NHL teams will not wear theme night jerseys after Pride denials

NHL teams will not wear special jerseys for pregame warmups during themed nights next season, the result of a handful of players refusing to wear rainbow-colored Pride jerseys last season, creating an unwanted distraction.

The league’s board of directors on Thursday agreed with commissioner Gary Bettman’s view that the denials overshadowed teams’ efforts to host Pride nights, with warm-up jerseys being auctioned off in some cases. All 32 teams held Pride of Hockey’s for Everyone night.

Bettman said in an interview with Sportsnet after the New York Board meeting that he suggested teams stop having special warm-up jerseys because themed nights were undermined by chatter about certain players refusing to participate.

“That’s just become more of a distraction from the essence of what the purpose of these nights is,” Bettman said. “We keep the focus on the game. And on these special nights, we’re going to focus on the cause.”

Teams will still celebrate Pride and other theme nights, including Military Appreciation and Hockey Fights Cancer. They are also expected to still design and produce jerseys that will be signed and sold to raise money, even though players won’t be skating around in them during warm-ups.

You Can Play, which works with sports and leagues – including the NHL – to help them become more inclusive for members of the LGBTQ2S+ community, said it was “concerned and disappointed” by the decision.

“Today’s decision means that more than 95% of players who chose to wear a Pride jersey to support the community will now not have the opportunity to do so,” the organization said in a statement. “The work to make locker rooms, boardrooms and arenas safer, more diverse and inclusive must be ongoing and purposeful, and we will continue to work with our partners in the NHL, including individual teams, players, agents and the NHLPA to ensure that this critical work continues.”

Bettman defended the league’s and teams’ handling of the situations during February’s NHL All-Star Weekend, saying tolerance for differing viewpoints was part of being “open, welcoming and inclusive.”

“You know what our goals, our values ​​and our intentions are across the league, whether it’s at the league level or at the club level,” Bettman said at the time. “But we also have to respect individual choice, and some people are more comfortable embracing themselves in charities than others. And part of being diverse and welcoming is understanding those differences.”

Seven players, citing various reasons, decided not to participate in pregame warmups when their teams donned Pride jerseys for the games. A few teams also decided not to let players wear them after planning to do so.

Ivan Provorov, a Russian defender then playing for Philadelphia, was the first in January. Provorov cited his Russian Orthodox religion and was defended by coach John Tortorella.

James Reimer, a goaltender for San Jose, and Florida brothers Eric and Marc Staal, who are Canadian, also mentioned religious beliefs. Russian players Ilya Lyubushkin of Buffalo, Denis Gurianov of Montreal and Andrei Kuzmenko of Vancouver also opted out of their teams’ Pride night warmups.

Lyubushkin cited an anti-gay Kremlin law as his reason, which was also why the Chicago Blackhawks decided not to wear Pride night jerseys. The New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild previously opted against the jerseys after previously announcing they would have them.

Sergei Bobrovsky, who is Russian, participated in warmups the night the Staal brothers declined and in the wake of several compatriots deciding not to wear Pride jerseys.