The Playoff Beard

I know it sounds like the latest misanthropic Neil LaBute title, but it's a real thing, the playoff beard. And every year, at the end of regulation play, the beard watchers come out.

Greg Wyshynski over at Puck Daddy breaks down our point-in-time beards here.

I'm very pleased that Pittsburgh's own Max "Superstar" Talbot is the Beard by Which All Other Beards are Measured, and that both Pascal Dupuis AND Sidney Crosby made the list. Wysh makes completely appropriate fun of Sid's "beard." Sid's sad little wisps make me want to buy him a confirmation suit and show him how to tie his first grown-up tie.

My favorite has to be Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks, proudly growing out a playoff mullet to go with his beard. I'd love to see mullets come back to the NHL in a big way, and I do mean epic, genre-defining mullets.

Jaromir Jagr, we miss you, come home!