NHL's new jersey tuck rules the start of another No Fun League?

It looks as though the NHL is about to take a page out of the NFL’s playbook by instituting strict rules regarding how players wear their jerseys.

This season the NHL will make it illegal for players to tuck their sweaters into their pants. Of course, likely the game’s greatest player ever, Wayne Gretzky, never stepped on the ice without the right side of his jersey tucked in. Gretzky started that practice as a child because his jerseys were always much too big as he played with players years older than he was. It became a superstition and ended up being copied by players around the world.

Now, a first offence for a tucked jersey will be a warning. Another offence will result in a two-minute minor penalty, a third yields a 10-minute misconduct and a fourth will result in a game misconduct. So, it’s pretty obvious the league isn’t playing around here, but you have to wonder about the rationale behind the move.

The league is rolling this new rule out at the same time as it takes aim on the size of goaltenders’ pads, but they’re completely different issues. When you saw goaltender pads coming up to a player’s waist, you understood why the league needed to step in. But what’s the problem with a tucked in jersey?

The NHL says it’s looking to set a standard across the league and is more worried about covering up players’ skin after a number of scary injuries last year. That makes sense when you’re talking about players pulling up their socks (literally) or rolling up the sleeves of their jerseys, but telling players like Alex Ovechkin to tuck in his jersey doesn’t seem to have any safety benefit. Ovechkin, the 2013 Hart Trophy winner, and priced at +600 to lead the league in scoring this season, isn’t happy about it.

“I’m the guy who love that kind of stuff. I’m kind of upset about it, but most important thing, nobody talk to us, the players. They think it can be dangerous for somebody. I think it’s kind of stupid,” Ovechkin told reporters of the new rule. “My gear is not stay [near] my body so jersey always goes in. If I’m going to put jersey normally, I’m going to skate and it goes back.”

It’s more of a style and a comfort thing than anything else and it’s a little silly for the NHL to start penalizing players for something so trivial. The next thing you know the league will start handing out penalties for post-goal celebrations.

“Superstars have identities, that’s why they’re superstars,” Washington Capitals coach Oates told reporters. “It’s part of their makeup and their personality…. I understand the sleeve rule, for sure. That makes sense to me, but taking a guy’s individuality away is tough.”

If this is the beginning of the NHL becoming the next no fun league, I don’t want any part of it.