In the latest move the NHL has taken to erase visible support for LGBTQ+ people, the league has issued a complete and total ban on rainbow Pride Tape this season.
The NHL confirmed the policy change to LGBTQ sports blog OutSports. They’ve also told the organization behind Pride Tape that no player will be allowed to use the product on their stick during warm-ups, games, or even practices.
Earlier this year, the NHL announced that they would ban all pre-game specialty warm-up jerseys in direct response to the boycott taken by just seven of the hundreds of players in the league who wore rainbow-designed Pride jerseys. In doing so, the NHL stressed the importance of individual choice.
But now the league has removed all choice from the matter by banning what is effectively the final way players can be visible in their support of the LGBTQ+ community.
Pride Tape was never mandated by any team, or the league, on what was branded as either Pride Night or ‘Hockey is for Everyone’ night.
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The NHL has issued a complete ban on players use of rainbow tape (above: Joel Armia)
No players will be allowed to use the tape at games, warm-ups or practices (Shown: Alex Tuch)
Earlier this year, the league banned all Specialty warm-up jerseys, including Pride Night ones
The league’s ban on warmup jerseys also means the league bans warmups for Black History Night, Hockey Fights Cancer Night, and Military Appreciation Night.
This comes just days after ESPN’s Ryan Clark leaked a memo from that the NHL released earlier this year which seemed to suggest that players could choose to avoid interacting with people identifying with Special Initiative communities altogether.
Clark’s reporting said that more than eight teams, ‘raised concerns about part of the memo that stated, “Players shall not be put in the position of having to demonstrate (or where they may be appearing to demonstrate) personal support for any Special Initiatives. A factor that may be considered in this regard includes, for example, whether a Player (or Players) is required to be in close proximity to any groups or individuals visibly or otherwise clearly associated with such Special Initiative(s).”‘
Sources told ESPN that the initial reason behind the memo was to tell teams they couldn’t wear specialty sweaters during a game, in warm-ups, or at practice.
That source added that the ‘only off-ice restriction facing teams is that they can’t force players to participate in events regarding the specialty causes, because some players might fear retribution or embarrassment if they decide not to take part.’
To clarify their position, the NHL sent out an updated memo to all teams last Thursday that clarified the league’s initial rule.
It explained that restrictions from the league cover on-ice activity while adding that ‘players should be encouraged to express themselves off the ice.’
In its reporting of the Pride Tape decision, OutSports said that it was ‘as far as [we’re] aware, the most stifling, anti-LGBTQ policy any pro sports league in North America has ever issued.’
That decision also banned Hockey Fights Cancer (L) and Military Appreciation (R) warmups
The league, under commissioner Gary Bettman, got rid of specialty pre-game warmup jerseys
Edmonton’s Connor McDavid (L) and Tampa’s Steven Stamkos (R) blasted the jersey ban
Many of the seven players who said they would not wear a rainbow jersey were Russian – some of whom cited fear of retaliation from Russian president Vladimir Putin as a reason for not wearing a Pride jersey.
This did not stop many more Russian players, such as three-time Stanley Cup winner Evgeni Malkin, from donning a rainbow colored jersey.
After the backlash from just those seven players, many teams decided to stop wearing Pride jerseys – a controversy that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman called a ‘distraction’
Bettman’s decision was criticized by many players – including the league’s top player, Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid who called the policy ‘disappointing’.
Two-time Cup winner and Tampa Bay Lightning Steven Stamkos said, ”It was 98 percent or 99 percent of other players that wore the jersey and enjoyed wearing it and were proud wearing it, whatever jersey it was, whether it was the Pride, the military night, the cancer nights.
‘The story shouldn’t be about the guy that didn’t wear it, the one guy or the two guys. I understand that’s what gets the clicks and that’s what gets the views, but the word ‘distraction’ gets thrown around.
‘I don’t think it had to have been a distraction. It could have been a non-issue while focusing on the good that was coming out of those nights.’
The NHL remains the last major North American sports league that has not had a current or former player or coach come out as part of the LGBTQ+ community.