NHL players and the magic of Halloween self-promotion

When kids dress up for Halloween they are thinking about getting candy.  When an NHL player dresses up for Halloween they should be thinking about their own personal brand.

While many complain that NHL players give boring cliched interviews, players who act differently risk being labeled as a distraction to their team.  

The NHL is a league that markets the creativity and skill of its players, but also where a teenage rookie is criticized for scoring a goal with his stick between his legs and celebrating too much.

With this in mind, a player's image is still important to his career.  A positive public image can lead to sponsorships, new contracts, or a job as a broadcaster after retirement.

Halloween presents players with an opportunity to show the public a different side of their personality.

Lets take a look at some examples...

Big points for St. Louis Blues goaltender Brian Elliott and his 2014 costume.  If you are anything like me, your perception of Elliott went way up after seeing this photo.  Elliott's costume is creative, fun and whimsical.  Elliott also gets bonus points for finding a way to fit in the dog.  The tweet that contained this photo got 258 retweets, 344 favourites and a bunch of positive comments on Twitter.

Also in this article Sportsnet declares Elliott best costume of the year.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/elliott-wins-halloween-with-best-nhl-costume/ 

Here are Minnesota Wild players Charlie Coyle, Nino Niederreiter, and Mikael Granlund in their Top Gun costumes from this year.  While these costumes are pretty cool, I think there is a bit of risk here.

To me, these costumes look like what a frat boys might wear to a party, and so risk playing into the stereotype of young players who are more concerned with partying than playing hockey.  

Niederreiter's Twitter followers seem to disagree with me.  The tweet with this picture has been retweeted 322 times and favourited 366 times.  The tweets Neiderreiter received for this picture were overwhelmingly positive.  

While all of these Boston Bruins players deserve credit for dressing up and going to Children's Hospital in Boston for Halloween in 2011, captain Zdeno Chara may have done the most for his public image.  Chara is 6 foot 9 inches, 255 pounds and is often compared to a mountain or a monster in TV broadcasts.  With this costume Chara makes fun of his big bruising defenseman image and humanizes himself.

Follow the link to see Chara stealing the headline on the New England Sports Network (NESN) site:
http://nesn.com/2011/10/zdeno-chara-dresses-as-pink-bunny-as-bruins-celebrate-halloween-at-childrens-hospital-photo/

Every Halloween the list of celebrities and athletes who think they can pull off blackface gets a little longer.  In 2012 Toronto Maple Leafs forward Tyler Bozak posted this tweet of his Michael Jackson costume.  While Bozak believed this costume to be a tribute, the end result was he had to defend himself against allegations of being racist.

Here is an article about Bozak's "Twitter outrage" in the Toronto Sun,
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/10/31/bozaks-blackface-twitter-pic-sparks-online-rage

Here is another article on Bozak's MJ costume on the Yahoo Sports Puck Daddy blog (where the above picture comes from)
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/tyler-bozak-joins-nhl-halloween-blackface-club-michael-041546005--nhl.html

While Buffalo Sabres rookie Zemgus Girgensons did not receive a lot of Twitter attention for this video he posted on Vine, I think his penguin costume and self deprecating sense of humour have the potential to make him a fan favourite.  

One thing Girgensons will have to keep in mind is since the Sabres have a 2-12-1 record, and Girgensons has only one goal and two assists, he does not want to give the impression that he does not take hockey seriously.  

Here he is a link of Girgensons featured on a CBC list of NHL player Halloween costumes for 2014.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/nhl-players-show-off-halloween-costumes-1.2289183