NHL teams won’t have players wear themed jerseys during pregame warmups next season. That decision was made after the league’s Board of Governors agreed with Commissioner Gary Bettman that a handful of players refusing to wear Pride jerseys distracted from teams’ efforts. Seven players citing various reasons declined to take part in warmups when their team donned rainbow-colored Pride jerseys for warmups. Teams will still host Pride and other theme nights and are expected to continue making and auctioning off jerseys even though players won’t wear them. A group that has worked with the NHL on inclusivity said it was “concerned and disappointed” by the decision.
In a way, this actually neutralizes their ability to protest, since the team still does pride things, but the players don’t have a stage where they can loudly demonstrate that they hate pride.