theathleticuk
During a late-October 2024 practice, Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Noah Hanifin sat at his locker, lacing up his skates while remnants of the previous night's Halloween costume still clung to his face. What had been a Hollywood-caliber makeup transformation into a convincing Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean just hours earlier had faded into stubborn streaks of blue pigment etched into the creases around his eyes.
"It was pretty funny," quipped Jack Eichel, Hanifin's longtime friend and teammate. And did his teammates give him a hard time? "Oh yeah, for sure," Hanifin replied with a laugh. "One hundred percent. I had blue eyes for three days."
The annual Halloween party is a marquee event on the social calendar for most NHL teams, and the Vegas Golden Knights are no exception. Players and their significant others pull out all the stops, dreaming up elaborate costumes and, in some cases, enlisting professional makeup artists to perfect their looks. Images of the costumes often surface on social media, giving fans a fun taste of the festivities.
"They're always fun," Eichel said of the team parties. "It's the start of the season, and it's one of the first outings where everyone gets together and has a good time. You kind of forget about everything else that's going on and just enjoy each other's company. It's always a lot of fun."
Every offseason brings roster turnover, with players scattering across the globe to their respective hometowns. When teams reconvene, players are still finding their footing on the ice, while old friends are catching up and new faces are getting acquainted with their teammates. The annual Halloween party offers an opportunity to loosen up, show some personality and fast-track the camaraderie building that happens throughout the entire season.
"It's a good time to get together, and obviously the families are involved," said Golden Knights forward Parker Wotherspoon, who was traded from Pittsburgh to Vegas in June. "Hockey is all about family, so I think that's probably the main reason. Guys don't express themselves a lot, so it's one opportunity to do that."
The Golden Knights' parties have been the scene of some intricate costumes over the years. The first several parties were usually headlined by Marc-Andre Fleury. The goaltender dressed up as everything from Cousin Itt to a plastic toy soldier to McLovin from the movie Superbad. Captain Mark Stone and his wife dressed up as Chazz Michael Michaels and Jimmy MacElroy from Blades of Glory.
"Some guys have great costumes," Eichel said. "Some guys are really creative and come up with really funny costumes. I think everyone on our team, for the most part, buys into the Halloween party and the festivities. It's a great time."
Adin Hill and Nicolas Roy, and their partners, dressed up as the Blue Man Group. One year, defenseman Nick Holden stole the show by dressing up as a Costco worker with a tray of shot glasses that he handed out as samples.
"All I know is that Nabber (Brayden McNabb) has the best costumes by far every single year," Shea Theodore said, peeking over at his defensive partner sitting in the stall next to him. McNabb quickly retorted, but Theodore wasn't having it. "My favorite one in history was the corn," Theodore said, laughing. "When you went as corn on the cob. He was a big, tall piece of corn with his head sticking through, and it was custom-made."
"My mother-in-law made it," added McNabb, who explained that his wife puts much more thought and effort into the costumes than he ever will. That's a common dynamic across most of the married players on the team.
"I don't really like getting dressed up," defenseman Rasmus Andersson said. "It's just not my forte. My wife always wants us to go all out, and I say no. The wives love to plan that stuff. It's their time to put a stamp on the outfit, so the wives like to go all out, but I think 95 percent of the boys don't really care."
Theodore loves the party itself, but he's another reluctant participant in the costume arms race. "My wife and I aren't really big Halloween people," he said. "It always comes down to it, then we decide on something, and last minute the costumes show up and they don't fit. I end up running to the Spirit Halloween store and grab something stupid."
Then there's Eichel. It shouldn't come as a surprise, considering how regimented his preparation is on and off the ice, but he doesn't mess around with last-minute, store-bought costumes.
"(My wife) comes up with the costume ideas, for the most part, and I told her if we're going to do something, then I don't want to half-ass it," Eichel said. "If I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it." Eichel typically enlists the help of a professional makeup artist, who comes to his house and brings his costume to life before the party. That process can involve as much as an hour of makeup application, which Eichel joked is one of his wife's favorite aspects of the entire thing.
Eichel's costume is usually one of the best in show. In recent years, he has dressed up as Beetlejuice and the Mad Hatter. In 2024, he brought his buddy Hanifin into the fold, introducing him to the art of taking Halloween costumes seriously.
"My wife usually chooses what the idea is going to be, and she was thinking about Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean," Hanifin said. "She had a makeup artist come over and do the whole face." Hanifin sat in the chair for close to an hour while the makeup artist painted eyeballs over his eyelids, and all down both sides of his face. By the end of it, he was hardly distinguishable from Depp in the actual movie.
"She was awesome," Hanifin said. "It took a long time. It was very difficult to get off, but it was pretty cool. After that, I was like, 'I can't do this.' I had the eye makeup on my eyes for three days of practice after. I was like, 'I can't be doing this again.'" Hanifin learned that lesson the hard way.
Eichel has already accounted for that particular occupational hazard. It's one of the few stipulations in his unofficial Halloween agreement with his wife. "The other thing I always say to her is, 'You have to help me get the eye makeup off my face that night,'" he said, "because I don't want to be coming in here to practice the next day with it on."
This year, the Golden Knights decided to give their Halloween party a distinctly Las Vegas flavor, with every player dressing as something associated with the city. William Karlsson and his wife dressed up as king and queen playing cards. Ivan Barbashev was a magician. Theodore and his wife were characters from Absinthe, a popular show at Caesars Palace. Jeremy Lauzon dressed as the Tin Man, and his wife as the Cowardly Lion, from The Wizard of Oz, which is currently playing at the Sphere.
"Those are just great moments to spend with the guys," Eichel said. "You kind of forget about everything else that's going on, and just enjoy each other's company. It's always a lot of fun."
Key Analysis
The Golden Knights' Halloween party serves as more than just a festive gathering; it's a strategic tool for team bonding. With new players like Wotherspoon integrating into the roster, such events accelerate chemistry and unity. The elaborate costumes, often driven by players' partners, reveal personalities and create shared memories that can translate into on-ice cohesion. As the NHL season progresses, these moments of levity may prove invaluable in building a championship-caliber team culture.
Originally reported by theathleticuk.