Drop the puck — and the razor. It’s NHL playoff time

Colorado Avalanche center Nazem Kadri lifts the Stanley Cup after the group defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals on Sunday, June 26, 2022, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/John Bazemore).
The Stanley Cup playoffs will begin today, which is excellent news for almost everybody, with the possible exception of the razor blade market.

Yes, among the best customs in all of sports is back. Playoff beards.

Once the playoffs start, the facial hair growth starts till the team satisfies its fate and the season is over. Obviously, not every gamer or group gets involved. And periodically a group will attempt to come up with some new tradition.

But those aren't fun. Playoff beards are.

They're not all produced equivalent. Some gamers simply choose the neglected mess. Others thoroughly craft an elegant goatee or amusing mustache. Some keep it a bit cut, while others just can't appear to get anything going.

It don't matter, simply don't shave it.

Islanders leaders.

The playoff beard has ended up being such a part of the Stanley Cup playoffs that it is now utilized in marketing projects and marketing videos for the NHL postseason.

However how did it all begin? ESPN's Dave Caldwell did an excellent task tracing the roots in a 2017 story.

While there is some debate, credit most likely goes to the New York Islanders of the early 1980s. They weren't always wanting to start a widespread custom, they were simply a bit superstitious.

And they won. And won. And won.

Those Islanders groups won four straight titles before passing the torch to Edmonton, a youthful team that didn't continue the tradition.

The practice didn't truly start to get steam till the Devils made the playoffs for the first time in New Jersey in 1988 and played the Islanders. The Devils' beards were grown out as a bit of a homage to their opponent's past, and New Jersey won the series.

For many years, there were some teams that chose to participate, and the majority of others didn't. When the Devils brought back the beards in 1995 and won the Cup, shaving in the postseason basically became a thing of the past.

On the eve of the start of the NHL playoffs, take pleasure in one final shave. It's playoff time.

Trust the process.

The chorus of complaints continues to grow about the absence of available sports betting menu choices in Nevada as compared to some of the other upstart markets.

It needs to slow down.

This is not a full-throated defense of the state's regulatory body and sportsbook operators. There does require to be some development.

There has to be a delighted medium between the old school and brand-new.

It appears just about every week there is a new concern that pops up someplace around the country that involves confusion over whether a wagerer has won or lost a specific wager.

Most recently, there was the debate over who would be graded as the winner of a bet published in other markets about who would lead the league in 3-pointers per video game.

Golden State's Steph Curry finished atop the classification, but only played in 56 video games. That's not enough to meet the 58-game limit, so there were some books whose guidelines dictated bets on him would be graded as losers.

But the league standards state that since he made adequate to still win the classification even if his 273 3-pointers were averaged out over 58 video games, he's still the winner.

Several books around the country published the bet. Some scored it as a winner, some a loser. Most ultimately wound up paying out anyhow.

Overlook all of that. It's way too in the weeds. What matters is these things take place just about every day as new markets continue to get more and more innovative with what bets can be posted, along with how guidelines are composed and interpreted.

Nevada tends to be far more stringent and more conservative with what can be provided, and there is great factor for it. There is an understanding that any situation that isn't clearly accounted for in the composed guidelines can end up being a genuine concern including genuine money for sportsbooks and gamblers.

Trust the procedure. Nevada will get there. Maybe not as quickly as some would like, however it will take place.

And it will mostly take place the proper way.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.