How the players you know taped their sticks, and why. We only publish what is documented: every story links to where it comes from.
“the puck feels sluggish on the stick.”Sports Illustrated, 1982, on why he powdered his tape
Sports Illustrated reported in 1982 that Gretzky, like Bobby Hull before him, taped the whole blade and then rubbed baby powder into the tape to take away its tackiness. Without the powder, SI wrote, the puck felt sluggish on his stick, and he believed the tape's cushion took spin off pucks coming off the boards. A 1984-85 game-used stick sold at Lelands still shows the powdered tape.
In his memoir Orr: My Story he says he liked to feel the puck on a bare blade. He also believed a rule required some tape, so he used as little as he could. A 1966-67 game-used stick sold by Classic Auctions still has its original handle tape and a V-shaped strand near the toe.
RMNB reports that Ovechkin normally rubs a puck over his white tape until the whole blade is black. At 2022 training camp he left one white stripe across the middle, and gear experts couldn't explain why. His Sochi 2014 sticks had blue and red handle tape. In the 2011-12 season he once taped a toilet plunger to his stick at practice, a joke on coach Dale Hunter calling him a 'plumber.'
After two periods of fumbling the puck against Boston in October 2025, assistant coach Daniel Alfredsson told Stützle to change his tape. He wrapped the whole blade in white, using more tape than usual, and scored twice in the third period of a 7-2 win.
InGoal says Holtby builds very large tape knobs so he can grab a dropped stick more easily, unlike goalies who keep a small knob for puckhandling. Most of his taping technique predates his NHL career.
Wooden sticks, cloth tape and habits that outlived the players who started them.
Edmonton Oilers; LA Kings; St. Louis Blues; NY Rangers
“the puck feels sluggish on the stick.”Sports Illustrated, 1982, on why he powdered his tape
Sports Illustrated reported in 1982 that Gretzky, like Bobby Hull before him, taped the whole blade and then rubbed baby powder into the tape to take away its tackiness. Without the powder, SI wrote, the puck felt sluggish on his stick, and he believed the tape's cushion took spin off pucks coming off the boards. A 1984-85 game-used stick sold at Lelands still shows the powdered tape.
Chicago Black Hawks; Winnipeg Jets (WHA); Hartford Whalers
Sports Illustrated's 1982 Gretzky profile says Gretzky's full tape job with baby powder copied what Hull had done. Hull is also part of the curved-blade origin story: NHL.com recounts that he and Stan Mikita began using curved 'banana blades' in games in the 1960s. Andy Bathgate disputed that origin, saying he had used curves since he was a kid.
Sources: vault.si.com, nhl.com
Boston Bruins; Chicago Black Hawks
In his memoir Orr: My Story he says he liked to feel the puck on a bare blade. He also believed a rule required some tape, so he used as little as he could. A 1966-67 game-used stick sold by Classic Auctions still has its original handle tape and a V-shaped strand near the toe.
Sources: thehockeybeast.com, classicauctions.net
Detroit Red Wings; Houston Aeros/New England Whalers (WHA); Hartford Whalers
Only artifact evidence: an early-1960s Red Wings game-used stick sold by Classic Auctions still has its original black tape on the blade and handle, and the blade shows puck marks on both sides. Black friction tape was the norm in the Original Six era.
Sources: classicauctions.net
Detroit Red Wings
A late-1990s Red Wings game-used stick sold by Classic Auctions has white cloth tape on the blade and red cloth over white on the handle and knob, matching Detroit's colours.
Based on a game-used stick, not an interview.
Sources: classicauctions.net
Detroit Red Wings
An early-1990s Red Wings stick sold by Classic Auctions has black tape over the front of the blade and a white tape knob.
Based on a game-used stick, not an interview.
Edmonton Oilers; NY Rangers; Vancouver Canucks
A Messier game-used stick sold at Lelands has his '11' written in silver on the knob tape and 'MESSIER' stamped under the blade tape.
Based on a game-used stick, not an interview.
