy New York Islanders won four straight championships. It represents the players' singular focus, as if even personal hygiene is sacrificed in pursuit of hockey's holy grail.
More recently, athletes have begun to use smelling salts with the belief that their use will keep them more alert. The use of smelling salts is particularly popular among football and hockey players who believe this reflex will counteract the effects of concussion.
While ZipRecruiter is seeing annual salaries as high as $79,000 and as low as $13,000, the majority of Hockey Scout salaries currently range between $28,500 (25th percentile) to $45,000 (75th percentile) with top earners (90th percentile) making $64,500 annually across the United States.
Unless it's a very well-known athlete traveling by themselves, most players don't get special rooms, especially if it's an entire team traveling together. Sometimes, rookie players will even have to share rooms.
For the best chance to bump into NHL stars, book a room at the Marriott Chateau Champlain (adjacent to the Bell Centre) where it's rumoured that most visiting teams stay. With its grand views of Mount Royal, the Marriott makes a great base for a hockey holiday.
Special offer: Subscribe for $1 a week for the first year. But in the N.H.L., where the average salary is just over $2.95 million, players on entry-level contracts still have to share a room during trips.
The collective bargaining agreement requires teams to pay for 28 days of a player's hotel stay that can be extended up to 56, at which point he can get a permanent place without seeking permission.
Each game check corresponds to a portion of the player's yearly salary, but does not include any monies from bonuses. In total, each player will receive 17 game checks per season.
During the pandemic of the 2020 season, the NFL elevated this selective tradition to an actual league mandate. The rule reads: “The Home Team will be required to stay at the team hotel the night prior to each game.
Showers were always in order following every game regardless of how much you played. This naturally also applies to the backup quarterback who just held a clipboard all game. There is just something rejuvenating and necessary about it after wearing a complete football uniform.
All 30 National Hockey League teams travel by charter aircraft or, in the case of teams like Detroit and Dallas, own their own planes. When Theoren Fleury travelled with the Flames during the pre-season, he was amazed at the change.
“After a game, there's generally no curfew unless we had another game the next day. So he'd throw and early curfew and do a room-check. I loved that — that was comical.
Finishing off the list with an average price of $278,000, Winnipeg is the cheapest NHL city to buy a home, but with no Stanley Cup wins, it's unclear what this city is investing their money in, since it's clearly not real estate or hockey.
Teams withhold the specified amount of a player's cumulative salary and bonuses in each pay period (players are paid on a bi-weekly basis, which equates to 12 paychecks a season), that is calculated by multiplying a player's earnings by the applicable escrow percentage for that period.
Conclusion. NHL players certainly aren't hurting for money. With a minimum salary of $700,000 for the 2019-2020 season, they are some of the highest paid people in the world and should be set for life if they manage their money correctly.
Full Service: You've been in the league for ten years and have received 82 games per season for pension purposes. If you reach this threshold, you will receive the maximum pension benefit, currently $255,000 per year.
Introduction: My name is Chrissy Homenick, I am a tender, funny, determined, tender, glorious, fancy, enthusiastic person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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