Video: LA Kings rock sweet mullets in honor of Ryan Smyth

Ryan Smyth's(notes) mullet has always been the party in the back of more famous mullets in NHL history: The flowing mane of Jaromir Jagr(notes); the extended hair of former coach Barry Melrose, who is often called "The Mullet"; even the playoff stunt that was Patrick Kane's(notes) mullet earned headlines.

But Smyth's hair is as synonymous with the veteran Los Angeles Kings forward as being Captain Canada, scoring dirty goals in the trenches and weeping uncontrollably. So on the occasion of his 1,000th NHL game Saturday night against the Nashville Predators at Staples Center, the Kings decided to honor Smyth appropriately: By rocking mullets of varying degrees of sweetness during practice.

Via the Kings, here's what the hair-raising scene looked like.

More on these follicle follies from the LA Times.

For the record, many of the mullets were simply out of hand. It can't be proper hockey hair if it reaches one's buttocks or explodes through the side of the helmet. That said, the two mullets that caught our eyes from the Kings:

On the left is forward Wayne Simmonds(notes), getting dangerously close to Rick James territory. On the right is goalie Jonathan Bernier(notes), making a great argument for more mullets among NHL goaltenders with this look. The first goalie to incorporate hockey hair into a mask design may be in line for a Nobel Prize.

Congrats to Ryan Smyth on Game No. 1,000. And only 564 games to go until some lucky team gets to honor Mike Commodore in practice ...

Thanks to Brittany Crawford (Brittlovesmusic) on Twitter for the Kings practice image, via LA Kings Insider.