Islanders president of hockey operations Lou Lamoriello has a handful of old school rules.
Players, unless they're veterans or young players just coming up for a few games, aren't typically allowed to wear high numbers. The idea there is that the numbers on the back of jerseys need to be close together for unity. A high number like No. 70 is just too much individuality.
The rules though that people tend to focus on more, especially this time of year, are both hair-related. Lamoriello's players aren't allowed to have long hair or facial hair during the regular season. So when a bearded guy like Kyle Palmieri gets traded to a Lamoriello team, he has to shave before he takes the ice.
Fresh Team = Fresh Shave @kylepalmieri | @NYIslanders pic.twitter.com/9XklpnOI18
— NHL (@NHL) April 8, 2021
I know that with anything that might be an old school/new school debate, I'm usually not going to be on the side of the old school side of things. But I feel like even if you tend to be more old school, rules like this one are just so arbitrary, serving no purpose other than control for the sake of control.
There's nothing inherently unprofessional about facial hair or beards, and since a Lamoriello team hasn't won a Stanley Cup in the salary cap era, I don't think you could make the argument that rules like these are a necessary part of a winning culture either. These players are grown men playing a game, policies like these are silly. There are also cultures and religions in which hair or facial hair holds importance, like with some Indigenous people or Sikhs. Given the state of diversity in hockey, I don't believe that this has ever come up on one of Lamoriello's teams, but I'd be interested in knowing how that'd be handled if an opportunity arose for a player like that.
I don't think players are so bothered by policies like these that they'd ever feel the need to seriously speak out about it or let it influence their decision to sign with a team, but it's worth noting that as soon as Lamoriello moves on from an organization (Devils, Maple Leafs) they're quick to drop rules like these.
While we're at it, I'm not a fan of the NHL's mandatory suit and tie dress code on game days either. The NHL is the only major professional sports league in North America with a strict dress code, and it's just unnecessary to mandate what a player wears from his car to the locker room for home games or on the bus to the arena for road games. The NHL ditched the rule for the playoff bubble, and it was fun to see some players branch out. If a guy still wanted to wear a suit, he did. If a guy wanted to branch out and have fun with the opportunity for some free expression, he did.
Especially with the NHL about to get some new exposure from the broadcast deal with ESPN, it might be nice to have players be able to show more personality and individuality, if only in small avenues like how they look on game days. It might help the NHL when it comes to marketing its top players and personalities, something the league has never been great at doing.
YOUR TURN: How strict should these appearance policies be around the league? Do they serve any purpose?
