Florida Panthers

Anthony Duclair Cuts Hair for Islanders, Social Media Goes Off

Published

4 months ago

August 23, 2024

Anthony Duclair, pictured at his hockey camp in Coral Springs earlier this summer, showed his shorn dreadlocks following his haircut before reporting to Islanders training camp. // Photos @aduclair10 Instagram, @GeorgeRichards

Anthony Duclair had to cut his hair to adhere to the longtime rule of New York Islanders boss Lou Lamoriello — which means his long locs as well as his beard are no more.

On his Instagram story, Duclair showed his sheared dreads on table next to barber clippers and scissors on a table.

As one might expect, Duclair’s post went viral very quickly.

Much of the discussion surrounding Duclair’s new look surrounded Lamoriello’s long-standing rule on short hair and lack of facial hair and that Duclair knew what he was getting into when he signed a four-year deal with the Islanders on July 1.

Lamoriello instituted these rules back in the 1990s while with the Devils which, not coincidentally, are very similar to those also in place by the New York Yankees.

As the Boston Globe’s Matt Porter wrote on Twitter, it is all but certain Lamoriello will be the last NHL GM to have such a rule.

NYIHockeyNow: Time for ‘Lou’s Rules’ to Go?

If a player signed or was traded to Lamoriello’s teams in New Jersey, Toronto, or the Islanders, any beards or long hair would have to be taken care of before they could suit up.

Even Islanders coach Patrick Roy had to shave his beard before going behind the Islanders bench this past season.

Earlier this summer, while hosting his youth hockey camp near his hometown of Montreal, Duclair spoke with reporters about signing with the Islanders — and what that meant.

Duclair, speaking in French, said that he got a call from his barber after signing with the Islanders, but joked that he would wait until later in summer to make his appointment.

Perhaps he was putting it off hoping Lamoriello would come out of the ice age and let Duclair, who is of Haitian descent, keep his locs.

No such luck.

Anthony Duclair savait dans quoi il s'embarquait en signant avec les Islanders et Lou Lamoriello! 💈✂ pic.twitter.com/dLSqnqnh0d

— RDS (@RDSca) August 1, 2024

In 2016, when Matt Martin signed as a free agent with the Toronto Maple Leafs — where Lamioriello was the general manager — he knew his days with long, blonde hair were numbered.

“It was my agent who brought it up to me,” Martin told the National Post in 2016. “I don’t know the exact rules, but (Lamoriello) wants guys to be clean shaven and have relatively short hair. I’ve been playing in the league long enough to know that’s what he wants.”

Lamiorello was a close friend of late Yankees owner George Steinbrenner who famously would not let his players have beards or long hair.

The reasoning behind these old-fashioned rules, as Lamoriello once explained, is that “individual players can help you win games, but teams win championships.”

Said Martin: “You wake up in the morning and you’ve got to shave your face and go to work.

‘Lou’s Rules’ do not stick once he has left a team.

Wonder why?

The Devils relaxed their ban on beards and long hair upon Lamoriello’s departure; Toronto got rid of them when Kyle Dubas replaced Lamoriello in 2018.

“I want the players to be at their best, whatever their individual best may be,” Dubas said back then per TSN.

“Part of that is letting them really express themselves in a professional manner and to try and be themselves the best they can. … I understand that some people may like that, some may hate it, but that’s our decision and that’s what we’ll do.’’