Ever since — andprobably before — Stan Mikita first broke a blade in the boards at a Blackhawkspractice and he and Bobby Hull started strafing the top shelf, crazy hockey curves havebeen a part of the NHL.
Some NHL player curves areoutrageous, dancing along and at times skipping blithely over the league rulethat says, “the distance of a perpendicular line measuredfrom a straight line drawn from any point at the heel to the end of the bladeto the point of maximum curvature shall not exceed three-quarters of an inch.”Some are conservative. Some iconic.
The Sakic Curve
On his way to theHall of Fame, Joe Sakic scored 100 points or more in six of his 20 NHL seasonsand came up with perhaps the most well-known of the NHL hockey curves. A 2018 Sportsnet featureon contemporary players who grew up on or still use the Sakic curve foundBoston’s Brad Marchand practically bubbling with praise for the ubiquitousblade.
“It had a big toecurve so you were able to cup the puck in your stick and it allows you to havea nice toe drag,” Marchand said. “As a kid, that’s all anybody wants to do is atoe drag.”
For his part,Sakic said he came up with the mid-curve, open-faced blade during a trip to amanufacturing facility in San Diego, describing it as “a nice curve with alittle upshot at the toe.” Ironically, though, he never used it in a game,adding, “It was pretty much like that just a little bit straighter. I justthought for me it felt a little bit big, I just wanted to go a little bitstraighter. But it was similar to that same shape.”
Many players havesince drifted deeper into the curve.
Blades for Beginners
A quick tutorialon blades:
Heel curves start closer to the shaft of the stick;arc more consistently across the entire face; and are generally consideredbetter for big slap shots and one-timers while also providing a flat surfacefor backhands.
Mid-curves are the most common. They’re better forstick-handling than heel curves while retaining a decent sweet spot on both theforehand and backhand.
Toe curves twist down as they bend, making them greatfor danglers who favor quick wrist shots.
Open-faced blades have an upward twist near the end of thetoe — which is to say the bottom edge is in front of the top edge. That helpselevate shots. Closed-faced blades are better for backhands and keepingthe puck on the ice.
There are twotoe styles — square and round. The former is better along the boards andfor poke-checking, while the latter is better for toe dragging.
Current Crazies
An NHL name used todescribe today’s retail curves usually doesn’t correlate with the curve thatNHL player is actually using. Infact, the actual NHL player curves are typically much different than the retailcurves attached to their name.
Some of themost unusual or outlandish curves used in today's NHL belong to St. Louis Blues’ Ryan O’Reilly (shown left), the LA Kings’ Ilya Kovalchuk (shown middle) and, of course, Washington Capitals' Alex Ovechkin (shown right).
Always remember, there’s a difference betweenplayer-branded, mass-market sticks and pro stock gear designed to be used by aspecific player.
