Easily one of the best traditions of the Stanley Cup playoffs is the playoff
beard. The thicker, uglier and more unruly it gets, the better. Growth means
you're still alive in the playoffs.
No one's quite sure when the exact genesis of playoff bears occurred. The
Islanders of the 1980s are generally credited with beginning the practice. They
supplanted the Canadiens as the NHL's dominant dynasty and in contrast to the
buttoned-down, high and tight, clean-shaven Habs, the Islanders were a wooly
booly rag-tag bunch. They had follicles on their face and they were
going to let them grow dangit.
Since that time, players such as Lanny McDonald, Phil Bourque and Peter Forsberg have all proudly sported playoff beards while winning the Stanley Cup.
This year is no different. There are some teams like the Penguins and Red Wings which we're familiar with in terms of who can produced facial hair. Then there are some relative newcomers like the Blue Jackets and Blackhawks who are question marks. Hopefully this preview highlighting the top candidates on each team will help you identify who to draft in your playoff beard pools.
Eastern Conference
Penguins (4)
Maxime Talbot - How do you make a playoff beard listing without leading off with Maxime Talbot? Even if he hadn't scored the tying goal in the epic Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final, Talbot's place in playoff lore would've been secure long ago as he bore a grew arguably the best playoff beard in Penguins history:
(Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
Pascal Dupuis - On just about any other team, Dupuis is a franchise beard grower. Unfortunately, just like the Penguins' embarrassment of riches at the center position, they have an abundance of hairy French Canadiens. He's doomed to play second fiddle to Talbot.
Craig Adams - This might be a surprising candidate to some folks. We could've chosen someone like Brooks Oprik or Rob Scuderi who grew competent beards in last season's run through the playoffs. But they never had champagne flowing through their beard. Craig Adams has.
(Dave Sandford/Getty Images)
Flyers (5)
Scott Hartnell - There aren't too many folks who could challenge Talbot this early, but Hartnell is in his class. He seemingly has more hair on his head than a dog.
(Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
Martin Biron - In his first charge through the playoffs as a starter. Biron came up with this scraggly Denis Lemieuxesque thing:
Bruins (1)
Mark Recchi - In addition to his scoring ability and experience, the Bruins picked up some serious playoff beard credentials with Recchi. While he might be a little thin on the top of his dome, the Wreckin' Ball isn't on the front of his mug:
(Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
Aaron Ward - Another key member of Carolina's 2006 Cup winning team, Ward is a steady defensive presense and a man you could confuse as a Russian submariner:
(Paul Chiasson/Associated Press)
Canadiens (8)
Saku Koivu - Despite losing most of his hair and missing most of the 2001-02 regular
season due to chemotherapy he was receiving for non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma,
this guy grew a half-way decent beard in the 2002 playoffs and helped
the eighth-seeded Habs upset the Bruins who were the top team in the
Eastern Conference. Razors fear this guy.
(Habsworld.net)
-Mathieu Schneider - He actually shaved 10 minutes prior to this photo being taken. We think.
(Barry Melrose Rocks)
Washington Capitals (2)
Donald Brashear - While the Capitals might be a little short on playoff experience, Brashear is certainly not. He's has shown the ability to grow solid beards in the past during deep playoff runs with the Flyers.
(District of Columbian Beards)
John Erskine - When he's not taking glamour shots with red lightning, Erskine pulls off the Scandinavian carpenter look rather well:
(Washington Capitals)
Boyd Gordon - This is a sleeper candidate here. He has some solid Clooneyesque neck growth going on there.
(Wasington Capitals)
New York Rangers (7)
Chris Drury - Clutch playoff scoring and clutch beard growing all in one package.
(David Duprey/Associated Press)
Henrik Lundqvist - Take a look at what Lundqvist was able to grow right before a quick second-round exit to the Penguins last year. Imagine what he could grow over two months.
(Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Aaron Voros - This was what Voros looked like at the start of the season. He must look like ALF come playoff time.
(Michael Cizek/Getty Images)
New Jersey Devils (3)
John Madden - A beard like this isn't something you admire for its aestetics because frankly it resembles the hide of a diseased cat. You admire it because he has the fortitude to stick with even though it looks like he took hair off other parts of his body and glued it to his face like that one espisode of Beavis and Butthead.
