After more than 250 games in junior, college and minor-pro leagues, and another 675 in the NHL, Daniel Winnik’s 31-year-old face is, in his words, “beat up beyond repair.”

Still, he continues to muck it up in the corners for the Washington Capitals, his caved-in nose fully exposed. He’s a rarity in the NHL these days, a player who competes without a visor.

Winnik’s loved ones have given up, grown tired of convincing him to change his tune regarding face shields: “My wife has tried to get me to wear one, but she gets it.”

This stubbornness is not unique. Roman Polak’s wife has been on the San Jose Sharks defenceman’s case for years. Ditto for the wife of 6-foot-7, 243-pound Tampa Bay Lightning forward Brian Boyle.

“It’s been suggested to me several times by several people very close to me,” said Boyle, simultaneously shaking his head and rolling his eyes at the flak he gets for going sans visor.

Winnik, Polak and Boyle — three long-time, respected NHLers who don’t shy away from the physicality of the sport — are members of a dying breed.

Just 9.2% of skaters currently in the NHL play visor-free, according to Postmedia research. Using NHL.com for official rosters — as well as archived photos and video footage for identification purposes — Postmedia found that 67 of 728 players (goalies excluded) remain shield-free.

Time to get with the times?

Visors have been mandatory for all players entering the league since the start of the 2013-14 season, so the number of players without them will continue to decrease. But the rule is being grandfathered in — meaning it doesn’t apply to those already in the league — and for the last 67 players, old habits apparently die hard.

“I don’t wear a visor because I haven’t worn one in 17 years,” said Barret Jackman, the Nashville Predators defenceman, “and at this point I don’t think it’ll be a good transition for me.”

Members of the 9% club are a mixed bag of stars (Ryan Getzlaf), role players (Chris Neil) and NHL-AHL tweeners (Zack Kassian). For the most part, these modern-day warriors don't shy away from the rough stuff. In fact, of the 42 players who have participated in at least five fights this season, according to HockeyFights.com, more than 40% (18) compete without a shield.

All of them — fighters and non-fighters — are susceptible to more skates and sticks to the face, vulnerable to more scrapes, gashes and cuts every time they jump over the boards. It’s akin to riding a motorcycle with a helmet but choosing the shield-less version over the safer alternative.

Hockey’s famed Staals would probably agree with this analogy. All three NHL-playing brothers — Marc and Eric (Rangers) and Jordan (Hurricanes) — jumped to the pro-visor side after Marc suffered a gruesome eye injury in March 2013. The family’s outspokenness influenced the passing of mandatory-visor legislation only months later.

Ex-NHLer Ray Ferraro, now an analyst for TSN, believes the players who are voluntarily leaving their eyes, nose and other facial parts unprotected should get with the times. After all, the hockey visor, while not trendy until the turn of the century, has been around since the 1960s.

“You used to get into a car without a seat belt and, when they first made it mandatory, it was a big deal,” Ferraro said. “And now, I don’t drive to the corner store without putting my belt on. It’s (all about) what you have now.”

Shawn Matthias, a 28-year-old Colorado Avalanche forward on his fourth NHL team, turned pro as a teenager in 2007. There was no way he was dealing with that pesky visor.

“You play junior, come up (to the pros) and the first thing you want to do is take off your facemask and play without a visor,” he said. “For me, anyways, that’s how it was. A lot of guys I know who don’t wear one, it’s the same feeling for them.”

But the charmingly gritty non-visor look is not immune to change in attitude and product. The same evolution occurred before the weeding out of the helmetless players (1997) and wooden sticks (2009).

“I think back when I first started, there was a respect factor,” said R.J. Umberger of the Philadelphia Flyers, who broke into the league in 2005. “If you were a bigger guy, the way you played kind of mattered (in determining whether to wear a visor). Now, I don’t think that persona is out there anymore.”

Craig MacTavish was the last player to skate without a helmet. He retired 20 years after the grandfathered mandatory helmet rule's first season in 1979. The move to a fully compliant league shouldn't be as lengthy this time around.

