The League and the NHLPA announced on Tuesday that the new Collective Bargaining Agreement has been ratified. As expected, the new deal, which will take effect at the start of the 2026-27 season, will bring numerous changes, and one of them should be particularly popular with the players.
For years, teams had a significant amount of control over their players’ lives and choices. Some GMs were more controlling than others. Lou Lamoriello, for instance, would forbid his players from having long hair and facial hair, but all teams happily imposed a dress code, which will now be a thing of the past.
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Instead of each team imposing specific guidelines on their players, the new CBA now states that players dress in a manner that is consistent with “contemporary fashion norms”. That wording makes it painfully apparent that lawyers drafted the document, as this leaves plenty of room for interpretation.
What constitutes contemporary fashion norms? Are jeans still fashionable? What about tracksuits and jogging pants, which were brought back from the dead during the pandemic? Could a player turn up wearing that?
For the Montreal Canadiens, does that mean we’ve seen the last of Patrik Laine’s extravagant suits? He does like fashion, but if he’s no longer obligated to wear suits, will he still want to wear them, or will he go for other fashionable options?
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Who could forget the fantastic black and white flowery pants he wore to visit the Bell Centre the first time? I’ll admit it, at first, I thought it was a cow pattern; can you blame me? His trainers were so green that they might as well have been made of grass.
I’ll admit it, I’m curious to see how this will be applied league-wide. It’s a good thing Don Cherry is no longer on TV; we would never have heard the end of it. The man had a suit obsession.
Photo credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
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