NHL teams to stop wearing Pride jerseys in warm-ups

The NHL is doing away with the practice of wearing Pride jerseys — or any other nongame jerseys — during warm-ups.

“I suggested it would not be appropriate for clubs not to change their jerseys in warm-ups because it’s become a distraction,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told Sportsnet at the conclusion of the league’s board of governors meetings in New York.

“It was taking away from the fact that all of our clubs, in some form or other, host nights in honour of various groups or causes, and we’d rather they continue to get the appropriate attention they deserve, and not be a distraction.”

The special evenings to promote causes will continue to exist, like Pride Night, along with other nights like Military Night and St. Patrick’s Day. Some teams support more causes than others.

But it was the wearing of Pride jerseys to support the LGTBQ community that had become divisive, with some players, like James Reimer, Ivan Provorov and brothers Eric and Marc Staal declining to wear them. Internal debate within the New York Rangers caused the team to nix the idea of players wearing Pride jerseys, though all 32 teams held a night to support Pride.

The NHL announcement came in the middle of Pride month, which Bettman agreed was bad timing.

“But in the final analysis, all the efforts and emphasis on the importance of these various causes have been undermined by the distraction.” he said. “This way we’re keeping the focus on the game. And on these specialty nights, we’ll be focused on the cause.”

Maple Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly said the policy change won’t change his support of Pride events and the LGTBQ community.

“Those movements and issues will always be more important than any piece of apparel or any jerseys that you can wear,” he said. “And there’s really nothing that’s going to stop me from being supportive of that to that community and to others as well. Whether we wear jerseys or not, those groups of people that need support and have had my support in the past will continue to have that.”

Bettman also told Sportsnet:

The board of directors’ executive committee approved the sale of some of Larry Tanenbaum’s shares of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment to the pension fund OMERS. Tanenbaum will retain some shares and his spot on the NHL’s board of directors.