Given the sharp increase in visor usage (up 18 percentage points over the last three seasons), the fact today's NHL favours youth over experience (blame the salary cap), and the decreasing relevance of fisticuffs (one fight roughly every four games this season, which is down from one every other game in 2010-11), full compliance by 2020 would not be a surprise.

Twenty-seven of the 67 shield-free players, or 40%, are 32 or older, and only five are younger than 26. Florida Panthers defenceman Erik Gudbranson, born Jan. 7, 1992, is the youngest.

Seeing the difference

For Winnik, visors aren’t an attractive option because they disturb his depth perception. He likes to feel free on the ice and would rather not dance with an interrupted field of vision.

Umberger echoed Winnik: “I’ve worn the visor a couple of times when I’ve had a nose injury or something and I’ve always felt that I couldn’t see that well with it. It affected my vision. I just felt more comfortable playing without it.”

Another Flyers forward, Ryan White, said the hazards of playing without a shield have been greatly exaggerated.

“If you’re aware of your surroundings out there, (it’s not a big deal),” he said. “In the NHL, I think guys play with a little bit more respect compared to the minors. Not as many high-sticking penalties and stuff like that.”

White says the visor is a bothersome piece of equipment. During his time in the minors, it would get in the way, so he would flip it up on the top of his helmet.

The king of this technique is Leo Komarov. Tilting his shield upwards, essentially defeating its purpose as a protective item, is the hit-happy Toronto forward’s trademark.

“I’m always trying to put it up,” Komarov said. “Some people don’t really like it, like the referees in Europe, so I had to keep it down and try (playing that way before coming to the NHL in 2012). There’s always stuff you can do to get around it.”

As the 2015-16 regular season winds down, it seems as though guys like Komarov, who reluctantly sport a visor, are outliers.

You either have one, and wear it properly. Or you don’t, and pledge one of two things: to go into retirement shield-less, or to make the change soon.

“You’ve got to stop and think but, at the same time, right now, it’s something I’m not comfortable to put on,” Umberger said. “I think I’d definitely get used to it over a summer.”

Matthias says it creeps into his mind frequently and he’s “sure sooner than later I’ll have one on, probably.”

Then there’s the self-aware, superstitious types whose rationale isn’t as thorough. Boyle belongs to this group.

“I just don’t wear one,” he said. “It’s probably pretty stupid and hopefully this conversation doesn’t jinx it.”

He knocked on wood.

Oh, the irony, seeing as the visor-less player has become the wooden stick of 2016.

VISORS THE END GAME... FOR NOW

First, helmets in 1979. Then, visors in 2013.

It didn’t happen with the snap of a finger, yet over time both pieces of head equipment have been deemed necessary by the NHL and its players’ association.

Is grandfathering mandatory full face shields, the next phase of the evolution, on the to-do list?

“You never say never and these things evolve over time. It’s likely a ways away for the National Hockey League,” said Bill Daly, the league’s deputy commissioner.

“Our primary concern (with mandated visor use) was with the catastrophic type of injury, which is really the protection of your eyes and less about facial lacerations, per se. Although, the more you can cut down on all injuries, the better.”

Sporting a visor doesn't excuse a player from catastrophe, however, as evidenced by Dan Hamhuis' recent brush with danger. The Vancouver Canucks blueliner, who took a slapshot to the mouth last December, had his jaw wired shut and needed substantial surgery in order to repair a number of facial fractures.

NHLPA executive Mathieu Schneider fundamentally agrees with Daly, noting the sport should be careful with over-protecting players.

“I think, at this point right now, where we are today, it actually would make our game more dangerous in relation to brain trauma,” Schneider said of the full face shield. “No question about it.”

“You can put as much protection as you want on the head, but the truth of the matter is that it’s tough to stop the brain from hitting the inside of the skull,” he added. “If guys are moving faster and feel invincible, like they can’t get hurt, are we opening up ourselves for more brain injuries?”

15 YEARS OF COVERING UP

Percentage of players wearing visors in the NHL:

2001-02: 28

2002-03: 32

2007-08: 50

2012-13: 73

2015-16: 91*

*As of April 7, 2016

Sources: NHLPA, The Hockey News, Postmedia