Thanks, Gary Bettman!

Since beards are never not cool, and growing them to absurd lengths is an automatic marketing tool for any athlete (notice how no one hated Jason Kelce this year, even though he was vilified for comments about fans last year?), Giroux and Hartnell have decided to partake in the time honored tradition… the lockout beard:

I know, I know– beards have totally jumped the shark. But who cares? It’s not like we have anything better to write about, hockeywise. I mean, it would be better to grow a playoff beard, rather than a lockout beard, but that’s not an option right now, is it?

It was, however, an option this past spring for Stanley Cup champion Mike Richards, who wants to join his former teammates:

Well now– that just took all the fun out of it. What does this look like, Kings East? Why don’t we just invite Justin Williams to impromptu practices, too. Oh.