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Greg Wyshynski
Because the Stanley Cup Remaining neared its conclusion, so did the respective playoff beards for the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers.
“I simply sort of let it roll for the previous couple months. It is sort of gross proper now,” stated Jonah Gadjovich of the Panthers earlier than their 5-1 series-clinching victory in Sport 6. “I do not assume my spouse would let me get it for much longer.”
Each of those groups superior to the Stanley Cup Remaining final season, too, with the Panthers successful the championship then as nicely.
“There’s a few guys which have even improved from final yr that I’ve seen,” Gadjovich stated.
It is time to honor a number of the greatest beards of the Stanley Cup Remaining: our facial foliage awards.
Greatest Viking Cosplay Beard: Mattias Ekholm, Oilers
The 35-year-old native of Borlange, Sweden, appears like he ought to be captaining a ship via the fjords on the best way to battle. His Viking-esque look has impressed a bunch of Edmonton followers known as “The Dancing Ekholms,” who attend video games in horned helmets, kilts and warfare paint to get delightfully rowdy within the stands. When Ekholm returned from damage for Edmonton within the playoffs, they introduced a poster to the sport that stated “RETURN OF THE VIKING WARRIOR” and a horned-helmeted picture of Ekholm on it.
Greatest Beard For Taunting Opponents: Jonah Gadjovich, Panthers
The Panthers middle has one of the vital spectacular thickets of facial hair on the staff. However in Sport 3 towards the Oilers, he unleashed the complete potential of his playoff beard to taunt an opponent.
Darnell Nurse of the Oilers caught his tongue out throughout their battle for some motive. After the scrap ended — and with Gadjovich’s nostril bloodied — the Panthers middle caught out his tongue to mock Nurse and the Oilers, with the cameras catching the gesture as his tongue reached his beard. Was it the sort of indelible picture that will get celebrated on a T-shirt within the staff retailer?
Sure, it was.
Greatest Mannequin For Males’s Grooming Commercials: Jake Walman, Oilers
The Oilers defenseman has an aspirational beard. It is the type you’d see because the “after” instance in a business for a males’s grooming product: Lush, darkish and completely in live performance with the remainder of his facial options. It is a picture shoot of King Leonidas. Properly completed, Jake Walman.
Greatest ‘An Try Was Made’ Beard: Anton Lundell, Panthers
The Panthers middle has been attempting to sprout a playoff beard for the final three runs to the Stanley Cup Remaining. In 2023 as a 21-year-old, he nonetheless appeared fresh-faced after just a few playoff rounds. “That is all I acquired proper now. Not a lot I can do about it,” he lamented on the time. Quick ahead to 2025, and Lundell has … nicely, not a lot of a beard, however he is acquired one thing. A chinstrap? No matter it’s, we have fun the trouble, if not the execution.
Greatest Goaltender Beard: Stuart Skinner, Oilers
Might Stuart Skinner’s beard cease a slap shot by itself? It is an intriguing sports activities science query that Skinner undoubtedly wouldn’t like to check — therefore the masks — however the easy incontrovertible fact that it could possibly be contemplated is a testomony to its wooliness. It is the beard of a person who has seen some issues. Given Skinner’s roller-coaster playoff trip — benched within the first and final rounds, solely to get his job again finally — its world-weariness is completely acceptable.
Greatest Brad Marchand Beard: Brad Marchand, Panthers
Brad Marchand has the perfect Brad Marchand beard. It is scraggly and patchy, however it works. It is acquired grey hairs that mark him as a 37-year-old NHL veteran. It is a beard that does not get in the best way of his fixed trash-talking at opponents and one which frames his face whereas laughing off the repercussions. Maybe most significantly, it is a beard that will not find yourself wanting like a frozen mess when Marchand and the Panthers are chomping down on their pregame Dairy Queen Blizzards.
Beard of the Yr: Sam Bennett, Panthers
Gadjovich argues that teammates akin to defenseman Aaron Ekblad and AJ Greer have whiskers worthy of “beard of the yr” standing on the Panthers. However just one participant can mix a playoff-leading offensive efficiency with excellent facial shrubbery.
No, not Leon Draisaitl of the Oilers, though the point-leading middle actually got here near “beard of the yr” standing together with his vollbart — German for “full beard.”
The winner is Sam Bennett of the Panthers.
Bennett led the Stanley Cup playoffs in objectives. He has been a driving power behind the Panthers’ return to the championship spherical with clutch performances on the street and bodily play that muddies the traces of legality. However even when some opposing followers imagine he cheats the principles, there isn’t a dishonest on a playoff beard for Bennett. Take a look at his foliage within the first spherical towards the Tampa Bay Lightning after which the top product within the Stanley Cup Remaining, the place it appears like he is acquired the Lorax on his face. Congratulations to Bennett, his beard and any wildlife presently residing within it.