Tattoos Around the NHL

In recent years, the art of tattooing has become increasingly popular. And NHLers are no strangers to getting their body inked up. Just to ramble off a few, Mike Green (Washington), Andrew Ference (Edmonton), and Jose Theodore (Florida) are heavily tattooed. Some of them have even documented their tattoo progressions on Twitter and shared the meanings behind their ink. And whether it holds significance for their family, represents their team, refreshes a memory, brings good luck, or just simply looks cool, NHL athletes have body art from every end of the spectrum.

One of the more common NHL tattoos is the Stanley Cup– and for good reason. Who wouldn’t want a constant reminder of your Stanley Cup winning year…or years? To name a few, Pascal Dupuis and Ruslan Fedotenko documented their Stanley Cup Champion teams on their skin.

Out of all the Cup tattoos out there in the NHL, Mark Recchi has one of the best. In his career, he won the Lord Stanley trophy three times and with three different teams. He showcases those team logos surrounding the Cup, which has the three different years on it. It’s very nicely done and he clearly took the time to choose a good artist. Unlike Tyler Seguin and Brad Marchand…

These two were Boston Bruins rookies at the time and decided to get tattoos the night they won the Cup in 2011. Unfortunately, they didn’t spell check their artwork. Nor did they research their artist very well. What is supposed to say “Stanley Cup Champions” turned into something more along the lines of “Starley Cup Chanpians.” Brad Marchand later admitted that the script was not spell-checked before being permanently inked on his ribs. Interestingly enough, he only mentioned the “a” of “Champians” (which is clearly supposed to be an “o”). I guess everything else is close enough. Fortunately, it seems that Tyler Seguin found a better artist because since then he has gotten a full sleeve on his right arm.

One of the most unique stories is Jared Boll of the Columbus Blue Jackets. He said in an interview that his favorite number has always been 7, but when he made the team they gave him number 40. He said that he “was just happy to make the team and [he] didn’t want to ask to change it.” So instead of having lucky number seven on the back of his jersey, he had the Roman numeral tattooed on his inner bicep.

Andrew Ference, an ex-Bruins and current-Oiler, is pretty much the king of tattoos– good tattoos. He has his back entirely covered in a tribal, red and black design; along with numerous tattoos elsewhere on his body including his chest and arms. His first tattoo was a Canadian flag on his upper arm that he got when he was 16. He had just moved from his home in Canada to Portland, Oregon and wanted to take a piece of Canada with him to the States. When asked what his most meaningful one is, he said it’s his daughters’ names, “Ava” and “Stella” across the top of his back. What a great dad.

The Philadelphia Flyers’ new goalie, Steve Mason has a very basic, but personal, tattoo. When asked what it stood for, his answer was simple. It’s a Canadian leaf (because he’s from Canada), the outline of a goalie (because he’s a goalie), and his nickname underneath (self-explanatory). Simple and significant.

So whether they just have one meaningful piece or cover the majority of their body, NHL-ers are becoming more and more accustomed to getting tattooed and showing off their body art.