NHL BoG: No themed Warm Up jerseys next season

[Hockeytonker]

I’m happy that this whole thing is over. Let the haters hate.

[Groot]

I still fail to see why either side is upset over this.

NHL teams will still have specialty nights to support a variety of causes or groups, including Pride Night, and everything else the teams and players do to support those causes. They will still make specialty jerseys, have them signed and auctioned off for charity.

What they won't do is have the focal point of the specialty nights themselves shift off the actual event/cause and instead focus on a handful of players that refuse to wear the warmup jersey, even though the jerseys will still exist. A jersey that isn't seen on television, and is worn for 15 mins in front of 20% of an arena attendance.

So we still get to see teams have specialty nights to support a variety of causes, specialty jersey's will still be designed, autographed and auctioned off for chairty, and the focus will be on the event itself and positives therein, and not a player or two that doesn't wear a jersey barely anyone sees them wearing anyway.

[FlatLandFlamesFan]

Such a waste of an opportunity to teach players and society in general .

Pride like BLM is about understanding and acceptance .
As a visible minority I learned from BLM , we need to look at history and the atrocities committed against said groups and learn to be better in our everyday life.

A huge part of that is understanding . Until you are excluded for something out of your control You may never understand how important inclusion is.

These "specialty" night are a miniscule in reality but if it shows one single person they are accepted that is completely worth all the backlash

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

The only reason people think this is about individual beliefs is because people who didn’t want to wear the jersey made that the conversation and plenty of people are far happier having that conversation with them.

I don’t recall any of the players who didn’t want to wear a pride jersey calling a press conference.

I read an article a couple days ago where a journalist remarked that “unfortunately” the NHL pride events became about the players not taking part instead of the ones who expressed support for pride. I literally LOL’d when I read that. Who chose to give far more coverage to the former than the latter?

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Groot

They will still make specialty jerseys, have them signed and auctioned off for charity.

Will they?

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Originally Posted by FlatLandFlamesFan

Such a waste of an opportunity to teach players and society in general .

Pride like BLM is about understanding and acceptance .
As a visible minority I learned from BLM , we need to look at history and the atrocities committed against said groups and learn to be better in our everyday life.

A huge part of that is understanding . Until you are excluded for something out of your control You may never understand how important inclusion is.

These "specialty" night are a miniscule in reality but if it shows one single person they are accepted that is completely worth all the backlash

This was well said.

I'm not of a minority per se but grew up experiencing a fair bit of exclusion and knowing intimately the pain of feeling like something about you is faulty or doesn't belong.

Since growing out of that mindset over many years and becoming more competent socially I've made a point of trying to include people that seem to be on the periphery for whatever reason, be it visible/tangible reasons or not. Things as simple as acknowledging them by their name and offering a handshake/nod/fist bump. Just asking how they are and creating rapport and warmth goes so far and the thing is its so easy and not an inconvenience to whatever you need to do each day.

But generally its like people can't be bothered to do these things. And there is this general defensiveness towards strangers but especially those who appear different. A brief conversation can totally alter that initial perception that people get stuck in though. A lot of times it's just a facade created by people's minds based on an irrational fear or a warped perception and engaging is the way to break that illusion.

I guess the point is there are SO few of these simple little gestures day to day being made to welcome people of certain groups or predispositions that something as simple as these theme nights actually counts for a lot and holds a lot of weight in the view of an individual that feels excluded or left out of our every day ####. Like people on the other side of it have no idea what it means to those marginalized in some way.

It's such a small inconvenience to do these things and the impact is so inordinately great that it blows my mind that players were actually bothered by the gesture at all, and the league subsequently catered to the few that had a problem with it, all because they don't want to deal with a week of healthy debate/back and forth around the topic a couple times a year.

It's really rather pathetic. Also senseless to take a PR hit for this right after the least viewed finals in decades.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Some gay kid seeing their favourite team warming up in a pride jersey, even if it's a one-off event, is a retained fan. Maybe even the next superstar.

[Groot]

Originally Posted by getbak

Will they?

Yes, Bettman was clear about that, and that each team will still support a variety of causes with the themed nights focused on the cause and not about what players are wearing for warmup that barely anyone sees anyway.

[nfotiu]

Maybe a good solution would be to allow the players to each pick say 1-22 themes they care about. Maybe a min of 5 players per theme?

I don't really have any empathy for players who feel they need to boycott wearing Pride jerseys, but I feel the backlash against the backlash of the boycott ends up huring the people they should be trying to support, especially if it is a star type player.

This would make they story about the players supporting the communities and not about the players against them.

[Badgers Nose]

NHL and the hockey establishment are cowards. Cowards when kids are sexually abused. Cowards when players are bullied. Cowards when it comes to player safety. Cowards when it comes to inclusion.

Bunch of old white guys hiding behind plausible deniability on every issue. I'm surprised they don't light arenas with whale oil and transport players in horse drawn carriages.

[Zoller]

Does hockey have the most conservative fans?
Is this the opposite of bud light? Is the NHL recognizing their audience by not having pride night?
Is hockey homophobic?

[StrykerSteve]

Strongly disagree with the NHL’s stance on this. It’s about letting your most marginalized fans know that they are welcome, they are safe and they are appreciated. And if that message bothers you, they should be doubling down on that message.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Originally Posted by Zoller

Does hockey have the most conservative fans?
Is this the opposite of bud light? Is the NHL recognizing their audience by not having pride night?
Is hockey homophobic?

They won't outright admit it, but in terms of people involved in the game all but the most recent generation were raised in the hazing era where the rite of passage included abuse and homophobic activities and you were told to suck it up and eat your objections because that's just the way it had always been and the part of the defacto path to making it.

The old boys will do the bare minimum for PR sake and recite the scripts given to them when Gary comes around with his paddle, but actually transitioning them to a mentality around the game where these things are no longer tolerated and we welcome the groups that were once marginalized and at the receiving end of locker room abuse probably won't happen for them. They'll just continue to be the passive bystanders they've always been.

But the least we can do is keep the right movement going so that when those guys expire and leave we'll have a better game that is both safe and welcoming for whoever wants to play it or enjoy it.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Zoller

Does hockey have the most conservative fans?
Is this the opposite of bud light? Is the NHL recognizing their audience by not having pride night?
Is hockey homophobic?

They only care about dollars. If a thing brings in dollars, they may do it. If it risks dollars, they bail. Corporations are not our friends, nor do they give 3 ####s about society, feelings, or rights.

[Reggie Dunlop]

One of the reasons why Major League Soccer is making inroads at the expense of the NHL.

https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/love-...atch-pride-kit

One basic jersey design for all teams, with B/W logo patch to denote team.

Corresponding fan merchandise.

Keep in mind the broader international makeup of the league, with many more sensibilities/cultures to navigate.