Rypien's Back... and Hairier Than Ever!

Everyone's favoutire little enforcer Rick Rypien finally broke his silence to the faithful Manitoban media today. Rypien, who has been out on a leave of absence from the Canucks since November 25th for personal reasons, didn't open up about what kept him away from the team but did end the speculation that drugs and/or alcohol had any involvement in the matter.

The Canucks have loaned Rypper to the Moose on a conditioning stint and the NHL has granted him more than the usual two weeks down there. Due to the restrictions on AHL conditioning stints, he is not allowed to play in the AHL playoffs unless in an emergency situation, so we can only speculate that he will be back for the NHL playoffs.

Speaking of playoffs, despite probably being out of shape from not playing, Rypien sure looks ready for the playoffs. Check out how bad ass his pre-playoff beard is:

Moose GM Craig Heisinger sums it up beautifully when he says "I wasn't sure if we got a hockey player or a longshoreman." As if we didn't want the Canucks to go deep into the playoffs already, now we have even more incentive as one can only imagine how much more bad ass his beard can become by June.