Implants are so good, it's hard to tell anything happened, but hockey players and their checkered smiles remain linked.

The average person has 28 teeth. Most hockey players have fewer. With a chance of getting hit in the mouth with a puck, or a stick, or with a fist, a lot of them have lost a tooth, Or two, Or three.

"But hockey players are creatures of habit. It's just something I've been so used to." The 34-year-old Nashville Predators forward is among a handful of NHL skaters without facial protection.