Joe Smith, Michael Russo, Mark Lazerus, Sean Gentille, Charlie O’Connor, Tarik El-Bashir, Arthur Staple, Corey Masisak, Scott Powers, Matthew Fairburn, Thomas Drance, Joe Rexrode, Jeremy Rutherford and Marc-Antoine Godin have contributed to this report.
Editor’s note 10/10: NHL bans use of Pride tape amid new guidance on special initiatives: Sources confirmed to The Athletic
NHL teams continue to struggle with how to handle Pride jerseys, with the Canadiens the latest to have a player, Russian winger Denis Gurianov, decline to wear the jersey in warmups on the team’s Pride night on April 6, per The Athletic’s Marc-Antoine Godin.
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Some teams have scrapped plans to wear special jerseys altogether while others permitted players to skip warmups to avoid wearing the jersey, as the Canadiens did.
In particular, this issue has arisen for teams with prominent Russian players since that country’s anti-gay laws were amended in early December. Per The New York Times, the laws make it “illegal to spread ‘propaganda’ about ‘nontraditional sexual relations’ in all media, including social, advertising and movies.”
The Flyers had one player (Russian defenseman Ivan Provorov) opt out of warmups with his teammates on their Pride night in January because he didn’t want to wear the team’s Pride jersey, citing his Russian Orthodox religious beliefs. The Sabres also had one player (Russian defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin) skip warmups in March, with the team citing safety concerns. The Canucks cited family reasons for Russian winger Andrei Kuzmenko declining to wear the jersey in warmups on March 31, as did the Canadiens’ Gurianov.
The Wild abandoned their plans to don Pride jerseys out of concern for Russian players. Star forward Kirill Kaprizov, notably, had a difficult journey back to the United States after returning to Russia this past offseason. The Blackhawks said “safety concerns” for Russian players were also their motivation, while the Blues said their reason for not wearing the jerseys, as they had in the past, was to keep the “focus on the positive things the team is doing to support and affirm the LGBTQIA+ community.”
The Blackhawks will become the third NHL team to decline to wear Pride jerseys during Pride Night, citing security concerns for their three players of Russian heritage, sources confirm to @MarkLazerus.https://t.co/ZiQRhPjTUm
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) March 22, 2023
The Rangers, who also have several prominent Russian players, cited “individual right to respectfully express their beliefs” in not wearing the jerseys after announcing they would.
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Russian Penguins star Evgeni Malkin, on the other hand, did wear a Pride jersey along with teammates on the team’s Pride night on Dec. 12, just after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the new legislation on Dec. 5.
The Sharks’ Alexander Barabanov and Nikolai Knyzhov, both Russian, also wore the jersey on March 18, when Canadian teammate James Reimer did not, citing his religious beliefs. Russian Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, likewise, wore the team’s Pride jersey on March 23, when Canadians Eric and Marc Staal declined for religious reasons. Russians Yakov Trenin and Egor Afanasyev wore Pride jerseys, as well, on April 4.
The NHL has said it does not have evidence of a “material threat” against any Russian player over Pride night participation. The Blackhawks and Sabres both pointed to a more “general threat” as being the reason for, respectively, the team and a player not participating.
Context on the Russian anti-gay laws
It should be noted that the NHL’s past and present issues with the LGBTQ+ community cannot be minimized as being only a “Russia problem.”
Still, according to scholars on the topic, the threat Russian players in particular are facing because of the escalation of anti-gay laws is real.
“Sports fans needs to realize this is probably not an idle threat,” said long-time University of Minnesota sociology professor Doug Hartmann, who is writing a book on athlete activism and backlash. “Your first reaction is, ‘Oh come on, they’re trying to get out of this.’ But when you start thinking it through, knowing what the Russian state has done in the context of treatment of Brittney Griner, I’d be scared if I were a Russian.
“I think it’s exactly what we don’t know that makes this so threatening. It’s kind of the modus operandi of authoritarian states. Not that they’re going to act all the time. But the threat of that is to create distrust and uncertainty among your own citizens. And in an international context, that allows you to wield power in this way.”
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Ben Noble, associate professor of Russian politics at University College London, agreed.
“These are legitimate fears,” Noble said. “‘If you put on a Pride jersey, then there is uncertainty regarding how this would be interpreted by law enforcement in Russia — and that’s a risk. The authorities have the power to enforce this and other legislation selectively. It’s up to them to decide whom they go after.
“Could it be that certain Russian players are using this legislation as an excuse not to do things that conflict with their own personal values — that they may simply not want to put on a Pride jersey? Perhaps. But I don’t think legitimate fears regarding the impact of the ‘LGBT propaganda’ legislation should be disregarded.”
Noble said the amended law in question is part of a bigger campaign by Putin aimed at so-called “traditional values,” which attempts to show how Russian culture is different from the “liberal West.”
