Devils Team Discussion (team/player news and notes) ‎2015 offseason IX

[Wingman77]

Merrill and Henrique both have facial hair now haha.

Merrill's mustache is creepy looking though.

I wonder if Cory will be growing some? He usually had some in Vancouver.

Could just be a summer thing.

Or it could be something that is allowed during the regular season now.

It'd be nice to keep that clean tradition going, but if not, it's just another instance of changing something just for the sake of being different than before.

 

[GhostofKenKlee]

Could just be a summer thing.

Or it could be something that is allowed during the regular season now.

It'd be nice to keep that clean tradition going, but if not, it's just another instance of changing something just for the sake of being different than before.

New Heart, Same Soul.....

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

or its allowing the players to look however the hell they want since this isn't communist Russia

 

[GhostofKenKlee]

or its allowing the players to look however the hell they want since this isn't communist Russia

To quote the great Cheech and Chong:

Chong: No, hey man, if we're gonna wear uniforms man, you know let's have everybody wear something different.

Cheech: Yea, that's it. Yea, we want something where everybody wears something different man, but the same, you know.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

I don't really care about the no facial hair during the regular season rule either way. I don't think it is some terrible violation of human freedom to impose the no facial hair rule (because professional dress/grooming is expected in many industries, and this is basically the same thing) but I also don't believe that a no facial hair rule is what makes a team disciplined or filled with good character/team spirit. Living with a no facial hair rule isn't like living under a dictatorship, but also not having the facial hair restriction doesn't mean the barbarian hordes are invading Rome.

You can have a successful organization with or without the no facial hair policy, so I'm not going to be upset about it whether it remains or gets abolished, but if the policy does change, it's not change for the sake of change, so much as just trying to give the players more personal freedom in an area that the team doesn't necessarily have to control in order for the organization to be successful. It's whatever to me, although I personally prefer to look at clean-shaven men, but that's a matter of taste...

 

[GhostofKenKlee]

They should also be able to wear tacchini/slazenger jumpsuits and or flip flops and be unkempt as well instead of suits. This is not Lehman Brothers circa 1984 or even the Yankees. This is something fresh and new. Talking vending machines, fast attacking support team (F.A.S.T). They should have beard and moustache contests as well.

 

[Wingman77]

Personally I never felt one way or the other about the facial hair as a fan of two teams that don't allow it, the Yankees being the other.

Times have changed since the likes of Steinbrenner and Lou were in their heydays when being formal and well represented was a norm. Todays society has become more about having more individuality and being less rigid/structured than in the past, so in that regard, it would fit in with the changing times.

At the same time, it would also be nice to see a tradition that identifies with this organization continued on as many organizations whether in professional sports or not tend to have some things that they are identified with.

It is quite amusing though if this were to be changed going forward because the reason would not be to catch up with the times, rather changing just to be different than what was here previously as it has been done over and over here already.

Things did not end well here for a lot of people who are no longer with the organization, smaller term or larger term and much of the change has been done to wipe it in their faces because of how in control things previously were. I happened to be with a friend this weekend who worked with the team for a couple of decades and retired a few years back who mentioned how it was time for some changes to be made, but the way most of them were carried out were absolutely cowardly and classless.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

Allowing players to have facial hair during the regular season is just like a business switching to casual Fridays. It doesn't mean that everyone is all the sudden going to abandon all sense of appropriate dress, and if they do, the rule can be imposed again. I think it's much ado about nothing to be really upset about the rule or the lack of it.

 

[MadDevil]

or its allowing the players to look however the hell they want since this isn't communist Russia

So I guess businesses that have dress codes are being communist too?

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

So I guess businesses that have dress codes are being communist too?

dress code and allowing facial hair/long hair are not the same thing.

 

[MadDevil]

dress code and allowing facial hair/long hair are not the same thing.

The reason it was there was so the players looked professional. But I guess in today's "I can do whatever the **** I want to" world that's being too strict.

But whatever I guess. It's not that big of a deal either way.

 

[Sascha Goc]

The only off ice thing I wanted to see the same was the #13 rule, out of respect to Dr. McMullen. Without him we wouldn't even be talking about this team or this stuff because it wouldn't have been in NJ past 1995. The other stuff like the twitter, high #ers, and facial hair I don't care about at all.

 

[Billdo]

Wait, people other than Lou actually cared about facial hair? The jerseys and uniforms are uniform enough for me, a dude could have purple hair and white out contacts for all I care as long as he's deserving of wearing the jersey.

 

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

Bottom line for me is that if the Devils could get back to being a steady playoff presence I wouldn't care if they all had not a speck of facial hair or if they all had rainbow-dyed beards down to their belly buttons. We can be successful with or without the facial hair policy in my opinion; I just wish we could get back to being successful. Worrying about facial hair too much one way or the other seems kind of tangential to that main goal.

 

[NJDevs26]

It can be, but in this case you're probably allowing the players to use it with PR in mind. Tweeting photos during hospital visits, etc.

Of course but it doesn't always work out that way. Remember Krys Barch's rambling Tweet during the lockout? It was mild compared to some other Twitter-contreversies but still that's probably the one change I'm kind of dreading. I don't need players getting into it with fans on Twitter...god forbid Zajac gets a Twitter after what happened last year, or some Devils player is on Twitter while holding out, the only time I want to see players using Twitter is with Q/A's on the team's official Twitter (a la stuff the Mets do with former players). Otherwise that's just a source of unneccesary angst for player and team alike to me.

