Two Minutes for Suiting 

Just as the sun arrives in the east, the Tampa Bay Lightning arrive to hockey games in really good-looking suits.

Suits made of fine wool, cotton, linen and tweed.

Alluring fabrics that strike our attention, so much so that we’re about to write several hundred words on them on TampaBayLightning.com.

Welcome to Two Minutes for Suiting, a formalistic spotlight on our five favorite player arrivals of the month. Two Minutes indulges in gusto, class and guys who like to get down. It’s inspiration for your next jubilee, entertainment for the inevitably online.

But more than anything, Two Minutes is just another fine excuse to talk about our Bolts for a few minutes. Now unbutton that bottom button and let’s get on with it.

Victor Hedman

On a team of exceptional suit-wearers, Victor Hedman is sort of the longstanding, canonical king of it all. His threads are custom-made. His sartorial vibes are well-documented. Naturally, with Hedman coming up on his 1,000th career game with the Lightning, I spent some significant time online trying to find one single picture of Victor Hedman in a bad suit. Spoiler alert: couldn't find one. So at least to my knowledge, this is roughly the 983rd consecutive good suit worn by Victor Hedman. This one in particular features a dynamite pair of hater-blockers that many might follow up with a “victor hedman black sunglasses brand” google search at the end of this blog.

Steven Stamkos

If you feel like you’ve seen Stammer’s sleek blue ensemble before, it’s because he wore a similar getup in 2006’s Casino Royale.

Rarely does one suit slide seamlessly into both a high-stakes game of poker and a regular season game of hockey, but Stamkos being Stamkos, the captain manages to pull it off with elegant style and almost zero help from a crude photoshop.

Mikhail Sergachev

This suit is just as comfortable securing a bank loan as it is debuting at the LACMA Gala. Which is essentially Mikhail Sergachev’s formal attire in a nutshell. He boasts just enough flash to lift up his team’s entire fashionable presence, but not so much that it comes at the cost of feeling ornate or trending out of style. Sergy enjoys his trips to the Gucci store and we respect that level of razzle dazzle.   

Nick Paul

It feels worth mentioning that the man in the orange shirt above is one of the cooler professionals in all of Amalie Arena. His name is Kelvin. And when Kelvin bumps fists with you on your way into the arena, you know you’re doing something tremendously right. Which Nick Paul is definitely doing here. Because he’s Nick Paul.

It’s also worth wondering what Kelvin might be saying to Paul in this very moment. Because it doesn't feel like he's saying nothing.

He could be saying something simple like, “Let’s go get ‘em tonight, 20.”

Or it could be something more profound and inspiring like, “Hey, go be Nick Paul tonight.”

Or maybe it’s something a little off-the-wall, something like, “No lid, no socks, no problem.”

Which would be a subtle hat tip to Paul’s penchant for arriving to games in a great suit and an iced coffee without a lid—never a lid—because Nick Paul is altogether fearless, unfazed and unwavering at all times.

It’s probably that last one.

Matt Tomkins

A good way to get your first career NHL win as a goalie is to arrive to the game dressed as an Albertan John Wick assassin. Congrats to Matt Tomkins on a super special career moment and one impeccable beanie-to-suit pairing. Tomkins, two minutes, great suiting.