It's hyperbole, meant to evoke the mental imagery of a serious, no-foolin'-around blue collar worker, with massive forearms popping out of denim sleeves, a metal lunch-box in one hand, a large, steel wrench in the other. A grimace on the steely face of a nondescript man.
I'm sorry that you felt the need to defend how the players dress. If @bunomatic is conjouring up the person above, he also is old enough to have seen how NHL players dressed in the late '70s through the early '80s. These guys today have nothing on those guys when it comes to foo-foo styles.