Anaheim Ducks Soup: Should NHL Lose the Playoff Beard, and More!

We bring you some random news to help you with your hockey cravings!

Happy Hamp(us) Day, Ducks fans!

The Anaheim Ducks may be done playing hockey this season, but if I know you, you are all still craving all-things-hockey.  To help you get your fix, here are some interesting bits of news from around the web today.

Did you hear about what NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus thinks of the NHL’s playoff beard tradition?  It’s hilarious . . . except he’s serious.

What would cause Lazarus to ask both the NHL and the NHLPA to put to rest a playoff tradition that began with the 1980 New York Islanders?  It’s a TV thing:

"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.You had guys like Bobby Hull, Guy Lafleur, Ron Duguay.  These guys were out there with their hair flowing. They were doing jeans commercials."

I can understand Lazarus’ position – NBC Sports is in the business of selling a product, and handsome young men sell products! – but I pray to the hockey gods that the NHL never agrees to go along with this.  Even with clean-shaven faces, the NHL will almost certainly continue to rank as the 4th-most popular professional sport in this country – and that’s okay.  The playoff beard is just one of the ways hockey is unique, and better than other sports, in my humble opinion.

Leave the beards alone!

In other news, the Phoenix Coyotes may wake up Thursday morning with no place to call home.  In a stunning about-face, the city of Glendale, Arizona, announced Tuesday that it would vote on killing the lease deal that it agreed upon in 2013:

"The Glendale City Council will consider ending the city’s arena contract with the Arizona Coyotes at a special meeting Wednesday.Mayor Jerry Weiers said he could not speak about the city’s reasons for weighing a cancellation of the agreement because it had been discussed only in an executive session and he is legally barred from disclosing those discussions.The agenda posted for the meeting cites a state statute that allows government entities to end a contract within three years of being signed if a person involved in negotiating the contract for the city is, in effect, an employee or agent of the other party to the contract.Glendale leases Gila River Arena to the Coyotes and pays IceArizona, the team ownership group, $15 million annually to manage the arena. The deal is worth $225 million over 15 years."

Way to be, Glendale.  If we’re being honest hockey doesn’t belong in the middle of the desert; pack up those Coyotes and ship them up to Seattle, ASAP!

Finally: watching the Ducks lose to the Chicago Blackhawks was painful, sure, but I must admit that it is nice to see that both Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane are coming up small in the Stanley Cup Finals so far.  Check out this video from 120 Sports and take a little bit of delight in the struggles of Anaheim’s adversaries!

Next: Anaheim Ducks 2015 Draft: Which Position Do You Want Filled First?