Sources: lelands.com
Composite sticks changed almost everything about hockey equipment. They did not change how fussy players are about tape.
Pittsburgh Penguins
CBS Pittsburgh reports that Crosby tapes his stick a set way at exactly the same time before every game, and DK Pittsburgh Sports adds that he retapes if anyone touches the stick after he's finished. CBS also lists 'obsessively re-taping his stick' among his pre-game habits. A signed 2005-06 rookie stick shows black blade tape and '87' on the knob.
Washington Capitals; Russia
RMNB reports that Ovechkin normally rubs a puck over his white tape until the whole blade is black. At 2022 training camp he left one white stripe across the middle, and gear experts couldn't explain why. His Sochi 2014 sticks had blue and red handle tape. In the 2011-12 season he once taped a toilet plunger to his stick at practice, a joke on coach Dale Hunter calling him a 'plumber.'
Ottawa Senators
After two periods of fumbling the puck against Boston in October 2025, assistant coach Daniel Alfredsson told Stützle to change his tape. He wrapped the whole blade in white, using more tape than usual, and scored twice in the third period of a 7-2 win.
Columbus; Nashville; Colorado; Philadelphia
At a summer golf tournament, Wayne Gretzky and Brett Hull suggested Johansen tape his stick differently. He tried it, went about 15 games without a goal, switched back to his half-white tape job, and scored in his first game back.
Sources: nhl.com
Vancouver Canucks
When his tape is too sticky, Hughes puts baby powder on it, and if that doesn't work he changes the tape on his knob. It's the same powder trick SI described Gretzky using in 1982. He also uses a new stick every game.
Sources: nsnews.com
NY Rangers; Calgary; Atlanta; Boston Bruins
Savard was so particular about tape that he retaped teammates' sticks when he didn't like how they'd done them; Jason York was one of them, as Savard told the 31 Thoughts podcast. In retirement he posted YouTube videos recreating other NHL players' tape jobs.
Sources: nbcsports.com
Boston Bruins
Former teammate Dominik Kahun said Pastrňák 'doesn't put much on there' and described three separate lines across the blade. Marcus Pettersson called it 'pretty weird'. NBC Sports wrote in 2019 that a small amount of tape is all he needs.
Sources: dkpittsburghsports.com, nbcsports.com
Dallas Stars
Penguins forward Bryan Rust said Benn uses only three or four strips in the middle of the blade, in a colour opposite to the blade's so the tape stands out.
Sources: dkpittsburghsports.com
Chicago; Columbus; NY Rangers
Zach Aston-Reese said Panarin barely tapes his stick. Photos reviewed by DK Pittsburgh show the toe in one colour and a single strip along the bottom. Jan Drozg, who shares Panarin's agent, copied the look.
Sources: dkpittsburghsports.com
Vegas (rights); New Jersey; Florida; KHL
Teddy Blueger described Gusev's blade as tape with gaps between the strips, like a zebra. Blueger wasn't sure Gusev still tapes it that way.
Sources: dkpittsburghsports.com
Nashville; Minnesota; LA Kings
Marcus Pettersson remembered Fiala using one stripe along the bottom of the blade in the Swedish league, and DK Pittsburgh says his 2015 NHL debut stick had the same single stripe. By 2020 he was taping the full blade.
Sources: dkpittsburghsports.com
Pittsburgh Penguins organization; Slovenia
Drozg copied Panarin's two-tone look before the 2019 World Championship, scored four points in his first game with it, and kept it. He admits the tape doesn't change how he plays and calls it mostly mental. Teammates voted it the weirdest tape job they knew.
Sources: dkpittsburghsports.com
Boston; Toronto; Pittsburgh; Arizona; Vegas
Kessel was known for a candy-cane swirl wound up his shaft. In 2011 TheLeafsNation spotted game-used Bauer sticks that had the same swirl built in from Bauer's clear GripTac coating rather than tape, a pattern Bauer didn't sell to the public. Penguins defenceman Marcus Pettersson brought up the candy cane again in 2020.
