Varly's Jersey Switch Bad for the Tats

You know you're a big hockey fan -- and an even bigger Washington Capitals fan -- when you get a huge tattoo of one of your favorite goaltenders on your arm.

That's exactly what one Caps fan did.  Joe Pike found a cool picture of Semyon Varlamov making a save while playing for the Hershey Bears, and used some creative license to turn that pic into Varly making the save in a red Caps sweater -- and had it inked on his body, according to Pennlive.com.

The tattoo, which you can see here, shows Varlamov from behind with his jersey nameplate and jersey number in full view as he stretches out to make a stick save.

Very cool, right?

But Hershey, we have a problem.

Varlamov, who decided to change the spelling of his first name before last season from Simeon to Semyon, is continuing with his theme of change this year.  He's going to switch his uniform number this season from No. 40 to No. 1.

That means Pike's arm will be dreadfully outdated once the season rolls around. Having the wrong number on the back of a replica jersey is bad enough.  But outdated ink on your arm?  We all know how embarrassing that can be for a diehard hockey fan.

Had Varly changed to, say, No. 41, the tat might have been somewhat easy to fix. But to go from a 40 to a 1, well ... that is going to take even more creativity to touch up.

There's no word on what Pike's plan will be.

Perhaps a red flag should have gone up before he got the tat in the first place. The picture he modified showed Varlamov's Bears jersey -- when he wore No. 31.

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