(Hit The Ice)
Brian Rolston - Rolston actually chose to grow this beatnik flavor saver several years ago while with the Wild. This tells us he has the potential to grow a solid playoff beard. We just don't now if the commitment is there.
(Wild Puck Banter)
-Brendan Shanahan - He's kissed the cup with a burly goatee before. We don't see why he can't do it again:
(Dave's Stanley Cup Page)
Carolina Hurricanes (6)
Erik Cole - Assuming he's not afflicted with some sort of hand-based disease from Kid Rock, Cole has long been established as one of the best playoff beard growers this decade.
(Cycle Like The Sedins)
Matt Cullen - Two things stand out to us in this photo. That big shiny thing in his hands and the absolute thickness of that thing on his face.
(Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
Western Conference
Sharks (1)
Dan Boyle - Having won a Stanley Cup ring in 2005 with Tampa Bay, Boyle knows what it takes to grow a solid playoff beard.
(Sharkspage)
Patrick Marleau - A perennial question mark in terms of how far he can take his team, Marleau clearly has potential to grow a mean beard. With Todd McLellan coaching the Sharks, this is probably the best chance they've ever had to go deep into the playoffs.
(Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Joe Thornton - See Patrick Marleau.
(Sharkspage)
Ducks (8)
Scott Niedermayer - He looks like he could be a community college psychology professor from South Boston.
(Photobucket)
Ryan Whitney - With Maxime Talbot, Ryan Malone and Pascal Dupuis taking all the beard glory during the Penguins' run to the Stanley Cup final last season, Whitney's follicle-based contributions were very much overlooked.
(Dave Sandford/Getty Images)
Jean-Sebastien Giguere - Giguere's place as the Ducks' top goaltender might be in doubt, but no one can question his beard credentials:
(NHL)
Red Wings (2)
Kris Draper - You could get sunburn from that fiery red thing.
(Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
Henrik Zetterberg - Even King Leonidas is impressed.
Tomas Holmstrom - Hal Gill suggested Holmstrom should use some Shave Edge gel. Holmstrom didn't care for the advice.
(Dave Sandford/Getty Images)
Blue Jackets (7)
Mike Commodore - The Blue Jackets are making their first appearance in the postseason in their history. There isn't a lot of experience in growing playoff beards in Columbus. So what did the Blue Jackets do this offseason? They signed arguably the best beard grower recent history.
(Regan's Rants)
Rick Nash - Nash means so much to the Blue Jackets. He could be one of their top beards as well.
(Jamie Sabau/NHLI via Getty Images)
Canucks (3)
Roberto Luongo - The Canucks' franchise goaltender always seems to have a perpetual five o'clock shadow going but rarely allows it to progress beyond that. He has the ability but does he have the commitment?
(Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Daniel and Henrik Sedin - They each have a Conan O'Brien writers' strike thing going on.
(Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images)
Blues (6)
Chris Mason - The Blues are another team short on recent experience so they're a little difficult to get a read on. We'll go with Mason who seems to have a solid foundation on his chin.
(Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)
Andy McDonald - McDonald put this solid effort together as a member of the 2006 champion Ducks.
(Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
Blackhawks (4)
Martin Havlat - This is yet another team without a great deal of postseason experience. There's not of lot of documented beard success on this roster. Due to his days with Ottawa, Havlat might be the best hope hope for the young Blackhawks.
(HockeyDraft.ca)
Adam Burish - When he won the NCAA title with Wisconsin a few years ago, Burish sported this solid beard in a much shorter postseason.
(Inside College Hockey)
Flames (5)
Todd Bertuzzi - Surly, reckless and hairy, Bertuzzi is built for the postseason.
(Jimmy Jeong/Getty Images)
Miikka Kiprusoff - His red beard is so tough, it repels water:
(Olaus Speaks)
Andre Roy - Roy's beard during the Lightning's 2004 Cup run was so impressive, Brian Knobbs and Hulk Hogan mistaked him for the Macho Man and attacked him.
(Dave Sandford/Getty Images)
Have any to add to the list? Contribute them in the comments.
Posted
Apr 13 2009, 01:03 AM
by
Seth Rorabaugh