NHL Takes Cowardly Approach By Backing Off Pride Night Warm Up Jerseys

“Hockey is for everyone” has been one of the NHL philosophies the league loves to market.

Apparently, there are limitations to that philosophy, because Gary Bettman came out of Thursday’s Board of Governors meeting and said teams would no longer wear their Pride jerseys while warming up for game.

Several NHL players had said they would not be in compliance with the league’s endorsement of the inclusion philosophy by donning those warm ups. That conflict came up multiple times last year, as a number of Russian expatriates expressed concern for themselves and their families if they wore those Pride jerseys.

Additionally, a number of non-Russian players have said wearing any sort of symbol supporting LGBTQ people goes against their religious beliefs. The Minnesota Wild, the New York Rangers and the Chicago Blackhawks cancelled their Pride Night warm ups.

While other events remained on the schedule, the Pride Nights were eliminated. Those events featured players with rainbow logos on their jerseys and rainbow tape on their sticks. It was a notable and symbolic display of support.

The reason given for the cancellation in Chicago was that three Russian players feared their families could face repercussions in their home country because of restrictive laws against the promotion of what it calls “non-traditional sexual relations.”

Bettman tried to explain the move away from the Pride jerseys to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman when he came out of the closed-door meeting.

“That’s just become more of a distraction from really the essence of what the purpose of these nights are,” Bettman said. “We’re keeping the focus on the game. And on these specialty nights, we’re going to be focused on the cause.”

Some of the players who had protested included Ivan Provorov, a Russian defenseman who was with the Philadelphia Flyers. After Provorov identified his religious beliefs as his reason for refusing to participate, fellow Russian players Ilya Lyubushkin of the Buffalo Sabres, Denis Gurianov of the Montreal Canadiens and Andrei Kuzmenko of the Vancouver Canucks also opted out.

It wasn’t just Russian players. Canadian-born goalie James Reimer of the San Jose Sharks, and brothers Eric and Marc Staal of the Florida Panthers, also said their religious beliefs prevented them from showing support the Pride cause by donning the rainbow jerseys.

The NHL commissioner tried to explain that the league will still celebrate Pride and other theme nights, just not by wearing the jerseys during warm ups that show the support. He attempted to mitigate the move by saying that military appreciation and Hockey Fights Cancer would not be featured with players wearing those warmups, either.

It doesn’t matter, because the NHL often tries to take a leadership role from the other major North American sports but backs away when it matters most.

This is a cowardly approach to doing business, and Bettman was only too happy to explain it away with excuses and equivocations.

You don’t offer support to those that need it most and then take it away when a few players protest. That is a true weakness and it is embarrassing to the NHL and those that support the league.

Bettman is not admitting it, but the NHL is backing away from supporting gay players. The same holds true for its support of black and indigenous players and other groups that have been ignored or limited by previous attitudes.

A professional sports league makes the decision to support LGBTQ rights and freedoms. Such a decision does not impact societal laws, but it does impact the overall thinking on social issues by promoting conversation and the discussion of progressive ideas.

Backing away from that support is a brutal and cowardly decision.