NHL teams have made the decision not to wear special jerseys for pre-game warmups during themed nights in the upcoming season. This comes after a few players refused to wear rainbow-colored Pride jerseys this past season, causing distractions. The league’s board of governors agreed with Commissioner Gary Bettman’s view that these refusals overshadowed the teams’ efforts in hosting Pride nights, which included auctioning off the warmup jerseys. All 32 teams participated in Pride or Hockey is for Everyone night.
Commissioner Bettman suggested that teams stop having special warmup jerseys because the themed nights were being undermined by the controversy surrounding certain players declining to participate. “That’s just become more of a distraction from the essence of what the purpose of these nights are,” Bettman said. The focus will now be on the game and the cause during these specialty nights.
Teams will still celebrate Pride and other theme nights, such as military appreciation and Hockey Fights Cancer. They will continue to design and produce jerseys to be autographed and sold to raise money, even though players will not wear them during warmups.
The decision has received criticism from organizations like You Can Play, which has worked with the NHL to promote inclusivity for the LGBTQ+ community. They expressed concern and disappointment, stating that the players who chose to wear Pride jerseys will now not have the opportunity to do so.
Commissioner Bettman defended the league and teams’ handling of the situations, emphasizing the importance of tolerance and understanding varying viewpoints. “Being diverse and welcoming means understanding those differences,” he said.
During the past season, seven players chose not to participate in pregame warmups when their teams wore Pride jerseys. Ivan Provorov, a Russian defenseman, was the first to opt-out, citing his Russian Orthodox religion. James Reimer, a goaltender, and the Staal brothers, Eric and Marc, also cited religious beliefs for their decision. Russian players Ilya Lyubushkin, Denis Gurianov, and Andrei Kuzmenko also declined to participate in their teams’ Pride night warmups.
The decision not to wear Pride jerseys was influenced by factors like anti-gay laws in Russia and individual players’ religious beliefs. The Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, and Minnesota Wild also decided against using Pride night jerseys after initially planning to do so.
The Associated Press © 2023.
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