Goalie Basics: How To Pick The Right Goalie Leg Pads
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Time to read 7 min
Finding the right leg pads can be exciting, daunting, and even frustrating, which is why we’ve made this guide as a one-stop shop to help you determine the best pad for your playstyle. Every goalie has different needs and priorities, and we’ve designed this guide with varying insights, particularly in what we see most customers care about and what we consider when buying our own sets.
Please note this guide uses the pro models of each brand for comparison, meaning this guide will be focused more on experienced goalies. If you’re a new goalie, be sure to stay tuned for our beginner goalie buying guide.
What's your play style?
The first thing to determine when buying a new set of leg pads is what you’re hoping to get out of them. This requires some consideration around your playing style, your save selection, and how you want the puck to react when you make a save. These styles aren’t as distinct as they were 20 years ago, however, you can still notice subtle differences between goalies at all levels.
Butterfly
Hybrid
The butterfly style is the current standard, with goalies going down on most saves and opting to slide along the ice when the puck is in tight. Traditionally, butterfly goalies would opt for the stiffest, hard-faced pad they could get. In today’s hockey world, you can find success with nearly any pad style.
What we consider hybrid style today, would be considered butterfly a decade ago. There’s no escaping the butterfly technique, however, how it is used certainly lends itself to distinct styles. A more athletic and reactionary goalie would likely need a soft pad that offers more mobility and flexibility to move quickly around the crease.
Flex Profile
The flex profile on a goalie leg pad determines how much the pad can bend and is often associated with mobility. Traditionally, a stiffer pad is ideal for sliding and feeling solid when in the butterfly, whereas a more flexible pad is designed to stay more in tune with a goalie's movements.
Stiff
Soft
Stiff leg pads, sometimes called butterfly style goalie pads, are designed to keep their rigid shape and provide a solid base for landing in the butterfly. These pads will also tend to fit looser to provide ample rotation when dropping down. This means that a goalie will feel sturdier and more connected to the ice with this style, while also ensuring the slide surface is perfectly flat.
Soft leg pads are designed to have more give when moving around the crease. Goalies may decide to strap this style a little tighter to keep the pad as responsive as possible while they move around the crease. Traditionally, this style would have knee rolls to accommodate the flex, however, these have become more so cosmetic, and some brands have even removed them all together.
Rebound Control
Goalie leg pads feature varying degrees of softness on the face to deliver tailored rebound control based on the goalie’s preferred style. Some leg pads are designed to kill the rebound for goalies to easily cover up after a pad save; others are designed to kick a rebound out and away from the goal. Both styles have their pros and cons, which we will discuss here.
Hard Face Pad
Soft Face Pad
A stiff face pad is engineered to kick rebounds as far as possible, with the goal of providing the goalie more time to react and get back into position for another save. These pads deliver consistent results, allowing goalies to feel more in control of where their rebound ends up. While these pads can provide a rebound that is too hard to handle, they can also deliver juicy rebounds if you don’t control where the puck is going.
Soft face pads are designed to do the exact opposite of their firm counterparts. A soft pad is optimized to kill any rebounds for easy covering and puck control. This is especially useful when play is in tight around the crease where it is ideal that the puck simply hit your pad and stop, rather than bounce out for rebound #2 or #3. As goalies start to prefer more explosive rebounds, hybrid designs are becoming more popular in soft models to provide the best of both worlds.
Leg Pad Slide Skin
Slide skin came into the scene around 2016, with most brands offering something to support effortless crease movement on the ice. Slide skin is engineered to create a smooth slide, which conserves energy while helping goalies move faster. For a more in-depth review of each goalie slide technology, we’ll be putting them up to the test soon so stay tuned.
Bauer SL1D3R
Bauer can be credited with starting this technology trend in 2016, with the launch of their Supreme 1s OD1N leg pads that featured C.O.R.TECH skin technology. Marking the first use of a non-leather/genpro skin, the introduction of this skin found Bauer some great success. Their SL1D3R skin is simply an improved version for this year.
CCM SpeedSkin
Speedskin debuted in 2017 and is CCM's answer to inefficient sliding—by attempting to create a frictionless skin that assists goalies in moving across the ice. Somewhat nylon in feel, it has been included in stock designs on all of their pads since launch and is available across all models.
Brian's Opti-Slide and Vaughn Quick Slide (Primo)
Brian's and Vaughn each use a similar slide skin, which boasts a waxy feel to create a smooth slide across the ice. These slide surfaces are made to be durable without lowering performance, regardless of ice conditions.
True Diamond Glide
True recently added a new option to its customizer called Diamond Glide. Initial images suggest that it is similar to the Primo skin used by Brian’s and Vaughn, though True has remained quiet about this new tech. We’ll have to wait until a new set comes in, by which point we’ll report back.
Warrior AIRslide 3.0 + Slide Plate
Warrior improved their Airslide 3.0 technology in 2022 with the addition of a new slide plate: a durable polymer material designed to improve your slide while reducing the wear on the slide surface. The slide plate is essentially a plastic cover (removable) that eliminates any friction on the knee stack for a more explosive slide with minimal effort.
Leg Pad Knee Rolls
Knee rolls have become less popular over the past few years, with some brands eliminating them completely and others opting to flatten them down. The benefit of knee rolls was that they were originally designed to keep the pad softer and absorb more energy from the puck, which would then limit rebounds. As pad construction has evolved and become more advanced, knee rolls became more of a cosmetic feature rather than performance-based.
Some pads continue to maintain the knee rolls, however they've been flattened in order to have minimal effect on rebounds. While knee rolls appear more traditional, flat-faced pads are generally associated with more consistent rebound control.
If you want a pad with knee rolls, there are three options available:
Leg Pad Strapping System
The strapping system on a leg pad can affect the entire fit, feel, and performance of your goalie pads. Gone are the days of leather straps; all stock pads simply come with Velcro strapping and plastic buckles. This change has not only reduced the weight of the pads across the board, but also made strapping more customizable for your preferences. The biggest thing to consider across brands is how tight you would like your pad to fit and whether you strap around the knee or down to your calf.
We won’t dive into the strapping in depth in this blog, but check out our gear reviews to learn more about each leg pad's unique strapping design.
Leg Pad Weight
Weight can be an important factor in your decision process when buying leg pads, however, it shouldn’t be the only factor. The way a pad is balanced, distributes weight, and the amount of friction on the ice will all influence how heavy the pads feel, regardless of their actual weight.
We weigh all of our gear in-store to ensure accurate measurements across all brands. Feel free to take a look at our gear reviews and product descriptions if you want more information on the overall weight of any leg pad.
Goalie Leg Pad Sizing
When it comes to sizing your next set of leg pads, it's best to come down to The Hockey Shop and let our goalies get you the right fit. If you aren't able to make it to the store, you can use the ATK (Ankle-to-knee) method to find the right size.
If you need some help sizing your pads, we'll be working on an in-depth blog post soon on the subject. For now, check out this guide for everything you need to know about sizing your goalie pads.
Goalie Demo Sets
If you’re still undecided and want to narrow down your options, or just want to see what the latest technology feels like, then come try one of our demo leg pad sets. It’s the best way to identify the right pad for you, and we can help you trial them as well to make it easier to decide. Just come down to The Hockey Shop or give us a call to learn more about this program.
Speak With Our Goalie Experts
If you’re curious about the new generation of leg pads, or trying to decide on your next set, come speak with our goalies, and they’ll help you find the perfect set. With decades worth of combined goaltending experience, we have the answers you’re looking for, straight from the brands and our own experience.
