Extremely Important Development: Jonathan Drouin Has Made The Switch To The Bauer 4500
[Jordie’s Note: this blog is for Proclaimed Hockey Equipment Whores only. If you don’t care about gear and set ups, then do me a favor and click the “x” on the corner of your screen. Then click the blog again so I get another pageview. And then click the “x” again so you can get the frick out. Gear heads only.]
Ever since I can remember, Jonathan Drouin has been a CCM guy. He wore a CCM helmet during his years in Halifax. He wore a CCM helmet during his years in Tampa. He wore a CCM helmet last year in Montreal. Now Drouin has had a pretty up and down career already for a kid who is still just 23 years old. So just like it takes a change of scenery for some players to really find their game, sometimes guys have to switch up the gear as well. So earlier in the summer when we first noticed that Jonathan Drouin was letting the lettuce rage a little, it was different to see him wearing a Bauer helmet.
But now it looks like Drouin is taking it one step further and making the switch to the biggest beauty bucket the game has to offer. The Bauer 4500.
(Quick Sidenote: The Habs should go with white ear loops on their home helmets. Would look better with the white collar than the black strap does.)
Now for awhile, the 4500 reigned supreme in the National Hockey League. But over the years as everybody has grown more and more concerned about concussions, we don’t see too many guys still rocking it. That’s the one issue with the 4500 is it’s pretty much just a little bit of plastic covering up 1 layer of foam and attached to your skull. It doesn’t offer too much protection. So some players ditched the 4500 when the 5000 came out. A few more ditched it when the 8000 came out but that was quite possibly the most hideous helmet ever made and that’s including everything that Itech ever made. I’d say it was right around the time that the Bauer Re-Akt came out that we saw the most amount of guys switch from the 4500.
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But you look around the league and see some of the guys who are still going strong. Ilya Kovalchuk, Jonathan Toews, Evgeni Malkin, Steven Stamkos, John Carlson. These are all big time players. These guys are all stars, they are Stanley Cup winners, they are legends. The Bauer 4500 is a beauties only type of helmet. And now that Jonathan Drouin is wearing one? Well you can expect a 30&30 season coming up.
P.S. – It takes a beauty to know one.
