Duclair Gets Haircut; Time for Lou’s Rule to Go?

Yesterday, Anthony Duclair posted a photograph to his Instagram story showing that he had gotten a haircut ahead of Islanders training camp in a few weeks. The caption was a single tear emoji.

There was nothing out of the ordinary. On July 1, Duclair posted a photo of himself in a suit and clean-shaven with short hair as a child, captioning it “Game 1” with a laughing emoji.

The Controversy

The hockey world has gone somewhat ablaze, with a faction of hockey people denouncing Team President and General Manager Lou Lamoriello’s rule about mandatory haircuts and clean-shaven faces. It’s one of the rules he’s kept from his time with the New Jersey Devils to Toronto and Long Island.

The reason behind it is twofold. First, many players can grow facial hair quickly. Kyle Palmieri says hello. The first thing he has to do every morning is shave, thereby thinking of the team. Secondly, the idea is for everyone to look uniform, clean-cut, and business-formal. It cuts down on individuality and, hypothetically, would bring the team closer together.

I went to Chaminade High School in Mineola, and we had the exact same rules. No beards and short hair reigned to keep everyone looking neat. For a private Catholic school, this makes sense. You can keep control and order of students and maintain the high standards of a clean look. It felt a little stupid as a kid, but it also forced me to think about ensuring my hair was well-groomed. I couldn’t grow facial hair then and still can’t muster much more than a few patches of hair on my chin so that part never came into play.

Why Does the Rule Exist?

What does all of that mean? It means Lamoriello’s rule promotes discipline. Regardless of everything, every player must be held to the same standard—the same haircut, the same beardlessness, the same no jewelry. Everyone is unified behind one team’s identity. That’s where Lamoriello’s true reasoning lies. Unity and team building stem from the discipline of all, even down to how they look and carry themselves.

Some people find it stupid and unnecessary for an NHL team to maintain the same standard. For others, it’s no big deal and never has been. The players themselves don’t seem to really mind, and if they did, they could hypothetically file a grievance with the NHLPA or outright refuse to sign a new contract with the Islanders.

Yet, pretty much every player who’s played for Lamoreillo, past or present, will tell you that this is not a big deal to them. It’s just a quirk that adds to the lore of playing for the Hockey Hall of Famer. Almost half of the Islanders roster signed for over half a decade under Lamoriello.

The New York Yankees have held a similar ruleset, spawned from when George Steinbrenner, a close friend of Lamoriello’s, ran the team. The Yankees, however, allow for mustaches, giving players some room for personality.

Alas, none of that has ever come out. Now, after Duclair posted about his haircut, a heated debate has sprung up online about whether one of Lou’s rules should go.

So, the debate is simple. Keep Lamoriello’s rules about haircuts and beards, which claim to create one team unity forged through discipline, regardless of all other factors.

Why Should the Rule Go Away?

Others, however, argue for the rule to end. They cite it as taking away player freedoms and hurting the team’s and its players’ marketability. Forcing all players into one box seems cruel and antiquated, some say.

Look, there’s no doubt the Islanders, on the surface, are as vanilla as it gets. Not many personalities garner a lot of attention nationally, but that’s how the players have liked it. Maybe somebody like Mat Barzal could be marketed more with a bit more freedom in his style, but for someone as low-spoken as Brock Nelson, it seems hard to believe he’d be bothered one way or another by these types of rules.

Hockey and its players often like to fade into the background, leaving their personalities at the door and working together to create a team identity, build culture, and ultimately win a Stanley Cup through those means.

Conclusions

The NHL’s constant war for relevancy nationally continues to be waged. The league is desperate for personalities and excitement, yet Lamoriello’s rule arguably brings the opposite. Yet, his rules did not seem to hinder the developing personalities of the Toronto Maple Leafs, such as Auston Matthews.

Ultimately, this age-old question is about whether Lamoriello’s rule is worth it. It cannot be quantified or answered simply.

All this reporter knows is that by all known accounts, the players remain unbothered by the rule. It promotes team discipline and unity. However, it absolutely cuts down on individualism and some level of one’s personality, so therein lies the debate.

Team identity is challenged by growing individualism when trimming beards and growing hair past the collar. How much will any of this stuff matter when the puck drops on October 10 in UBS Arena against the Utah HC?

My guess is not at all. It’s August 22. Have some fun. After all, the Islanders’ first preseason game is now exactly one month away.