Goalies shape their knobs and paddles as carefully as their pads. Some of them have run into the rulebook doing it.
Washington; Vancouver; Dallas
InGoal says Holtby builds very large tape knobs so he can grab a dropped stick more easily, unlike goalies who keep a small knob for puckhandling. Most of his taping technique predates his NHL career.
Montreal Canadiens; Canada
Kevin Woodley writes for NHL.com that around 2017 Price helped popularize shorter shafts and thickened his handle with layers of stick and grip tape, which Martin Jones later copied. InGoal says taping a stick in front of the kids became a yearly part of the Eli Wilson camp day with Price, used to get them talking before the Q&A.
Sources: nhl.com, ingoalmag.com
Pittsburgh; Vegas; Chicago; Minnesota
Fleury's custom convex grip came from a stick Price gave him that had been shaved on top. He said the change freed his thumb, which used to feel stuck. In 2024 his former teammate Max Talbot taped up Fleury's gear and wrote on one of his goal sticks before his return to Pittsburgh.
Sources: nhl.com, nhl.com, heinzhistorycenter.emuseum.com
NY Rangers; Sweden
Lundqvist used a squared-off shoulder on his stick, which NHL.com says let him keep his blocker hand relaxed and InGoal says kept the blocker square to shooters.
Sources: nhl.com, ingoalmag.com
Philadelphia; Columbus; Florida
Bobrovsky's steep shoulder gives him the blocker angle he wants and lets him grip lower on the paddle. Chris Driedger and Spencer Knight have both copied it.
Sources: nhl.com, ingoalmag.com
Philadelphia Flyers
Hart rubs a puck over the white blade tape. He started with the bottom edge and now blackens the whole blade. He feels it adds grip and keeps ice from building up, though he admits part of it may be mental.
Sources: nhl.com
Buffalo; Boston; Ottawa
Ullmark puts black marks on the top, bottom and corner of his blade so he can see it against white ice.
Ottawa; Florida; Seattle
Driedger copied Bobrovsky's shoulder and added a notch on the bottom edge so he could wrap a finger around the stick without breaking its seal on the ice. Warrior later adopted the notch.
Sources: nhl.com
Florida; Chicago
Knight showed InGoal a stick that combines Bobrovsky's sloped shoulder with a Price-style knob that helps him place his hand.
Sources: ingoalmag.com
Buffalo Sabres; Canada (world juniors)
InGoal filmed Levi's knob technique at a CCM event and called it the most unique it had seen. Levi says the point is to save time.
Sources: ingoalmag.com
Anaheim; Toronto; Carolina
NHL rules require a white knob on a goalie stick. Andersen had to add white over blue tape in a 2017 preseason game with Toronto, and over red tape against Anaheim in November 2021. Mike McKenna adds that the knob was also undersized.
Sources: dailyfaceoff.com, scoutingtherefs.com
Toronto; LA Kings; Edmonton; Montreal
During a 2014 shootout, Kings coach Darryl Sutter told officials about Scrivens' fluorescent orange knob. Scrivens laughed it off, and Edmonton won anyway. The white-knob rule dates from the days when goal judges could mistake a black knob for a puck.
Sources: dailyfaceoff.com
Minnesota; Boston; Carolina; Anaheim; Dallas; Chicago
Khudobin used coloured knob tape for years until Calgary flagged it during the 2019-20 playoffs. McKenna noted that his later sticks had a green knob again.
Sources: dailyfaceoff.com, scoutingtherefs.com
Boston/Providence; Vegas; Chicago; Buffalo
Mike McKenna writes that when he played for the AHL Portland Pirates, his team noticed Subban's black knob and waited until the third period of a key game before asking the referee to make him add white tape.
Sources: dailyfaceoff.com
From the PWHL to Olympic rosters. This is the least documented part of the tape story, and we are adding to it.
USA (Milano Cortina 2026)
Asked to choose between white and black tape in USA Hockey's Olympic rapid-fire Q&As in February 2026, Bilka and Edwards both picked white.
