NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman that teams will not wear specialty jerseys in warmups next season.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman the league’s teams will not be wearing specialty jerseys in warmups next season, including for Pride nights, Hockey Fights Cancer nights, and more.
“It’s become a distraction and taking away from the fact that all of our clubs, in some form or another, host nights in honor of various groups or causes, and we’d rather those continue to get the appropriate attention they deserve and not be a distraction,” Bettman told Friedman.
Bettman also said the efforts and emphasis on these causes "have been undermined by the distraction in terms of 'which teams, which players.' This way, we're keeping the focus on the game, and on these specialty nights, we're going to be focused on the cause."
The NHL board of governors reportedly came to that decision during its end-of-season meeting, according to Friedman.
Specialty warmup jerseys, whether they be for Pride, cancer awareness, military appreciation, heritage nights, and more, are a way for teams to celebrate or bring attention to the broader community and recognize hockey fans of different backgrounds. These jerseys can also be auctioned off afterward to donate a portion of the funds to relevant causes.
Bettman said these nights can still take place, jerseys can still be created and players can still model them, but just not during the warmups.
The decision comes after former Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov refused to wear his team's specialty jersey for the Flyers' Pride night, held to present a welcoming environment for the LGBTQ+ community, citing religious views. Following Provorov's refusal, a number of players across the league followed suit and did not wear Pride-themed jerseys, prompting strong backlash from fans and onlookers.
In the days after Provorov's decision, Bettman told reporters it was an individual decision and "overwhelmingly, our players support the causes that our clubs and the league have embraced. But not everybody agrees with everything. Part of diversity is respecting other people’s view."
With Bettman saying the presence of specialty-themed jerseys on the ice is a distraction, the league has decided to protect its players from receiving any feedback on their decision to – or not to – participate in particular themed warmups. In doing so, they decided not to make it an option to wear them during warmups in the first place.