“The language of the legislation is so vague. What does ‘LGBT propaganda’ even mean?” he said. “This is a classic case of the political leadership in Russia consciously using ambiguous language to have a broader chilling effect.”
Since the legislation was signed into effect, Noble said, publishers have been forced to pull books from shelves or have been charged for violating the ban on “LGBT propaganda.” When asked whether “coming out” would constitute a violation of the ban, a Russian legislator — and the legislation’s main sponsor — said that each case would be considered individually by a court with expertise from the country’s communications regulator.
“Given the vagueness of the legal language, the importance of the ‘traditional values’ project to Putin and the possible penalties that could be applied, it would be entirely plausible for Russian athletes competing in North America to fear the implications of doing anything that might be interpreted as being ‘LGBT propaganda,’” Noble said.
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Noble said another factor for Russians competing in North America is that some senior Russian government figures have called people who left the country after the full-scale February 2022 invasion of Ukraine “traitors.” Although sportspeople are likely in a special category, there is a general suspicion of Russians abroad. — Joe Smith
What happened on Predators Pride night
The Preds’ Pride Night arrived in the wake of tragedy, a tragedy that spun off into hatred toward the LGBQTIA+ community. Audrey Hale, identified by police as transgender, walked into Nashville’s Covenant School on March 27 and killed six people, three of them 9-year-old children, before police shot Hale dead. The Predators honored the victims in an emotional ceremony at their next home game, April 1 against St. Louis, then had Pride night as scheduled April 4.
Before the game, Preds coach John Hynes said the entire team would be wearing the specially designed Pride jerseys, and that “we believe we’re an inclusive organization and truly believe hockey is a safe place for everybody.”
“Certainly, yeah, we talked with the players about it,” Hynes said when asked about discussion around the jerseys. “Just (to) make sure that this is what our philosophy is as an organization but also, the players are a big part of the organization. We had the discussion with the players just of if there were any issues or anything like that. Guys were all on board with it.”
That included the two Russian players on the active roster, Trenin and Afanasyev. Preds defenseman Tyson Barrie called Pride night an issue “really close to my heart” because he has friends and family members in the LGBQTIA+ community. He also expressed “a little bit of frustration” with players around the league who have decided to not wear Pride jerseys, and with people who were using the Covenant tragedy to attack the LGBQTIA+ community.
“I mean obviously that was something that you’d never anticipate or see and it’s just an absolute tragedy,” Barrie said of Covenant. “And I think with kind of the trans (community) being linked to it, I don’t think you can take the actions of one person and group a whole group of people. So I think it’s great that everyone is participating tonight.”
Everyone did, in front of one of the most packed and liveliest crowds Bridgestone Arena has seen in recent months. — Joe Rexrode
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Blues Pride night
One day before hosting Pride Night on April 4, the Blues announced that they would not be wearing themed jerseys for pregame warmups.
A team source said the organizational decision not to wear the warmup jersey was made to put the focus on the positive things the Blues were doing to support and affirm the LGBTQIA+ community.
“There’s a lot of initiatives around Pride Night at the rink,” Blues alternate captain Brayden Schenn said. “As players, we’ve always supported it in this room. People are going to have different opinions, and you respect everyone’s opinion, whether it’s on that topic or other topics around the world.
“(Regarding the Blues’) organization decision, you show up at the rink and you play and you support the Pride community and the gay community and that’s all you can really focus on. We support it. I support it. If the jersey is here, I’m wearing the jersey. I’ve worn the jersey in the past. So, for me, I support it. Absolutely no problem with it. Encourage it. That’s my opinion on it.”
Schenn was one of several players, including Brandon Saad, Torey Krug and Jake Neighbours, who wore Pride tape on their sticks during the pregame warmups. — Jeremy Rutherford
On March 31, with the Canucks hosting Pride night festivities, Kuzmenko declined to participate in a warmup skate with his teammates. He didn’t want to don the Canucks’ custom Pride sweater. Head coach Rick Tocchet cited family reasons as an explanation on Friday morning and indicated that the organization respected Kuzmenko’s decision.
“I respect everybody and everybody’s choices and hope everybody can respect mine,” Kuzmenko said through the help of a translator, teammate Vitali Kravtsov, after the game.
Asked if he was concerned for his family’s safety as a result of Russia’s “gay propaganda law,” Kuzmenko declined to comment.
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The Canucks didn’t have a single Russian-born player wear their Pride-themed warmup sweater on Friday night. Vasili Podkolzin was absent due to injury, while Kratsov was a healthy scratch.
Despite their absences, the Canucks organization went all out to celebrate Pride. The club hosted a drag show on the plaza outside the arena before the game, put on a Pride market on the concourse, played Cher and Robyn and George Michael in-arena throughout the evening and made a sizeable donation to a local “Queer, Trans, & Two-Spirit Resource Centre” called Qmunity.
