GDT: Sharks at Leafs, and who has the better beard: Jumbo or Willie?

Pete DeBoer says he hopes when Nazem Kadri is 38 and playing on reconstructed knees the younger generation shows him respect.

— luke fox (@lukefoxjukebox) November 28, 2018

The image that comes to my mind if you mention Joe “Jumbo” Thornton is of a rickety old man barely able to stand up. The fact that that young whippersnapper Kadri attacked him so viciously and damaged his — you know is it still facial hair when it’s closer to your nether regions than your face? Anyway, it was an outrage and Pete DeBoer will never get over it.

When last the Leafs met the Sharks, the Sharks basically spent the whole game chasing Kadri around the ice. I was giving them the benefit of the doubt, and I thought they were just trying to provoke a noted hothead. Turns out they all just really are upset about a fight from last season.

Did Joe Thornton have any issue with Kadri fighting him last season?

"No, not at all," he said before breaking into a smile. "We'll see what happens tonight too. (Laughs) It's a hockey game, you never know what can happen."

— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) November 28, 2018

Okay, not all of them.

In other hair-raising news (see what I did there?) William Nylander has been spotted in Sweden practising with a junior team.

If you brave the Swedish at the link above you can find a set of videos of Nylander skating idly around, as well as some photos of him sitting on a bench. It’s riveting stuff. There is an interview with the AIK J20 coach who answers every question from the reporter about Nylander’s contract by saying some variation on, “No, we never talked about that.” He says it was cool for the guys on his team to measure themselves against a player like Nylander in practice.

This is the video of Nylander and the coach definitely not talking contracts:

Of course, while the mainstream media might report this (once they notice it), and might try to find some significance in the fact that a member of the Leafs uses Leafs gear in practice, what they won’t tell  you is the really important news that you can see in this video if you watch carefully:

This stalking, er, compelling interview on the way to his car, shows William Nylander to have the most profoundly ugly post-practice manbun ever to be seen on film or not seen on film since usually when you are just going to your car to drive home, no one is pointing a camera at you.

There is one small bit of actual news-ish sort of stuff here. When asked by the reporter if this is his last practice, he says yes. Well, I mean. It is, isn’t it? He’s either going to Toronto or Moscow next.

Onto the game, where Auston Matthews and his beard make an appearance after too much absence:

The game is at 7:30, the lines will be a mystery until the warmups, so someone be enterprising and post them in the comments. Until then, take the poll:

Your poll topic tonight is a tough one. Who has the best beard?

Who has the best beard?