The NHL has becoming something like the NFL in recent years, using a competition committee to review gameplay from the previous season and determine whether rule changes are in order or whether alterations need to be made to help increase scoring or push the pace of play.
Fighting, for instance, long a major component of the NHL's particular brand of hockey has come under fire in recent years as the awareness of the potential results of repeated head trauma and concussions has increased.
Pugilism is an exciting, if inessential part of the game. It's a tradition, but one that carries significant health ramifications for the players. For many fans it will likely be hard to accept actually disposing of it, but ultimately it seems like the smartest choice for the NHL - though, fortunately, it seems to be dying off on its own for the most part, without a league-mandated rule change.
While the NHL's newfound interest in keeping up with the times and creating a safer, more exciting, personality-driven league is good in most instances, it may soon be treading on near-holy ground.
NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus has begun lobbying NHL teams and their players to end the tradition of playoff beards, as he believes it hinders player recognition and could hurt the development of new stars.
"The players won't like this, but I wish they all would stop growing beards in the postseason," Lazarus said recently, via Ed Sherman of 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 store,' which many of these guys do. I think that would be a nice thing."
The Chicago Blackhawks and Tampa Bay Lightning are currently facing off in the Stanley Cup Finals - both rosters are littered with playoff beards. From Tyler Johnson to Patrick Kane to Steven Stamkos to Jonathan Toews, nearly every player that can grow a beard has one.
The series has generated very strong ratings for both NBC and NBCSN thus far and Lazarus' desire to see the players clean-shaven is a direct result of the game's increased national relevancy.
"These are the most-watched games and they're all bearded up," Lazarus said.
Lazarus believes the tradition, supposedly started by the 1980s New York Islanders, is causing the NHL to miss out on marketing dollars.
"You had guys like Bobby Hull, Guy Lafleur, Ron Duguay," Lazarus said. "These guys were out there with their hair flowing. They were doing jeans commercials."
While Lazarus is probably right, it's for the wrong reasons. People love sports because of tradition - they don't root for players because they have marketability or because they can push products; they root for the jersey. They root for a specific team based in a specific geographic location because that's who they've always rooted for or because that's who their parents rooted for.
Sure, Blackhawks fans will always love Toews and Kane, but when those players have called it a career a decade from now, the kids who rooted for them in their teens will root for another batch of Hawks stars as adults and, more importantly, teach their own kids to do the same.
Lazarus' desire to see the continued growth of the NHL is an admirable one - his desire to change a fun, weird tradition like playoff beards is misguided.
Luckily for NHL fans, while Lazarus said he has made his request clear to NHL officials, he knows he's unlikely to get his wish.
"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."
