RATE MY MASK - Devan Dubnyk

With the new hockey season upon us, it's time to get accustomed to new players in new uniforms (Spezza as a Star is still weird) and of course check out the new lids that goalies wearing.

A few to keep an eye out for early on are both Ducks tenders (Gibson with the Pac-Man theme and Andersen with his LEGO look), Kari Ramo's ode to Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven", Jonas Gustavsson's Monsters Hall Of Fame, Ryan Miller's Johnny Canuck alternate lid and lastly...

Giraffes.

But not just any ordinary giraffes.

How about some wild west giraffes.

I really don't know what to say.  I know Dubnyk has a thing for giraffes as it's a play on his tall 6'6" frame and I know that he's now playing in the US Southwest, but this might be the most bizarre mask concept I would have come up with.

Painted by NHL mask guru Dave Gunnarsson, this unique lid sports a very Coyotes-themed color scheme.  The logo is present on the top of the mask and has a bit of attitude to it without going too overboard.

But the rest of the mask is one big leap off of the plank.

If you click on this photo, you'll be able to see all sides of this atrocity.

Depicted on the left side is the legendary sherrif cowboy of Arizona, Wyatt Earp.....giraffe-style, ripe with his huge mustache and Tombstone town sign.  On the other side is his sidekick Doc Holliday.  I take a second and third look, but can't get past the ridiculousness of it all.

The backplate is a little....ok, a lot more simple with the focus being a portrait of his son Nathaniel along with some tributes to members of his family, including his mother.  One writer noted that the backplate looks more like the start of a tattoo sleeve.

Now this is where things go from bad to worse.  One of my beefs with masks these days is the inability to decipher what is actually on the mask - especially from a distance.

I'm sure the Coyotes logo would look sharp...if Devan was looking down all the time (and he might just be), but the sides are just a mess of muted colors.

I can't make out a single thing amidst all the detail work.

Heck, even close up it's still tough to figure everything out.

Now I'll give him points for keeping things thematic, but that's about it.

What I find more surprising is that Gunnarsson seemed very excited with his creation, stating "It's so exciting to create designs that work both on a distance as up close."

Um......ok then.

As for Dubnyk, he commented simply with "It looks awesome."

I guess still having an NHL mask would lend that kind of reaction.  Enjoy it while it lasts.

1.5 out of 5


Now it's your turn to RATE MY MASK!!