The facial hair otoh I don't think has a whiff to do with anything one way or the other, other than the fact some of the may look worse with dopey mustaches and some might actually look better with the grizzly adams face

 

[Beetlebum*]

Of course but it doesn't always work out that way. Remember Krys Barch's rambling Tweet during the lockout? It was mild compared to some other Twitter-contreversies but still that's probably the one change I'm kind of dreading. I don't need players getting into it with fans on Twitter...god forbid Zajac gets a Twitter after what happened last year, or some Devils player is on Twitter while holding out, the only time I want to see players using Twitter is with Q/A's on the team's official Twitter (a la stuff the Mets do with former players). Otherwise that's just a source of unneccesary angst for player and team alike to me.

The facial hair otoh I don't think has a whiff to do with anything one way or the other, other than the fact some of the may look worse with dopey mustaches and some might actually look better with the grizzly adams face

You should see some of the stuff that was said to Gelinas on his Instagram.

Luckily, he handled it well.

 

[NJDevs26]

You should see some of the stuff that was said to Gelinas on his Instagram.

Luckily, he handled it well.

Yep that's EXACTLY what I was thinking about with the holding out part.

 

[Wingman77]

who is upset about the facial hair - aside from those upset about other people discussing the facial hair policy?

It isn't even a given that it will or will not be allowed, it's simply a discussion.

Suck on HF

 

[MadDevil]

who is upset about the facial hair - aside from those upset about other people discussing the facial hair policy?

It isn't even a given that it will or will not be allowed, it's simply a discussion.

Suck on HF

It's only September 9th. We need something to argue about until camp opens.

 

[Bleedred]

Could just be a summer thing.

Or it could be something that is allowed during the regular season now.

It'd be nice to keep that clean tradition going, but if not, it's just another instance of changing something just for the sake of being different than before.

It could be an offseason thing, I'm sure players and people in the organization have always been able to wear facial hair in the offseason if they want.

I'd have to believe that it's something that's changing though, and I'm alright with that.

The facial hair aspect is actually one of the ones that I wouldn't keep. And personally I don't even wear facial hair and don't particularly care for it at all. What Henrique has doesn't look so bad. A goatee like that seems nice and respectable. Not talking like Brent Burns type out of control beard or anything like that. Or a complete face full of stubble out of laziness of not shaving (though I'm guilty of this sometimes due to how fast my facial hair grows) But what Henrique has looks nice, or at least on him it does.

Merrill's just looks creepy haha.

 

[Brooklyndevil]

Even though, they went on to finally win a couple of World Series, I rather have my team look like the Yankees than the Redsox. We have become a Country of slobs. People now go shopping in their pajamas and flipflops. Call me old fashion, I like dress codes and a minimum of facial hair, definitely not the Redsox beards.

 

[NJDevs26]

The only thing about the facial hair is if everyone grows it out during the season it makes it less of a novelty when everyone grows it out during the playoffs.

 

[Bleedred]

The only off ice thing I wanted to see the same was the #13 rule, out of respect to Dr. McMullen. Without him we wouldn't even be talking about this team or this stuff because it wouldn't have been in NJ past 1995. The other stuff like the twitter, high #ers, and facial hair I don't care about at all.

If I ran things and got to make the decision, I would have kept the number 13 off limits myself. I don't think it's a HUGE deal that it's being worn now, but I personally would have kept it out of respect to Dr. McMullen as well. I'm not gonna criticize Shero and the new regime for having different feelings on it, it's just the one tradition I would have carried on.

On one hand, I did like for a while that Lou did not allow twitter. Or at least not for players to be very active on twitter, as quite a few had twitter's that they very rarely posted on. It's been known to get certain guys in trouble, though that's probably because they don't know how to act on twitter. I can see both sides of the twitter argument.

And I'm fine with facial hair, even though like I said, I personally don't wear any very often. I'm amazed at how many hot girls I see walking around with these heavily bearded ugly dudes. I'll keep my face clean shaven and enjoy hearing the ''Wow! I didn't think you were that old at all!'' compliments that I probably wouldn't get with facial hair. Not to mention that my facial hair starts to come in with all kinds of different and crazy colors haha.

 

[Bleedred]

The only thing about the facial hair is if everyone grows it out during the season it makes it less of a novelty when everyone grows it out during the playoffs.

And as I've said, I don't like the way facial hair looks for the most part, I just don't think it should be mandated. So I'm hoping that most of the team is not wearing facial hair cause of the same thing you said about the novelty and the playoffs, not that we're probably making them but that's besides the point.

I feel like a lot of the young guys will probably have it. So many young people love to grow facial hair. Henrique and Merrill being the two we've seen with the facial hair already, both young guys. Henrique looks good with it, Merrill does not. I kinda hope Cory keeps clean shaven, he looks so much better clean shaven. I remember him doing the ''Stubble all over'' thing in Vancouver sometimes.

I never really got into the whole facial hair thing. I have had a soul patch once in a while, used to grow some hair on the chin when I was younger occasionally. Have grown a couple really long and out of control playoff beards. 2 or 3 months of non stop beard growth is a lot on me. I had to start shaving at 13-14 cause I grew so much facial hair. I was shaving every day by 16, which I probably shouldn't have been doing every day by that time. It started growing even faster. I try to shave every 2-3 days now, the mustache especially annoys me so I'll shave that more frequently in the upper lip area. I'm also one of those guys that has a permanent five o clock shadow. Even after shaving, I still have the shadow a bit. So yeah, I'm not too big on facial hair. But again, I feel it shouldn't be mandated.

 

[Billdo]

Even though, they went on to finally win a couple of World Series, I rather have my team look like the Yankees than the Redsox. We have become a Country of slobs. People now go shopping in their pajamas and flipflops. Call me old fashion, I like dress codes and a minimum of facial hair, definitely not the Redsox beards.

Old fashioned.