Compare Hockey Sticks of the 2022-2023 Season

It's been a couple years since our last article covering this market comparison during the 2020-21 season. It's been a pretty popular article previously, so we're after it again this season. As in the last edition, we tried to grab not only the top end elite sticks from each manufacturer, but also the performance and recreational level builds as well. Bonus, we added Canadian dollar retail pricing as well!

So what are we looking at this year? Well, we've seen the largest manufacturers embrace the continue to embrace the short-run, test-run marketing focused product introduction even more. Last year the Bauer Sling replaced the ADV models of previous years as the test marketing batch from Bauer. This year, they've released the AG5NT in a similar fashion. True entered the marketing test realm as well last year with the Project X line, that they've continued this year with a new shortened PX name. Along with the new market test products, the large manufacturers continue to test the market for higher price thresholds for their products. To be fair, it's not all them this time. Global inflation has become a real issue everywhere; even the hockey industry.

We've also seen a couple companies forced to make some changes since the last article we wrote. Sherwood was acquired by Canadian Tire and has dropped back significantly in distribution within North America. STX appears to dropped out of the ice hockey realm altogether.

The constants remain this year though. Construction methods continue to be refined to yield better performing and lighter sticks. We've seen a larger push by manufacturers into the dimensional bottom shaped shaft that provides an opportunity for manufacturers to strip weight from the build while maintaining overall break strength. Unfortunately, this build is documented to produce a reduction in overall power generation ability. How much is debatable and varies by stick, but it is definitely a less powerful build than the conventional rectangle hosel.

Most of us understand that a stick can be built of a variety of products and that, in most cases, the less carbon fiber layers and more resin there is in a stick build, the cheaper, heavier, and lower performing the stick becomes. Each year there has been more advances in carbon fiber fabric production which allow for flatter and thinner laying carbon sheets to be produced that yield the same or better strength attributes. These flatter layers reduce the amount of resin needed in a stick and allow for more carbon layers to be used in its place. This makes for a lighter and better performing build.

In general, the weight class of the stick is an easy identifier as to the level of carbon included in its construction. This is also the primary reason why you see multiple varieties of a stick line from each manufacturer. Elite/Pro-level sticks are 100% carbon-fiber with the highest amount of carbon layers in the manufacturer's product line. It’s the best stuff out there and really gives the stick that pop it needs, but it's also the most expensive to produce, thus yielding the highest price tag. We also need to understand that each manufacturer has a stick line to appeal to flex profile preference. Make no mistake, the flex-profile doesn't make one stick better than the other. it's just a player preference. Most brands have a mid-kick, a low-kick, and a a few have an additional line for either a high or hybrid-kick or both.

If we eliminate flex point and artwork out of the comparison because both are just player preference, we're really left with build quality/stick weight as the dominant differentiator between hockey stick models. To get a good snapshot of what's on the market, we took the elite model stick from each of the manufacturer's product lines and did a weight versus price comparison. All weights are based on an 85 flex senior size build and prices are regular retail as of 11/1/2022.

Here is a complete list of each model evaluated, the retail price, and the stick weight in a fancy table.

The full hockey stick list for this season

Okay, that make sense, right?

Pretty interesting when you break it down into looking at price versus build quality/weight, eh? Keep in mind, like we said before, there are some subtle differences between each stick (Kick point, grip level, shaft texture, blade stiffness, etc), but in reference to performance quality, these differences are small in nature and affect only player preference.

With that said, we'll just leave this data here to sink into your brain. What are you really getting in a hockey stick for the price you're paying? Be sure to check out the rest of our blog.

Have a great season!

-Joe