Carolina Hurricanes forward Jackson Blake acknowledged Monday that his Stanley Cup playoff beard “is … it’s not very good,” a sparse collection of scraggly follicles separated by large blank spaces.
On Stanley Cup Final media day Blake sat beside teammate Jalen Chatfield, whose full beard provided a striking contrast. Teammates said they give Blake an “A” for effort while also admitting his may be the weakest playoff beard on the club.
Winger Taylor Hall, who is sporting a full playoff beard with flecks of gray, said “Sometimes it’s in your genes, whether you can grow a beard or not.” Hall and forward Mark Jankowski noted Blake’s blond hair makes his facial hair harder to see. “I mean it’s blond too, so you can’t really see it very well, but he’s trying,” Hall said. “He’s got some stuff there,” Jankowski added.
Blake agreed that his hair color does not help visibility. “I don’t know. If we get the right lighting, maybe it’d be a little better,” he said. He also said teammates “have been pretty nice actually to me for that” and that he sees the beard daily and is “not very confident in it.”
The Hurricanes emphasized Blake’s on-ice contributions as more important than his whiskers. Blake is second on Carolina in postseason scoring with 15 points (five goals and 10 assists) while skating on a line with Hall and center Logan Stankoven.
This was Blake’s second full NHL season and his second time reaching at least the conference final. He said last year “nothing really grew in” but that this year “I’ve got a little more,” and that he plans to let the beard grow through the playoffs before shaving after the season.