Meanwhile, 19 other Canucks skaters wore the Pride warmup sweaters, with several appearing in a powerful bit of video content discussing explicitly what Pride means to them and why they feel it’s important to welcome everybody to enjoy and engage with the sport. — Thomas Drance
Today and everyday hockey is for everyone. 🌈 pic.twitter.com/v7PpbxrizI
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) March 31, 2023
Sabres pride night
After the Sabres’ morning skate on March 27, the team announced Lyubushkin would not be participating in warmups as the rest of the team wore Pride night jerseys.
Lyubushkin, who is from Moscow and returns there with his wife and children in the offseason, cited safety concerns given Russia’s anti-gay laws. Lyubushkin did not speak to reporters, but the team released a statement saying, “We are aware of general threats to certain players and understand their decision to forego risk.”
“I don’t know if we have any Russians in this room, but as myself, as an American and as a North American, I don’t think I’m able to understand the psychological decisions that he’s going through and some of the psychological burdens that he goes through being from a different part of the world,” Sabres captain Kyle Okposo said. “I don’t think it’s fair to judge him in an apples-to-apples sense. We support Boosh in this room, and we want to make sure that he’s comfortable and we respect his decisions. I think that passing judgment on him without trying to understand the full scope of his decision would be unwise. We support him.”
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The team also felt it was important to go ahead with the night as planned. Every other player wore the Pride jersey and a few players used Pride tape on their sticks during warmups. The team also featured video messages from coach Don Granato and general manager Kevyn Adams voicing support for the LGBTQ+ community on the jumbotron during the game.
“You want to make sure that everybody is able to come to the rink and feel like they belong and feel like they’re accepted,” Okposo said. “And I think that is something that as a society as a whole, we’re still grappling with and as a hockey community, we’re still grappling with as well. But we’re getting better. And we are going to continue to have these conversations and continue to get better. But it’s extremely important to have this night tonight.” — Matthew Fairburn
Blackhawks Pride night
In February, Blackhawks CEO Danny Wirtz offered his robust support of Pride night, saying that he didn’t want to devote much “energy” to the “outliers” who didn’t want to, for example, wear Pride-themed jerseys. Early in March, defenseman Connor Murphy — a vocal supporter of the Hockey is for Everyone campaign — was confident that everyone in the Blackhawks dressing room would wear the Pride jerseys on March 26.
But when Pride night came around to Chicago, the Blackhawks were wearing their regular red jerseys at warmups. The team also didn’t provide any Pride tape for the players to use on their sticks. Citing security concerns in light of the Russian law against LGBTQ+ “propaganda,” the Blackhawks made an organizational decision not to wear the Pride jerseys. The league told The Athletic that it had no reason to believe players were at material risk, but the Blackhawks’ stuck to their decision. Players were not consulted — not even the team’s three Russian players (Nikita Zaitsev, Anton Khudobin and Philipp Kurashev), according to coach Luke Richardson. But Murphy and Seth Jones stood by the team’s call after the game, and pointed to all the other parts of the night’s festivities and the team’s year-round initiatives.
Murphy and Richardson recorded a “You are welcome” video that was played during a TV timeout.
“I thought it was nice to be able to do that and show fans that we support the night and that it’s important that hockey’s inclusive, especially in this building and this locker room,” Murphy said. “It’s important (that) hockey is for everyone, and I think it was a great night to celebrate that.” — Mark Lazerus
Blackhawks management's silence on Pride night decision speaks volumes.
From me and @ByScottPowers: https://t.co/QT3WCBXvNH
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) March 27, 2023
Panthers Pride night
Marc and Eric Staal cited their Christian beliefs on March 23 in announcing the decision to not wear themed warmup jerseys along with teammates.
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“After many thoughts, prayers and discussions we have chosen not to wear a Pride jersey tonight,” the brothers said in a statement. “We carry no judgment on how people choose to live their lives, and believe that all people should be welcome in all aspects of the game of hockey. — The Athletic Staff
Speaking from the heart on Pride nights, the NHL and hope in a bleak moment.
My latest:
via @TheAthletic https://t.co/6qLdpUfy3U
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) March 24, 2023
The Sharks announced on March 13 that players would wear Pride jerseys during warmups on March 18. The jerseys were designed by Houyee Chow, a queer artist and educator from San Jose.
Reimer informed coach David Quinn “a couple of days before” the game that he intended to not wear the jersey. Reimer then spoke to his teammates about the decision.
The Sharks told local media during the team’s morning skate before the game that Reimer had decided not to wear the jersey. The organization made Reimer, Quinn and captain Logan Couture available to the media to answer questions about the situation.
