The Stanley Cup playoff beard has been an NHL custom because the early Eighties, when the shaggy New York Islanders received 4 straight championships. It represents the gamers' singular focus, as if even private hygiene is sacrificed in pursuit of hockey's Holy Grail. It suggests the rugged doggedness that is synonymous with the NHL's postseason match, with its grueling collection and marathon overtimes.
This is a have a look at the perfect beards to observe for within the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs.
As Joe Thornton, playoff beard GOAT as soon as stated: “It seems fairly. However it's exhausting work.” Find many more beards here.
Captains
Within the NHL, captains set the tone for his or her teammates. They lead by instance on the ice with an aggressive play or a thunderous bodycheck. They lead off the ice by rising a gnarly facial thicket that claims, “Put the razors away, boys, we have a protracted journey forward of us.” Listed below are a few of the captains who lead with their whiskered chins.
Ryan O'Reilly‘s chin bib reached legendary standing when it froze strong on the 2022 Winter Basic in Minneapolis, as O'Reilly performed in minus-6 diploma circumstances.
The 31-year-old St. Louis Blues middle first began sporting a beard after being traded to the Buffalo Sabres in 2015. It reached peak bushiness in his first season with the Blues, when he led them to their first Stanley Cup and received playoff MVP. This isn't a coincidence.
Enforcers
Each Stanley Cup playoff staff wants just a few gamers that may pancake an opponent with an enormous hit, or ship a painful reminder to a foe that it is best to not mess with their teammates. These blue-collar heroes should look the half, which normally manifests as a bunch of burly males sporting even burlier beards through the postseason.
Radko Gudas entered the NHL with a beard 10 seasons in the past. It has grown alongside his repute for being one of many league's most devastating checkers, to the purpose that they are each fairly intimidating.
Within the AHL in 2012, Gudas and two Norfolk Admirals teammates vowed to not shave throughout a six-game successful streak in concern of jinxing it. The Admirals received 28 straight video games to shut out the common season, finally capturing the Calder Cup as nicely. That, mates, is the ability of Radko Gudas' beard.
“It is good. It is at all times good. And when he will get it achieved by a barber, it is very nice truly.” — Jonathan Huberdeau, Florida Panthers teammate
Scorers
NHL gamers are notoriously superstitious. It is in the way in which they tape their sticks, sequentially placed on their gear or heat up earlier than video games with the identical routine. These quirks intensify when a participant will get on a goal-scoring roll. Therefore, offensive stars are pure candidates for the playoff beard and its mythic properties.
Star Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov slowly remodeled right into a Russian bear throughout their prolonged playoff runs to consecutive Stanley Cup championships, earlier than his beard was soaked in celebration of their boat parades.
Kucherov's playoff beard was immortalized throughout a raucous, shirtless information convention that the Lightning star hosted after his staff received the Stanley Cup in 2021, because it engulfed cans of sunshine beer that he chugged between reporters' questions. Between face and chest, it could have been essentially the most hirsute postgame interview in playoff historical past.
Veterans
Hockey gamers do not simply turn out to be veterans. They turn out to be “grizzled” veterans. The time period “graybeard” is greater than relevant to NHL gamers who nonetheless roll with the custom after they've gone over the hill. That is important for the postseason. How else are we speculated to establish “the outdated man we're hoping to see lastly win the Stanley Cup” if he would not look the half?
Drew Doughty personified the Los Angeles Kings‘ Stanley Cup journeys along with his gap-toothed maw surrounded by 4 rounds of playoff foliage. The injured defenseman will nonetheless conjure that follicle spirit whereas watching his teammates this postseason.
Doughty as soon as joked that his online game beard was extra beneficiant than his precise scruff. What it lacks in depth it make up for in chaos, particularly when mixed with the hole in his tooth.
“The deeper Drew will get into the playoffs, the higher he will get. Similar along with his beard.” — Jim Fox, L.A. Kings broadcaster
Find more stories like these — including a beard that gets Gritty's approval — on ESPN.com.