Sources: teamusa.usahockey.com
USA; Boston Fleet; Seattle (PWHL)
A 2024-25 PWHL Boston game-used stick sold through The Realest has a white tape handle. Bauer tagged Knight in an April 2025 video on the PWHL's most unique tape jobs, but we couldn't verify what the video shows.
Based on a game-used stick, not an interview.
Sources: develop.therealest.com, youtube.com
Canada; Toronto Sceptres; Vancouver Goldeneyes (PWHL)
A 2024-25 PWHL Toronto game-used stick sold through The Realest has blue handle tape over white.
Based on a game-used stick, not an interview.
Sources: therealest.com
Metropolitan Riveters (NWHL/PHF)
Morse wrapped Pride Tape at the top of her sticks for three straight seasons. She says it often starts conversations and has connected her with LGBTQ+ people and allies across the sport.
Sources: nhl.com
Slumps make players creative. Some of these worked.
Ottawa Senators; Tampa Bay; Columbus; New Jersey
Mired in a scoring slump, Gardiner tried to flush his stick blade down a toilet. He scored, and according to the Globe and Mail he made a trip to the toilet before every game after that.
Sources: theglobeandmail.com
Anaheim; Dallas; Montreal; Tampa Bay; Edmonton; others
When Perry was in a slump, he stood his stick in a garbage can in the middle of the room and had teammates throw trash in, calling for a 'garbage goal.' Kevin Bieksa told the story on the Missin Curfew podcast, and Perry confirmed it.
Sources: sportskeeda.com
Detroit; Boston; Toronto; Chicago
Bertuzzi stopped taping the top of his stick, and when asked why in 2023 he said 'I'm lazy.' Zach Aston-Reese named his stick the weirdest in the league because of the bare knob and the grippy blade, which NHL.com lists among Rezztek users.
NY Islanders; Ottawa; Boston; Washington
Chara switched from tape to Rezztek blade grips and used them exclusively by 2018. He said he was tired of retaping every time a skate or a slash tore the tape, and he credited the grip with more shot speed and accuracy. He also called tape a product that hadn't changed in a century.
Sources: nhl.com
Washington Capitals
Frank coats his blade with surf wax because he finds it stickier than hockey wax. He says it keeps snow off the tape and slows down pucks spinning off the boards. He's used the setup since high school and refined it after a Western Michigan equipment manager told him a former player used to melt the wax on.
Sources: thehockeynews.com
New Jersey Devils
Mercer has used smooth electrical tape at the top of his stick since he was a kid because it doesn't wear through his glove palms. He was still wearing the same gloves 51 games into the season. The Devils' equipment staff found a close 3M match so his own Newfoundland rolls would last.
Sources: nhl.com
Vegas; Carolina; Winnipeg
Coghlan builds up his handle with fiberglass and then gauze and grip tape, so it ends up round like a baseball bat instead of rectangular. The Hurricanes' equipment staff called it pure player preference.
Sources: nhl.com
Rainbow tape, worn on sticks in warmups and in games as a show of support.
Toronto; Vancouver; Arizona
In October 2023 Dermott became the first player to openly defy the NHL's ban on themed tape when he used Pride Tape in a game against Anaheim. Within days the league reversed course and let players use tape for social causes.
Sources: cbssports.com, npr.org
Minnesota; New Jersey; San Jose; Toronto
On Feb. 25, 2019, Gabriel scored the winner for New Jersey against Montreal with Pride Tape wrapped around the top of his stick, in a game televised across Canada.
Sources: nhl.com
Edmonton Oilers; Canada
Oilers Nation reports that McDavid led several Oilers in wearing Pride Tape during warmups against New Jersey. Gear coverage focuses on his CCM Super Tacks and his P92 curve.
Sources: oilersnation.com, hockeystickman.ca
Every player has one: the tape job you have used since you were eight, the superstition you will not explain, the knob your coach made fun of. Tell us yours. We read every story and publish the best, from minor hockey to the pros.