Naked Joe Thornton, Brent Burns and giant beards in ESPN Body photos

By now you’ve likely seen more than you ever thought you’d see of San Jose Sharks stars Joe Thornton and Brent Burns, courtesy of ESPN’s new Body Issue featuring the NHL stars in the all-together, their equipment covered by thighs or their own hands.

(Is doing that in the defensive zone a delay of game penalty?)

Here are our heroes in another look from the ESPN Body Issue:

As former Puck Soup guest Kelen Capener said:

Many of you might be wondering why Thornton and Burns decided to do this.

“I like my body. There’s nothing great about it, but I’m stuck with it and I don’t mind it. I never remember being self-conscious about my body. That just comes from being in a locker room for so long. I’ve always felt natural being naked. Never a big deal to me at all. My dad wears his underwear out to go get the mail in the morning, so that’s probably where I get it,” said Thornton.

“You never know what to expect with something like this. They were like, ‘Boom, let’s go!’ We both just dropped our robes and looked up into each other’s eyes and laughed: We’re both naked right now doing a faceoff, so this is kind of interesting,” said Burns.

Now, here are two more exclusive looks at the behind the scenes photoshoot for Jumbo and Burns.

First up, some more of those beards:

Now, we were under the impression that male enhancement was frown upon in The Body Issue, but those beards though …

And now, the Sharks’ amigos desnudo get their Red Hot Chili Peppers on:

Kudos to whoever designed this “hat trick” scene for giving Thornton an old school Sharks hat and Burns his customary toque.

Here’s a video segment from ESPN on the duo.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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