League says themed nights will continue, just without players having to wear different warmup jerseys

The NHL is doing away with teams wearing specialty jerseys during warmups.

Commissioner Gary Bettman spoke to Sportsnet’s Elliott Friedman following Thursday’s NHL Board of Governor’s meeting and shared the news.

“I suggested that it would be appropriate for clubs not to change their jerseys in warmups because 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,” Bettman said. “We would rather those (groups or causes) continue to get the appropriate attention they deserve and not be a distraction.”

The distraction Bettman is speaking to is likely the backlash that teams and players faced after some choose not to wear specialty warmup jerseys.

Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov, Sharks goalie James Reimer, Panthers brothers Eric and Marc Staal and Buffalo defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin all received negative attention for opting out of participating in wearing Pride Night warmup jerseys.

The same can be said for the teams that planned, then opted out, of having their players wear Pride Night themed warmup jerseys: The New York Rangers, the Minnesota Wild and Chicago Blackhawks.

Bettman made it clear that nights like Pride Night or Heritage Night would still be happening, and he pointed out that all 32 NHL teams held a Pride Night last season.

“Everybody does Hockey Fights Cancer, some (clubs) do Military Nights, all of those nights will continue,” Bettman said. “The only difference will be we’re not going to change jerseys for warmup, because that’s just become more of a distraction from really the essence of what the purpose of these nights are.”

Don’t worry though, the specialty jerseys will still be available for fans to purchase. They just won’t be seen on the ice anymore.

“Players who choose to model them can do that,” Bettman said. “It’s really just a question of what’s on the ice.”

Bettman did address concerns about fans feeling comfortable in their own skin while attending hockey games, as well as the optics of the decision coming during Pride Month.

“I agree that those are legitimate concerns, but in the final analysis, all of the efforts and emphasis on the importance of these various causes have been undermined by the distraction, in terms of which teams and which players (were wearing Pride jerseys),” said Bettman. “This way, we’re keeping the focus on the game, and on these specialty nights, we’re going to be focus on the cause.”

For the league’s sake, hopefully the fans they’re trying not to alienate agree.