Player refusals overshadowed teams' hosting Pride nights, commissioner says

NHL teams won't wear special jerseys for pregame warmups during themed nights next season, the result of a handful of players refusing to use rainbow-coloured Pride jerseys this past season and causing unwelcome distractions.

The league's board of governors agreed with commissioner Gary Bettman's view that the refusals overshadowed teams' efforts in hosting Pride nights that in some cases included auctioning off the warmup jerseys. All 32 teams held Pride or Hockey is for Everyone night.

Teams will still celebrate Pride and other theme nights, including military appreciation and Hockey Fights Cancer. They're also expected to still design and produce jerseys to be autographed and sold to raise money, even though players won't skate around with them on during warmups.

Pride jerseys became a hot-button issue in the league last season after multiple players refused to wear them during warmups.

Bettman, in an interview with Sportsnet, said he suggested teams stop having special warmup jerseys because themed nights were being undermined by chatter over certain players declining to participate.

"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."

Philadelphia Flyers defenceman Ivan Provorov was the first to make that decision, citing his Russian Orthodox beliefs. Florida Panthers brothers Eric and Marc Staal also refused to wear their team's Pride jersey, claiming religious reasons.

Some Russian players did not wear the sweaters over safety concerns going back home. In December, Russia amended its anti-gay laws making it "illegal to spread 'propaganda' about 'nontraditional sexual relations' in all media, including social, advertising and movies," per The New York Times.

However, Russians such as Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin and Florida's Sergei Bobrovsky did wear the jerseys.

You Can Play, which has worked with sports and leagues — including the NHL — to help them grow more inclusive for members of the LGBTQ+ community, said it was "concerned and disappointed" by Thursday's decision.

"Today's decision means that the over 95 per cent of players who chose to wear a Pride jersey to support the community will now not get an opportunity to do so," the organization said in a statement.

"The work to make locker rooms, board rooms and arenas safer, more diverse, and more inclusive needs to be ongoing and purposeful, and we will continue to work with our partners at the NHL, including individual teams, players, agents and the NHLPA to ensure this critical work continues."