NEW YORK — NHL teams won’t wear special themed jerseys for pregame warmups next season, Commissioner Gary Bettman announced Thursday.
All 32 teams will continue to host Pride, Hockey is for Everyone, Hockey Fights Cancer, Indigenous Celebration, Military Appreciation and a bunch of other special game night events, but there won't be special looks to enjoy and appreciate moving forward.
Bettman, in an interview with Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman following a Board of Governors meeting in New York, said he suggested teams stop having special warmup jerseys because themed nights were being undermined by the conversations around 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.”
According to Rachel Donner of Locked on NHL, this isn't the move to make. While the NHL is trying to avoid controversy, they've just made it worse.
"It seems like they took the voices of the very few and made it the default opinion, and that's very clearly not the right strategy," Donner said.
The NHL will still design and produce jerseys to be autographed and auctioned to raise money for various causes, but players won’t skate around with them on during warmups.
The NHL is choosing not to feature some fresh and innovative looks made by artists from all over the world on their players and on the ice, and are removing the element of representation that is supposed to represent hockey is indeed for everyone.
As a reminder, Ivan Provorov was the first to opt out of Pride Night warmups, followed by James Reimer and Eric and Marc Staal.
The New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild earlier opted against the jerseys after previously advertising they would have them.