Ryan Leonard helped lead the Boston College Eagles to the national championship game in 2024, and set the new all-time school record for goals by a freshman (31) during the year, breaking Brian Gionta’s mark of 30 set in 1998.
Leonard, the Capitals’ eighth overall pick from the 2023 NHL Draft, captured national attention throughout the season due to how he plays the game (a complete menace), his elite shot, and his playmaking ability. But another notable theme that emerged during the season was his signature tape jobs, specifically the puck marks he draws on them.
“I get crap for this all the time,” a smiling Leonard told RMNB during the final day of Development Camp.
Some players who use white tape on their stick blades will take a puck and push the adhesive firmly against the twig at the end of the process. The friction will cause some black coloring on the tape, similar to someone coloring on a piece of paper with a black pencil.
Not only does the process impact the stick’s feel, but there’s also a belief that the coloring can impair how a goaltender sees the release of shots. Alex Ovechkin is one of the most notable players in the league who uses puck marks on his blade’s tape job. Leonard, however, has turned those practical puck marks into actual designs.
When the Capitals first drafted Leonard, he went with nearly a full sock tape job where he taped the blade from the heel to toe with no puck marks (see this photo).
But during the season, Leonard’s longtime friend and linemate, Gabe Perreault, debuted a checkerboard pattern on his blade that inspired the Capitals’ draft pick.
Leonard began doing his own creative markings shortly after.
FT7 Pro graphic spotted in Chestnut Hill, Mass! #ALLCAPS prospect Ryan Leonard made the switch… though this might still be a Ribcor build 🏒
Also, is he takin’ advice from Gabe Perreault?
📸:@BC_MHockey | #ForBoston🦅 pic.twitter.com/bivZ1cgVWB
— GearGeek.com🏒🤓 (@geargeekhockey) March 18, 2024
Leonard continued the tradition at the Capitals’ recently concluded Development Camp, showcasing at least three different puck-mark patterns. Two had thin lines across the blade.
During the Capitals’ three-on-three tournament on the final day of camp, Leonard cut his stick blade coloring into thirds. The toe and heel of his blade were shaded black, while the middle was left untouched.
So what’s the deal?
“Halfway through the year, me and Gabe Perreault, I think we had like a night or two off,” Leonard explained. “Puck just wasn’t really bouncing our way. Maybe we had a couple assists, but we weren’t really scoring the way we wanted to. That week of practice, we were like, ‘Let’s just do something funky. Why not?’
“[Gabe] has always done puck marks, and I’ve always just kind of been a standard guy. And then I started doing it, and just one of our goalies, Jan Korec, he’s an engineer, so he knows he’s pretty smart what to do. He can make cool designs on the stick.”
Korec, a freshman on last season’s Eagles team, is a human-centered engineering major and a native of Bratislava, Slovakia.
“Honestly, I can’t really look at my stick anymore if there’s not really a puck mark on it or anything,” Leonard said.
When asked if there was any on-ice strategy to throw goalies’ eyesight off, Leonard said there wasn’t.
“Goalies said it doesn’t affect them at all, so I don’t really think that matters,” he replied. “It’s to keep the game loose, why not?”
So it’s just for the vibes?
“Yeah,” Leonard said, laughing.
While Leonard and Perreault’s puck mark patterns supposedly don’t have deep meaning, they will be distinctive among NHL players when they eventually make their debuts. They could also influence young fans, like Ovi’s yellow skate laces, as junior players see the stick blade as another area to express themselves and set them apart.
Cole Hutson and Ryan Chesley — fellow US National Team Development Program players — appeared to emulate Leonard’s tape job during Capitals’ Development Camp. Hutson’s design had thin horizontal puck marks across the blade.
“They’re both tremendous players,” Leonard said. “They are extremely competitive and great at what they do, so it was fun to watch and fun to play against them.”