"Justin just came up to me a couple of weeks ago [and said], 'Hey, we need to do this together. It's going to be awesome if we sit next to each other,'" he said. "So we went for it."
The look was also a nod to the movie "Step Brothers", starring John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell. Burakovksy and right wing Tom Wilson went to the this season's Capitals Halloween party dressed as the characters Dale Doback (Reilly) and Brennan Huff (Ferrell) from the movie, causing some teammates to call Burakovsky "Dale."
"Those guys are brothers, that's all I can say," Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. "Burakovsky and Williams, they're big brother and little brother."
Williams said he went with the big-hair look once for a team photo with the Los Angeles Kings, but, "It didn't get the attention it's gotten here."
Capitals owner Ted Leonsis liked it enough that he asked Williams to take a selfie with him in the locker room afterward.
Williams said it doesn't take much work to get his hair to go full Ogie Oglethorpe, the infamous character with a full head of hair from the movie "Slap Shot."
"You've got to wash it the night before and my hair gets really big anyway and it's thick, too," he said. "So I just comb it up and that's it."
Normally, Burakovsky would prefer his hair much shorter.
"I like to put some gel in and style it and put some work into it," he said. "But, obviously, right now it's not really possible. So I'm just wearing my toque and try to hide it."
Overshadowed in the team photo was defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, who was standing to Williams' left. Although Shattenkirk is 28, his hairline isn't what it once was, so he didn't mind being near Williams and Burakovsky.
"There's no way anyone looks at my hair in this photo, so I was more than happy to be wedged right next to those guys," Shattenkirk said. "It was pretty special. In my heyday that's what my hair used to look like, so it was a great reminder of what could have been."
