So the NHL has allowed a more relaxed dress code for the players, prior to the start of the 2019/2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Which has been met with mixed reviews? Some think it’s a great idea, saying it allows players to be more comfortable during a fucked up time giving each player the ability to let them showcase their own personal style and personality.

They also say making players dress like an extra in Mad Men is archaic and a way for the NHL to control its players.  No sirs.  It sets the tone for a professional athlete to be professional cuz they’re going to WORK.

I’m all in on no dress code moving forward for players and coaches at all levels of hockey. Wearing a suit is archaic, uncomfortable and completely unnecessary. I’m sure the zamboni drivers and late night hotel check in people will be disappointed.

— Patrick O’Sullivan (@realPOSULLIVAN) August 3, 2020

Well, with all due respect to those that feel that way, you couldn’t be more wrong.

No personal style or flair you say….?

No personality, eh?

No fun with it either, huh?

I dare even just one of you to tell Brent Burns that he has no swagger in his style. Triple dog dare you.

The players have absolute control by injecting their personal style and personalities into the suits they wear. So that really isn’t the issue. Many of them have a lot of fun with how they dress. And it shows. A lot of them have a sensational style.

But that really isn’t the problem, is it…

It’s just another thing to moan and groan about. Another part of hockey culture that “needs to change.”

Granted there are several issues that need to be fine-tuned, how the players dress when entering and exiting the arenas, is not one of them.

Let me break it down for you.

Hockey is a highly physical and dangerous game. The hits, the fights, the raw emotion, that is demonstrated by its players each and every night. It almost makes the players look like savages. Animals even. And remember, a lot of kids are watching. Kids that have stars in their eyes and dream about one day hoisting the Stanley Cup themselves.

It’s imperative that we show the young, impressionable minds, that these players clean up and can look sophisticated. Like gentlemen.

The players become role models.

We can’t have role models playing a gritty game, smashing opponents into the boards, yet entering and/or exiting the building looking like this…

Or like this…

Remember, with kids, it’s monkey see monkey do.

Professional athletes should present themselves with class, dignity, and grace off the ice.

“What about the MLB and NBA, they don’t enforce a dress code to its players.”

Well, to answer that, those sports are far from as violent as hockey is. They don’t have the level of contact that hockey has. They don’t drop their gloves and bare-knuckle fistfight the opposing players. Or smash them into the boards at high speeds.

Hockey needs to show that regardless of how the players behave on the ice, they don’t behave that way off the ice. I personally think the dress code is important.

I mean, look at how dapper these men look…

They look absolutely sensational and it gives them layers, people.  Layers are important

The players don’t actually have to spend a fortune, they choose to. I mean, they can afford it and when you’re a 26-year-old millionaire hockey player suit-wearing and pre-game style is more of a statement or fun little pissing contest between players but there’s no clause stating that the players HAVE to wear expensive suits. They can go cheaper and still look like a pimp.

Either way, I feel the dress code should be as it was prior to these Payoffs.  Hoodies and fedoras are too Aeropostale for this girl.

Hot Tip: Dress to impress boys.

Always

JC