If you've used the Hyperlite or the Hyperlite 2, the Flylite is going to feel familiar in the best way. Bauer kept the tapered Vapor fit that hugs the back of your hand — the thing that made the Vapor line take over the NHL in the first place — and then they dropped weight in the cuff and back roll. The first time I shot off a quick wrist shot in these, the release felt almost rude. There's nothing on top of your hand fighting you.

The headline is the new Aero-Flex Cuff. It's a tapered, segmented wrist that bends with your stickhandling instead of bunching up like a traditional four-roll glove does when you cup the puck. Combine that with the Dura Connekt palm — the same digital-feel palm as the old Vapor 2X Pro but with a reinforced thumb wrap that doesn't blow out at six months — and you've got a glove that feels like nothing on your hand but actually lasts a full season of beer league plus pickups.

I'm not normally a Vapor guy — my hands are wide and the tapered fit historically pinched my pinky — but the 2026 Flylite has noticeably more room across the knuckle line than the Hyperlite 2 did. Bauer quietly fixed it. Big deal for anyone who used to size up just to clear the back of their hand.

Warrior built the Covert line for skill players and they have not wandered off the brief once. The 2026 Covert Deluxe carries everything that made the QR5 Pro a darling on the wing — the floating AxyFlex cuff, the SmartPalm grip, the slim taper through the back — and brings the price down into a range that doesn't make your bank account file a complaint.

The cuff is the magic. The AxyFlex floats independently of the back of the glove, so when you cup the puck or pull it across your body for a backhand, the cuff doesn't fight you. It feels like the glove gets out of the way of the move. There's a reason guys like Mitch Marner and David Pastrnak have lived in Warrior gloves for years — if it's good enough for Pasta to score 50, it's good enough for me.

Compared to a Bauer Vapor or a CCM JetSpeed, the Covert sits a touch looser through the fingers, which is exactly what you want for puck feel. You shouldn't notice the glove when you're toe-dragging around a defender. With the Covert Deluxe, you don't.

The JetSpeed line is what CCM gives forwards who think the Vapor is too snug and the Tacks is too boxy. The FT8 Pro is the eighth generation of that idea and it might be the best one yet. CCM kept the open Flex Cuff that made the FT4 and FT6 popular, slimmed the back of the glove, and put their AX Suede palm on it — the same palm that won people over on the Tacks AS-V.

The thing I notice every time I put on a JetSpeed glove is the open cuff. It looks classic, but the inner Flex Cuff has hidden foam underneath that gives you slash protection without locking the wrist. You get the wrist mobility of a Nexus or a true open-cuff glove, but you don't take the puck off the bone when somebody slashes you. It's the best of both worlds and CCM has been quietly perfecting it for ten years.

I'd put the FT8 Pro between the Vapor Flylite and the Warrior Covert in terms of fit. Slimmer than the Tacks, looser than the Vapor. Crosby is wearing CCM gloves to the tune of a Hart trophy — if it's good enough for Sid, it's good enough for the rec center.

The Bauer Supreme line has always been for the guy who gets in front of pucks. The MACH is the top of the Supreme line and it's the glove I'd hand to a defenseman, a power forward who plays the front of the net, or anyone who's tired of feeling slashes through their wrist. It is a brick. In the best possible way.

The fit is anatomical with a closed AMP cuff — the opposite of the open Vapor or Covert. Your hand sits snug, the cuff stays put, and there's full triple-density foam wrapping the back of the wrist. I've taken slashes that would have left a welt in a Vapor and not felt them in these. That's not exaggeration — the Supreme line is genuinely a different protection class than the tapered gloves above it on this list.

What's wild is that with all that armor, Bauer kept the MACH playable. The 37.5 liner dries fast, the Aero Mesh on the back of the fingers vents heat, and the palm has enough feel that you don't lose your shot release. It's the closest thing to a defensive forward's dream glove on the market.

Bauer Pro Series gloves are the ones a lot of NHL guys actually wear. They're built to NHL spec — reinforced palm, heavier-duty stitching, the kind of construction that survives an 82-game season plus playoffs. If you've ever picked up a teammate's pro-stock glove and wondered why it felt different from your retail Vapor, this is why.

The fit is a traditional four-roll with a slightly tapered hand. It's an in-between fit that doesn't lean snug like a Vapor or boxy like a Nexus — closer to what most NHL guys actually like. The palm is reinforced Nash with a synthetic overlay at the wear points, and the back rolls are full traditional foam, no fancy proprietary tech, just dense, layered protection.

The Pro Series isn't trying to be a tech-forward glove. It's a workhorse. It's the glove that takes 60 games of beer league plus pickups and looks the same in May as it did in October.

The Alpha line is Warrior's answer to the Bauer Supreme — an anatomical, hand-hugging fit for players who want the glove to disappear without sacrificing protection. The LX3 Pro is the latest top-end Alpha and it's the glove I'd recommend to anyone who's tried Vapor and Supreme and wants a third option.

What you get for $240 is everything Warrior puts in their pro stuff. Wartech moisture liner with Polygiene, the QuickStrike Cuff, segmented finger gussets, a Pro SmartPalm with Clarino reinforcement. There's nothing on the spec sheet that's missing compared to a Flylite or an FT8 Pro, and yet it tends to fly under the radar because Warrior doesn't have the marketing budget the big two do.

The real story with Alpha is the wrist. The Alpha QuickStrike Cuff sits between the floating Covert cuff and the closed Supreme cuff — protective, but flexible enough that you don't lose stickhandling. It's the most balanced cuff on this list. Power forwards, two-way centers, and any defenseman who wants to walk the line and rip a clapper are going to love this glove.

For the rest of us who don't get our gloves for free — the Bauer Supreme M3 is what under $100 looks like in 2026, and it punches way above its price tag. Bauer took the anatomical Supreme fit, kept the closed cuff for slash protection, and stripped out the premium liner and pro palm to hit a price point. What's left is a real glove, not a kid's glove with a Bauer logo on it.

The fit is true Supreme — snug through the hand, closed cuff, full back-of-hand foam. The palm is Bauer's standard synthetic Nash, which is going to wear faster than the Connekt palm on the MACH but still gives you a season of use easily. The protection is genuinely solid for the money — you're not going to take a clapper to the back of the hand and feel it through this glove.

I'd put the M3 on a beer-leaguer, a returning player who hasn't bought equipment in five years, or any teenager whose hands are still growing and needs a real glove without the $250 commitment. At under $100 on sale, it's almost criminal value.