91 Days of Stamkos: Day 78, All about the flow

Most hockey players pick one hairstyle and stick with it for their entire career. After all, what’s the point of having a sweet hairdo if it’s going to spend most of the time smashed under a sweaty helmet. That hasn’t been the case for Steven Stamkos. His hairstyle has evolved as his career has progressed. So, here is a brief history of the captain’s coiffure.

The First Round Forward Sweep

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Eighteen-year-olds rarely but much thought into how their hair looks. However, when you’re going to be shown on every TV in Canada and a couple down in Florida, it makes sense to put a little preparation into how you’re going to look. Preparation and a lot of hairspray.

There are actresses in Poison videos that think he was a little liberal with the hairspray. His “self-taught” hairstyling was much better than whatever the mop on the top of of Zack Bogarasion’s head.

The Too-Busy with Hockey for a Haircut

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Rookie-year Stamkos let the locks grow out a bit. A little longer on the top, but cleaned up in the back. With all the chaos going on behind the scenes in the Lightning clubhouse, and struggling to find his offensive touch, keeping his lettuce in order was probably the last thing on his mind. Still, it appears a large portion of his paycheck went to styling products.

The Award Winner

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A mash-up of his previous two styles. He combines the forward sweep with the longer hair and spikes it up a bit. Not too bad of a look as he collects his first Rocket Richard award.

The Side Sweep

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In his first deep playoff run, Stamkos let the beard go and let the hair flow. Long and unruly, he did try to tame it a bit by combing it over from the right. The straggly beard caps off what is a true masterpiece of a playoff look. While the beard would go in the off-season, the hair would stay. The result — his most glorious look.

The 60-goal Samson

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When you’re scoring at will, you let the hair grow. During his 60-goal campaign of 2011-12, Stamkos let his go. The golden locks flowed out of the back of his helmet as he streaked down the ice for goal after goal after goal. It had the added benefit of covering up some of the bumps and bruises he had accumulated over this first couple of years in the league. He admitted that it felt “good coming out of the helmet”:

Sadly, it wasn’t to be.

The Left Side Part

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Let’s face it. This is a grown-up’s haircut. Short on the sides, a little length on the top. It is odd that he switched the part from the right side to the left, but the man does his research. I’m sure he sought professional advice before making the switch.

Unfortunately, Lightning fans have seen a professional cut way too often in the past year. Hopefully, in the near future it will be less polished an more matted down from a helmet as that will mean he’s back on the ice competing and not walking to the press box in a suit.