It's all about the gear. From the way the game is played on the ice, to the protection of the players, to how the game is grown around North America, hockey is shaped by the equipment in use and the companies that create it.
Chris Zimmerman was named the President of Easton Sports last March, having revitalized the Bauer brand for NIKE and serving as President and CEO of the Vancouver Canucks during the last several years. He said around 250 NHL players currently use Easton sticks.
We spoke with Zimmerman last week about several issues relating to hockey and its gear manufacturers: Concussions and player safety; the durability of the equipment; the race between the companies to sign NHL talent for endorsements; and growing the game for the next generation of players and fans.
Also, we discussed something unique to Easton recently, but not unique for any company using celebrities to endorse products: What happens when public opinion on them sours? In Easton's case: What happens when half the fans in hockey are demonizing Zdeno Chara for a violent hit?
But first, we discussed a point of frustration for fans …
Q. Do you get any grief about how many sticks break during a typical NHL game? Or is it just something we the fans end up bitching about amongst ourselves?
ZIMMERMAN: I think it's definitely more of an issue for the fans. In the end, a player can find a more durable stick. All he has to do is tell his rep that, 'Hey, I want this in a stick.' We can create anything. The challenge for us, or other companies, is that the players want a lighter stick or the stick to be a certain way; a lot of what we do is create that perfect balance between lightweight and durability.
We're pretty proud of where we are on that front. But yeah, anytime somebody sees a stick snap on the power play, then it's 'the sticks are the problem!' Well, the sticks are also allowing players to shoot the puck harder than ever before.
Easton is obviously an established brand in the NHL, but I read an interview in which you talked about trying to make the brand younger by going with a young star like Taylor Hall on the roster.
Easton really came into the hockey world … well, it goes all the way back to Gretzky and the aluminum stick … but it was really the point in time when we introduced the composite stick, in particular the Synergy stick. That was at a time when we had players like Yzerman and Sakic and Modano. We had all the great scorers in the game, quite honestly.
Over time, we still have more players in the NHL using our stick than any other brand, but clearly there's much more heated competition. There's lots of endorsement money for other lead players. So we're excited about having a future star being part of our endorsement group. We want to make new connections with this brand for today's, for lack of a better term, digital youth.
The Zach Parise commercial for Easton got a strong reaction on our blog. His funny 1970s cop show commercial, Ovechkin's funny commercial for CCM with his head in the locker … is the way to sell gear in 2011 to go goofy?
For us it's not about going goofy, it's about living in the world and creating some engagement with the kids that really drive the market: The core teenager, 14-15, who loves the game, plays the game 9-10 months a year, has a dream of getting to whatever level, those are the kids that are going to define the success of a brand. Today's communication world is incredibly cluttered, so we're trying to engage them with video content.
When Zdeno Chara is one of your pitchmen and you suddenly find a significant number of fans demonizing him for the Max Pacioretty hit, how does that affect marketing?
I think Zdeno Chara is an athlete that we take great pride in having a relationship with. He plays hard. He trains hard. He works hard. He's been known over time to be an incredibly upstanding citizen. Without getting into the debate about the situation, it has no impact on our relationship.
As a maker of protective gear for players, what are your thoughts regarding that gear coming under fire as part of the concussion problem in the NHL?
We're involved, aware and concerned with player safety and in particular with head protection. It's a critical mission. We just launched in the fall our helmet technology center. We just introduced last week, for lack of a better term, a "pitcher's helmet" that fits over a ball cap and provides protection in the key areas where the pitchers are vulnerable on the mound.
In hockey, we're one of the smaller players in the helmet business; the bigger ones are Bauer, CCM and Reebok. But we think we have a knowledge base, and we're working right now on creating more protective helmets that can minimize risk. Preventing all concussions isn't a reality in the sport.
So it's not just about the equipment; it needs to be a two-pronged solution with the NHL or another League creating legislation that prevents concussions, too?
I think all parties have a role. Quite honestly, part of the issue, and I have a 15 year old son that's played hockey all his life and has had a couple of concussions, is understanding the nature of concussions. Creating appropriate return-to-play guidelines.
There's multiple stakeholders that need to step forward. But in the end, we want to create a safer game. People are going to continue to become bigger and faster and stronger. We need to understand that and create equipment and rules.
Is player safety the biggest factor in marketing hockey gear now? By that I mean, we've seen green technology as a selling point in other industries, like hybrid cars. Is player safety such a prominent issue now that it replaces on-ice performance as the determining factor in a consumer's mind?
That's a deep question.
I think the answer's yes. The products that we develop have to do both. There's no either/or. We can make a skate that will make it so no one every breaks their foot, but guys may not want to skate in it. We could put a football helmet on a hockey player, but they're not going to go there because of the weight and the speed that they move at.
The goal is creating safer products that allow players to perform at the highest level. That's the challenge for us.
Easton just made an aggressive move into lacrosse. Here in Virginia, I've never understood why the lax players don't play hockey in the winter, considering some of the similarities between the sports. Could that connection be made for a U.S. prep athlete in order to grow hockey?
There's tons of crossover. One of the reasons we're in the sport is because there is so much crossover among young kids. A lot of the development of the sport in the U.S. has been around hockey markets.
It's the fastest growing team sport in the U.S. and has been for some time. But [Virginia] is a market that's a lacrosse market first. It's like, 'why doesn't the NHL have higher television ratings?' and 'why are Atlanta and Nashville and all these teams failing?' Because there's more interest in the game of hockey, but it's not culturally ingrained in their world.
So it's hard for lacrosse to have that kind of impact [in creating hockey players]. There is a lot of crossover in hockey marketplaces. But lacrosse driving hockey in non-traditional markets is hard to do.
What does Easton do to make the game more affordable for young fans interested in playing the game?
The equipment's not cheap, but there are affordable options out there. The high-end, for NHL players or kids playing 70-100 games a year, are quite expensive. But at the other end, there are still $39 composite sticks, some of which we make.
It's not just the equipment. It's the entire 'getting into our sport' that's the challenge. It's about ice time and facilities and getting people to take kids to the rink. We've got multiple challenges out there.
In my mind, it's not that the equipment is so expensive; it's that there's a lot of it. Getting into basketball or soccer is going to be easier.
Finally, an area of expertise for you: Do you look at the Vancouver Canucks this season and see a Stanley Cup champion, sir?
They're going to be right there.
I've gotten a chance to see them live a couple of times, and I've been most impressed with their depth; missing Bieska, missing Salo, missing Edler. The fact that they're this deep into the season and playing well despite those losses was impressive. The Stanley Cup Playoffs are a war of attrition. It's the teams that stay healthy and have the depth [that win].
Everything that I'm seeing from that Canucks team makes me believe they're going to be right there.