TORONTO —
Pierre-Luc Dubois was still trying to figure out NHL life.
Helmet firmly fastened under his chin, the Columbus Blue Jackets rookie stepped on the ice for warm-ups ahead of his eighth professional hockey game in October 2017.
The Los Angeles Kings — a roster full packed with Stanley Cup winners — were at the rink’s opposite end, many with slicked back hair as they emerged from the tunnel.
“Like 14 guys without a helmet,” recalled Dubois, now a centre with the Washington Capitals. “I was like, ‘This is so intimidating.’ I’m 19 years old and they’ve won (titles), they’re huge, they have no helmets, no teeth, so scary.
“I remember thinking, ‘Wow, that’d be really cool to do one day.'”
Helmets — or buckets — off in warm-ups remains a unique part daily life for many NHLers despite the league instituting a rule that states anyone not in the league before the 2019-20 season must don the protective gear pre-game.
Players making their debuts are still allowed to take them off for the “rookie lap” initiation before putting the equipment back on, but there remains plenty of athletes leaving helmets in the locker room.
“There’s a few hidden gems in the NHL,” San Jose Sharks winger Tyler Toffoli said. “No helmet in warm-up is in the top-3.”
Tampa Bay Lightning forward Corey Perry has played 21 seasons, mostly without a helmet in warm-up. There have been close calls and scary moments — including off his own stick — as pucks rattle glass and chime posts.
“I hit myself,” he said. “Off the crossbar and cut my eyebrow open.”
The NHL issued a memo earlier this season after a few teams had ineligible players go without helmets pre-game.
Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly used to be mesmerized by the ritual going to Vancouver Canucks games as a kid.
“I remember seeing Markus Naslund out there with no helmet,” he said. “I thought that was the coolest thing.”
Toronto, like Columbus when Dubois entered the league, had an internal team policy that forced players to wear helmets in warm-ups under past management regimes.
The directive now loosened, Rielly, William Nylander, Max Domi and Jake McCabe are among the players sans head garb when the Maple Leafs hit the ice about 30 minutes before puck drop.
“In a tough stretch everyone’s talking about confidence this, confidence that,” Rielly said. “So we said, ‘Screw it, let’s start.'”
But just because a player entered the league back when helmets could be removed didn’t mean it was allowed.
Toffoli got to take his off when he hit 100 games with the Kings after veterans let him know it was time.
“One of the first things I wanted to do was warm-ups with no helmet,” he recalled. “(Former teammate) Jarret Stoll gave me some Dippity Do gel to throw in my hair.”
Added Perry: “Back in the day if you took your helmet off, you knew you’d done something right.”
Anaheim Ducks rookie Beckett Sennecke got to take his off just once.
“Pretty cool feeling,” the forward said of that initial lap. “Wish that was still a rule.”
Los Angeles defenceman Drew Doughty said his group wasn’t allowed to remove them in warm-ups until after capturing their first Cup in 2012.
“We started winning and basically our entire team was no buckets,” he said. “Maybe we should go to buckets on until we win again … but you seem cool if you have no bucket.”
Maple Leafs centre John Tavares, who did warm-ups without a helmet earlier in his career, said there’s a tradition element.
“The league has been around for over 100 years,” he said. “A little bit of getting to play in the NHL, the uniqueness of that.”
There have also been serious injuries, including Taylor Hall falling and getting stepped on when he was with the Edmonton Oilers, resulting in a nasty row of stitches across his forehead in 2012.
Self-preservation without a helmet is key.
“You have to think of warm-ups different,” Tampa Bay Lightning centre Nick Paul said. “You’re always watching, listening for shots off posts and crossbars. I’ve ducked a couple. You never go below the goal line. And when you’re shooting, you see a guy with no helmet, you know not to rip it.”
The risk, however, remains worth it.
“I feel alive and awake,” said Dubois, who doesn’t have a set helmet routine. “You always have to be on the lookout, but it’s scary at times.
“And my parents would like for me not to do it.”
DOWN THE STRETCH
The race for the final Eastern Conference wild-card berth looks set to go down to the wire.
Columbus currently occupies the spot with 88 points and seven games left. Ottawa, Detroit and Philadelphia all sit with 86 points and eight contests remaining. Washington, meanwhile, is still in the mix with 85 points and seven dates still on the schedule.
BENCH TURNOVER
The Vegas Golden Knights’ decision to fire head coach Bruce Cassidy and replace him with John Tortorella this week once again demonstrated that career path’s volatility.
Just eight NHL teams have the same coach as at the start of 2023-24 — Ryan Huska (Calgary), Rod Brind’Amour (Carolina), Jared Bednar (Colorado), Paul Maurice (Florida), Martin St. Louis (Montreal), Andrew Brunette (Nashville), Jon Cooper (Tampa Bay) and Spencer Carbery (Washington).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 1, 2026.
Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press
