The best NHL dressing rooms - and those most in need of a facelift

[NotNotALeafsFan]

Usually the dressing rooms have extra stalls for healthy scratches, more space etc.

Definitely. I thought for a picture though, they would’ve covered those stalls up or put them on the end haha.

 

[ThatGuy22]

The Wild have a better dressing room at their practice facility than they do at the Xcel. But I think I read that they were renovating that dressing room as well.

That's what I was gonna say. I'd imagine they care more about the Tria facilities a block away they use daily, then the game day facilities they use 41 times a year.

 

[John Price]

Caps one is pretty bland and small. And that's just the home team.

The room is actually pretty small as someone who's been allowed in there for tours.

Visitors locker room at Capital One is probably worse. It's not very big.

 

[Royale With Cheese]

Calgary's home room has to be one of the worst

You can almost taste the asbestos in the air with this one.

 

[HisIceness]

Caps one is pretty bland and small. And that's just the home team.

The room is actually pretty small as someone who's been allowed in there for tours.

Visitors locker room at Capital One is probably worse. It's not very big.

Visiting locker room at Capital One Arena

Looks small to say the least.

 

[Hockeyfan2390]

St. Louis visiting dressing room looks pretty meh.

 

[Hockeyfan2390]

Go ahead and chalk up Winnipeg's room as right in the middle - nothing special, but not really lacking anything.

 

[Butch 19]

Go ahead and chalk up Winnipeg's room as right in the middle - nothing special, but not really lacking anything.

Their ceiling is very ordinary / cheap solution for ceiling tile and light fixtures.

 

[JianYang]

Oval?

View attachment 379387

It seems to be a trend started in the last decade or so. When I visited the bell center back in 2013, it was still rectangular, and it looked like they put alot of effort to making it look and feel like the one at the old forum.

It looks alot different here.

 

[viceroy]

Holy smokes! I never noticed 'til just now. The front of the helm on VGK's logo forms a V as in for Vegas... Then again I only found out about the H on the Hartford Whalers logo recently.

I seem to recall the visitors locker room at the Joe Louis Arena was lacking...The only thing you could count on was a fresh coat of paint the day of a game when Scotty Bowman was around.

Old Montreal-style tricks from back in the day. No move was too petty.

 

[93LEAFS]

Here is video from the Maple Leafs Twitter account when they were using the visitors dressing room at Scotiabank Arena during the bubble.

I’m not even sure that’s the regular away dressing room. One team was probably using either the extra NBA dressing room or something used for concerts.

Pretty crazy that these professional dressing rooms look not that much better/bigger than a local arena’s dressing room. Even if they are trying to disadvantage their opponents.

I believe one of Mark Cuban’s very first investments was to give the Mavs an amazing home dressing room (and word would spread), while also making sure they had the nicest away ones in the league to help future recruitment.

Some of the college football locker rooms are absolutely insane. Check out Alabama or Oregon for example, it's next level stuff.

Recruiting, combined huge with massive donors who want their name on things. I did the tour of the university of Texas Darrell Royal stadium and it’s nuts. There’s 4 statues (now 5) there. 2 were for the two guys who managed to win the Heisman. The other 2 were for massive boosters.

I’d add this though. If teams are practicing out of their NHL arena (uncommon), but I believe Sabres and Oilers both have their practice rinks connected to their facility it makes sense to put a ton of money into that, as it’s also their practice rink. Otherwise guys spend more time at the practice facility so making those state of the art is arguably more important to the players. MLSE over the years has put a fortune into Ovo Center and MasterCard Center.

 

[Breakers]

Edmonton's is cool

Jonathan Toews did say that North Dakota's dressing rooms are better than NHL ones, and I have to agree.
Some NCAA hockey locker rooms are better than 90% of NHL ones., and probably the nicest I have seen.

 

[Chuck Norris Trophy]

The Flames dressing room looks like it needs an improvement. Now if they get a new arena that would solve the problem.

What is that text on the wall supposed to mean?

 

[Karl Eriksson]

UND is nicer than half the NHL ones

 

[Oddbob]

Jets upset with Brock Lesnar for stepping on their logo.

Stepping on the logo is considered a cardinal sin.

It is, but you shouldn't expect people outside the sport to know or even care about such a silly little rule.

 

[Oddbob]

Edmonton's is cool

Jonathan Toews did say that North Dakota's dressing rooms are better than NHL ones, and I have to agree.
Some NCAA hockey locker rooms are better than 90% of NHL ones., and probably the nicest I have seen.

When you can get ticket money without having to pay the people bringing in said money, you can afford to splurge on fancy locker rooms.

 

[MakeTheGoalsLarger]

I find it odd that people generally want teams jerseys to be the most traditionally bland as possible yet they want the locker room to look like the interior from a spacecraft in a movie set thousands of years from now.

 

[Hockeyfan2390]

Nashville recently underwent an upgrade...

Before:

After:

 

[Snipes45]

That looks minor league compared to the others posted so far. I understand it’s an older building though

It's all about the owners. Rexall place was so old and the owner spent a few million to make the locker room look nice in the old building to make the players more comfortable. He knew he would get a new building soon.

 

[Kranix]

St. Louis visiting dressing room looks pretty meh.

The cup is for real and they want to compete hard, and I love torts but it's actually hilarious seeing a grown man scream at a bunch of millionaires about winning a tv show. It's bizarre.

 

[BattleLevel]

It seems to be a trend started in the last decade or so. When I visited the bell center back in 2013, it was still rectangular, and it looked like they put alot of effort to making it look and feel like the one at the old forum.

It looks alot different here.

I love the Flanders Fields quote in the Canadiens room. Just a small thing to nod to the history of the franchise.

Where they bringing in old men to chain smoke when they were still trying to make it look and feel like the old forum?

 

[LongWayDown37]

Go ahead and chalk up the recently rennovated Sabres dressing room among the best; looking like the inside of the Starship Enterprise:

I get the “don’t step on the logo” superstition, but having a metal logo in the middle of the floor with a bunch of guys in skates seems like a super stupid idea. Looks slick otherwise.

 

[hossua34]

CBJ locker room is pretty meh. Probably right below average. But it looks like the Taj Mahal compared to the Sharks...

P.S. Sabres best; Flames worst. Of the ones shown so far.

 

[HisIceness]

CBJ locker room is pretty meh. Probably right below average. But it looks like the Taj Mahal compared to the Sharks...

At least the Jackets have room to breathe in there, yeesh.

On another note, I bet the Sharks locker room was considered "nice" when SAP Center first opened considering many teams were still playing in old barns.

 

[HuGo Sham]

Meanwhile visitors rooms look something like this.

vivid memories of getting crop dusted by teammates who blew farts before our early morning practices in rooms like this. no circulation. no windows. almost died from nerve gas overdose