WHO IT’S FOR

For years, the Premier line was branded as CCM’s “butterfly” pad in contrast to the “hybrid” Extreme Flex line, and a lot of goaltenders wrongly associated “butterfly” with “blocking.”

It was kind of absurd, really. Just watch Vegas Golden Knights No. 1 Marc-Andre Fleury, who has worn the Premier line since early in his career with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and ask yourself if the three-time Stanley Cup champion looks anything like a blocking goalie?

Fleury is as fast and active as they come in the NHL, so the idea he would chose a blocking pad seems silly. The reality is, choosing between the Premier line and an Extreme Flex line is more about how you like to wear your pad. The new Premier 2 pad may be more flexible in the boot, like the EFlex, and it may have a Velcro strap that can be snugged up tighter around the top of the calf, but make no mistake, the Premier 2 pad is still designed to be worn looser.

Think of it in these terms: The Premier 2 pad is designed to move around your leg more so than the tighter-fitting EFlex, which is designed to move with your leg more. The Premier 2 pad prioritizes lightweight coverage, hanging just a little more off the leg to help maintain a good ice seal when down on your knees or sliding in a butterfly compared to an EFlex pad.

So, if you want a pad you can cinch down really tight to your leg, Premier 2 wasn’t designed for you. Similarly, if you want soft rebounds, Premier 2 was designed to produce the opposite, with new materials kicking pucks out even faster and further away to buy recovery time. And the 90-degree boot break angle hasn’t changed either, remaining a Premier staple in the new pad.

Beyond that, though, you can get pretty much whatever you want in a custom order.

Just as they have ever since opening the custom box with P4, CCM offers a variety of personal choices in their customizer, including eight different knee cradle options (recessed foam with removable knee cradle wrap, pictured above, is the stock option), two toe ties (Jen Pro with HD foam is stock), eight flex options (pre-curved single break core is stock), eight leg channel and strapping options (the loose fit, no calf strap Quick Motion strap is stock but you can choose traditional leather straps, which Fleury says he still does for personal “style” reasons), nash or nylon (stock) in the leg channel, two boot breaks (soft is stock now, but stiff is available still), three boot straps (removable under heel is stock), and seven knee strapping options (elastic only is stock but as you saw on Luongo’s pads, you can still order a leather knee strap).

Add it all up and there’s lots of personal preferences available, but at its re-engineered core, the new Premier 2 pad sticks to its roots: light and loose fitting with active rebounds.