Washington Capitals hand out Abe Lincoln beard for player of game

There’s a very good chance Abe Lincoln will appear at a Washington Capitals game before President Obama does.

Forgoing hard hats and goofy jackets and other player of the game proppery, the Capitals are giving out something perfect for the D.C. area to their MVP in victories. And by that we mean something presidential and clichéd.

It’s the Honest Abe Player of the Game!

From CSN Washington, Caps coach Barry Trotz said:

“I love that. To me, that’s a team having fun and it has great significance, especially in this area. Not many teams can go with Abe Lincoln. I asked them why they went with Abe and they said he was honest Abe and the guy that’s put in the honest day’s work gets the Honest Abe hat and beard.”

And here we thought Ovechkin has all the dead presidents in the Capitals locker room…

The award in Trotz’ first win went to Brooks Laich, who led a 5-for-5 penalty kill for Washington in a 4-0 win over the Boston Bruins. (Let the “four score” jokes commence!)

“There’s a moment right after the game that I get to say a couple words,” Trotz said, “and then the players get to say a couple things that are meaningful to each other, and then they hand out the hat and the beard.”

No word if this choice of costume was influenced by a lack of beard growth last spring for the Capitals …

While we would have preferred to see them go with the Martin Van Buren, this is a nice twist on the postgame award.

Until of course the next Capital who demands a trade wears it to give an emancipation proclamation to the media.