Kyle Palmieri may not be Banksy, but the New York Islanders winger is very comfortable using a can of spray paint.
Palmieri was spotted spray painting his stick blade at Ball Arena on Tuesday morning, a nearly daily occurrence for the Smithtown native.
“Honestly, I’ve been doing that for years,” Palmieri said. “It started when I was in the AHL. I had to use CCM sticks and the white sticks came out and I didn’t like looking down. I’ve been spray painting the bottoms ever since. [my stick]”
Note that Palmieri’s current stick blades are black, with white tape covering most of the blade, but he prefers to hide any graphics or patterns that may be decorated on the visible parts of the blade. need to do it. Anders Lee, who has sometimes painted stick blades, said it’s similar to a golfer standing on the tee and not wanting to be distracted by what’s on the driver.
“I have the ability to control exactly what I see when I look down at the puck,” Palmieri said. “I’ve been doing it for a long time, but it feels weird not doing it.”
Palmieri paints all of his sticks, and while his teammates aren’t as picky about it, others have tried it. Matthew Barzal likes the look of it, and while he doesn’t do it out of religious belief, he sometimes picks up a can if he wants to make a difference.
“When you look down, you see all black. Some people like that, and I’ve liked that in the past,” Barzal said. “Sometimes when I’m really into funk, I try to change things up and spray paint them. Sometimes I like to look at the presents, but when it’s all black, all the graphics are removed. Yes.”
Palmieri has painted every stick he owns for more than a decade, so it’s part of his game-day routine. When asked if the process is therapeutic at this point, Palmieri laughed and said it was painful, but having scored 225 career goals off the edge of a painted stick, Palmieri is not using the process for the time being. I have no intention of changing it.
2 Comments
I loved you even more than you’ll say here. The picture is nice and your writing is stylish, but you read it quickly. I think you should give it another chance soon. I’ll likely do that again and again if you keep this walk safe.
I loved you even more than you’ll say here. The picture is nice and your writing is stylish, but you read it quickly. I think you should give it another chance soon. I’ll likely do that again and again if you keep this walk safe.