Sharks’ Joe Thornton Is Completely Unrecognizable After Shaving Beard

Until Monday night, Joe Thornton was beard, and beard was Joe Thornton.

But those days are over.

The San Jose Sharks center has sported one of the NHL’s gnarliest beards for the past couple of seasons. Thornton’s facial mane went under the knife Monday night, however, and the results have the 39-year-old looking completely unrecognizable.

Here are some before photos:

Eric Bolte/USA TODAY Sports Images

Stan Szeto/USA TODAY Sports Images

Five bucks says there was a stork living in there.

Now, let’s look at an after photo:

Weird.

(You can click here to see a photo of Sharks defenseman Brent Burns shaving Thornton’s beard.)

Watch Thornton talk about shaving his beard in the video below:

Anyone else think Thornton now looks like Spike from “Notting Hill?”

In any event, the beardless Thornton soon will begin his 21st season in the NHL. Better yet, he’ll be playing for a team that’s among the top contenders for the Stanley Cup.