The Accidental Style Honesty of the NHL

As the Stanley Cup Finals begin—a reminder that swagless athletes are just fine, actually.

Let’s get one thing straight: most athletes aren’t stylish. You might think otherwise from the pre-game tunnel fit photos that flood Instagram—designer jackets, custom sneakers, and perfectly curated outfits worn for a 30-second walk from the bus to the locker room. But that walk has become less about personal expression and more about optics. Stylists, brand deals, and social media have turned it into performance. It’s The Tunnel Fit Industrial Complex.

There are exceptions, sure. But even in leagues like the NBA—where this all started—the energy has cooled. Some players are leaning into subtlety and repetition. Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, for instance, keeps his fits simple and comfortable. It’s not normcore, exactly. It’s just… not trying so hard. And that brings us to the NHL: a league that has never really tried at all.

Conor McDavid (left) dresses the opposite of how he plays. Meanwhile goalie Linus Ullmark has made some...choices.

OK, they’ve tried to flirt with fashion. Team social accounts talk about “serving looks” when they post player outfits. The league signed a sponsorship with…Perry Ellis (LOL). But the results? Painfully mid. Swagless, even. Player arrivals look less like style moments and more like guys showing up for a corporate training seminar. Too-slim suits. A near-universal love for the black dress shirt. Bad toques (that’s Canadian for beanies) and hats. It’s giving Pit Boss. It’s giving early ‘00s pick-up artist. When players do take a swing at fashion, the results land somewhere between Letterkenny, Peaky Blinders, and the Four Lads in Jeans meme.

The Habs’ Michael Pezzetta and Arber Xhekaj

Why is it this way? Well the easy answer is because most of them are from small-town Canada (I kid, I kid, I’m also from small-town Canada). The long answer is because hockey culture has always been about humility, tradition, and team conformity. Celebrating yourself is frowned upon. Expressing individuality? Risky. When Alex Ovechkin entered the league in 2005, his exuberant goal celebrations caused “controversy”. The hockey media tired to beat the personality out of him. The dress code is codified too—unlike the NBA, where it was scrapped years ago, the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement still requires players to wear suits to games.

There are some exceptions. The Leafs’ Auston Matthews sometimes gets it right. But, meanwhile Bruins winger David Pastrnak steps out in a ridiculous suit and somehow gets labeled the league’s best-dressed player by the hockey media—the bar is low. Mostly, though, hockey players either don’t care, don’t know how, or are too culturally entrenched to try.

What looks like personal style—fedoras, colourful suits, the odd flashy accessory—is really just conformity in disguise. These aren’t acts of individuality; they’re choices that fall safely within what’s accepted in the league.

The Islanders' Anthony Duclair (left), Fabian Zetterlund. and William Eklund (right).

But here’s the twist: in 2024, when “effortless” style is anything but—when everything from streetwear to casual wear to formalwear is hyper-styled and paid placement—the NHL’s cluelessness is actually refreshing.

They’re not trying to sell anything. They’re largely not chasing luxury label deals. They just throw on their tight suits and get on with it. It’s not anti-fashion because that would mean it’s intentional—it’s unfashion. It’s not self-aware enough to be normcore. It just is.

Sure, NHL players could use a little help. A better cut of suit would be nice (free inspo from retired Ranger Henrik Lundqvist who always looks good). Lose the toques and fedoras. Lose the white-soled sneakers. But even if they nailed the tailored look, they’d still exist outside of the image economy modern athletes have curated.

In a world obsessed with performance and image-making, the coolest thing an athlete can do right now might be not getting a fit off.

Thanks for reading and Let’s Go Oilers!