Lose the playoff beards, NBC Sports boss tells the NHL

The NHL playoff beard is the stuff of tradition and is grown by grizzled veterans and baby-faced rookies alike.

As initially introduced by Ken Morrow of the New York Islanders, who won four straight titles in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the beard begins at the start of a team's postseason run and does not come off until a team either is eliminated, or better yet, hoists the Stanley Cup. The tradition has extended through all of hockey's ranks and has even been used to raise millions for charity.

However, NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus would like the tradition to stop, and since NBC pays the NHL $2 billion in rights fees, his voice actually counts.

For Lazarus, the noble concepts of team building and camaraderie are trumped by the idea that the beards partially obscure the players' faces, thus making them more difficult to recognize on television.

"The players won't like this, but I wish they all would stop growing beards in the postseason," Lazarus told the Chicago Tribune. "Let's get their faces out there. Let's talk about how young and attractive they are. What model citizens they are. (Hockey players) truly are one of a kind among professional athletes."

"I know it's a tradition and superstition, but I think [the beards do] hurt recognition. They have a great opportunity with more endorsements. Or simply more recognition with fans saying, 'That guy looks like the kid next door,' which many of these guys do. I think that would be a nice thing."

Lazarus's feelings aren't just idle mutterings heard in boardrooms at the network's 30 Rockefeller Center headquarters; he says he's taken his concerns directly to NHL officials, the NHL Players Association and directly to the players themselves.

His complaints have fallen on deaf ears, or rather, dulled razors.

"But I'm just a TV guy," Lazarus told the Tribune. "They don't want to listen to me. I know there are some traditions and superstitions that you can't mess with," Lazarus said. "But this is one tradition I could do without."

For the record, ratings for Saturday's Game 2 of the Cup final between Chicago and Tampa Bay were the best for a Game 2 since NBC got the NHL nine years ago. In fairness to Lazarus, though, the Cup game did have a lead-in of American Pharoah going for the Triple Crown in the Belmont.

But the overnight ratings for Monday's Game 3, which aired on NBC Sports Network, were up 16 percent from last year's Game 3 between the New York Rangers and Los Angeles Kings, so someone was watching, even with all those beards.