The head of NBC Sports says he'd like hockey players to give up their traditional playoff beards and stay clean-shaven during the playoffs, in an effort to make them more marketable to fans.
NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus told the Chicago Tribune this week that he wants players to shave their grizzled playoff beards and look more like "the kid next door" during the Stanley Cup playoffs.
"The players won't like this, but I wish they all would stop growing beards in the post-season," Lazarus told the Tribune. "Let’s get their faces out there. Let's talk about how young and attractive they are. What model citizens they are."
NBC Sports is the current television rights holder for NHL playoff games in the United States.
Lazarus said clean-shaven athletes are easier to market to the public through endorsement deals and television features. He added that he thinks the beards "hurt recognition" and make it hard for fans to identify their favourite players on the ice during games.
The playoff beard is a long-standing tradition in the sport. Most NHLers attempt to grow some form of scruff at playoff time, whether it's a thick, lustrous lumberjack beard or a patchwork, five o'clock shadow with a thin line of peach fuzz across the upper lip.
Most players on the Tampa Bay Lightning and Chicago Blackhawks have been growing their beards since mid-April. Lightning captain Steven Stamkos has a scruffy, inch-thick beard running along his lower jaw, while Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews has an unsightly neck beard, and only a wispy moustache to go with it.
Chicago Blackhawks' Patrick Sharp, left, listens as teammate Jonathan Toews answers a question during a news conference Tuesday, June 9, 2015, in Chicago. (AP / Jeff Roberson)
One of those two scruffy-looking men will be hoisting the Stanley Cup over his head within the next week.
Tampa Bay Lightning defenceman Jason Garrison recently wrote a blog about his lustrous whiskers on the NHL's website, in which he described the joys of his four-rounds-old playoff beard.
Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Jason Garrison, left, celebrates after scoring with Victor Hedman against the Chicago Blackhawks in Tampa, Fla., Saturday, June 6, 2015. (AP / Chris O'Meara)
"I'm getting so many compliments on my beard," Garrison said in his . "But whenever this run in the playoffs is all over… I will shave it off, go completely clean-shaven. It'll probably make me look five years younger."
The playoff beard tradition started with the New York Islanders of the early 1980s, who would grow out their beards each year during the post-season. The Islanders captured four straight Stanley Cup championships during that period, from 1980 to 1983.
Superstitions are common among NHL players. Many have their own idiosyncratic traditions, such as taping a stick a certain way, wearing the same socks every game or stepping on the ice first or last each night.
Another common playoff tradition involves players not touching the Eastern and Western Conference playoff trophies awarded to the victors of the third round of the playoffs.
This year, for instance, the Tampa Bay Lightning refused to pick up the Prince of Wales Trophy after defeating the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference final. The Chicago Blackhawks also refused to touch the Western Conference final trophy, which is called the Clarence Campbell Bowl.
Chicago Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford (50) removes his mask during a break in the first period in Game 1 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Tampa, Fla., Wednesday, June 3, 2015. (AP / Chris O'Meara)