“Every individual has a choice and he has made his,” Couture said. “The rest of us are going to be wearing the jersey. I think this organization sees this as an extremely important night. And I think a lot of guys in the room are very excited to go out and wear the jersey and celebrate it. I think that hockey really is for everyone. It is an inclusive sport. We want it to be that way.”
Kaapo Kahkonen was named as the team’s starting goalie for the game. Quinn said there were no discussions about calling up another goaltender and not dressing Reimer as the backup. He had started the previous game and excelled, but Quinn said the plan was always to start Kahkonen, regardless of Reimer’s decision on the Pride jersey.
Reimer is in his second season with the club. He was injured just before San Jose’s Hockey Is For Everyone Night last season, when the full team wore Pride jerseys for warmups. He said the process of deciding not to wear a Pride jersey began last season.
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“I just came to the conviction through my faith that it went against what I believe the bible says,” Reimer said. “I don’t want to really go into too much detail about the behind-the-scenes stuff. But it’s something that I tried to do my due diligence and just came to the fact that the best way to stand up for what I believe in was just to not wear the jersey and then to try and make this as loving and least offensive as possible.”
Reimer started the team’s next game, in Edmonton on March 20. — Corey Masisak
James Reimer made his decision.
The Sharks made their own.
We need more teams like them and the Flyers, who choose to stand up for inclusivity and progress rather than protect one teammate from some bad PR.
My column:https://t.co/1V6it7bvCb pic.twitter.com/r93HANTE4N
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) March 19, 2023
Wild Pride night
The Wild never officially announced before Pride night that their players would be wearing rainbow-logoed jerseys, but they wore them last season — including Russians Kapizov and Dmitry Kulikov — and it was common knowledge that they planned to do so again this year. They had even mentioned it on their auction site.
After wrestling for a couple of days with how to handle the situation and educating themselves on Russia’s anti-gay propaganda law, the Wild made the decision the morning of March 7’s game against Calgary not to wear the sweaters.
What made the decision harder is the Wild flew in Jack Jablonski, who came out in an article by The Athletic in September, from L.A. to Minnesota to do the Let’s Play Hockey traditional pregame chant and put JABS patches on each of the jerseys the players were supposed to wear.
In the end, only Jablonski showed off the jersey to the sold-out crowd in attendance.
During the course of the day, the Wild called Jablonski and all of their Pride night partners, including Twin Cities Pride, to explain the situation. Team officials say all were understanding.
The Wild still carried on with several of the planned Pride night initiatives, including 17 players wrapping the blades or shafts of their sticks in rainbow-colored tape and defenseman Jon Merrill, his wife, Jessica Molina, and other Wild players donating tickets to QUEERSPACE Collective and hosting a postgame meet-and-greet. — Michael Russo
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Rangers Pride night
In an email to season-ticket holders prior to the team’s Pride night, the Rangers announced they would be wearing Pride-themed warmup jerseys to be auctioned off. When the team hit the ice for warmups on Jan. 27, they were in their regular jerseys.
The Rangers issued a statement the next day. “Our organization respects the LGBTQ+ community and we are proud to bring attention to important local community organizations as part of another great Pride night. In keeping with our organization’s core values, we support everyone’s individual right to respectfully express their beliefs.”
The other planned aspects of Pride night went on as planned, including a Pride-themed giveaway and a member of NYC Pride dropping a ceremonial first puck. — Arthur Staple
Capitals Pride night
The Capitals hosted their seventh annual Pride night on Jan. 17 against Minnesota. They did not wear Pride-themed jerseys for warmup but that’s not a new development as they’ve never worn them.
Players were given the option to wrap rainbow tape on their stick handles and blades to be used during warmups, and approximately five players opted to do so. In all, 20 players wrapped their sticks with rainbow tape for the team’s auction, which raised a record $40,810 benefitting local LGBTQ+ organizations.
Throughout the game, the Caps displayed rainbow-colored video boards and messages of support for the community, including interviews on the Jumbotron featuring video coach Emily Engel-Natzke and her wife as well as defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk and other players. The team also honored a military member of the LGBTQ+ community as part of the “Salute to Service.”
It should be noted, though, that Chick-fil-A’s “Spot the Cow” promotion — a staple at home games this season — was not held on Pride night. Some fans also noticed that there were no auction items this year from a few players — most notably captain Alex Ovechkin and Dmitry Orlov. — Tarik El-Bashir
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Flyers Pride night
Provorov’s decision to sit out warmups rather than wear a Pride jersey with the rest of his teammates prior to the Flyers’ Jan. 17 game against the Ducks first raised awareness of this situation. In past years, the Flyers had celebrated Pride night as an organization, but on-ice player participation was limited to the optional use of Pride tape during warmups. Led by Scott Laughton and James van Riemsdyk, the team decided to wear jerseys this year.
Provorov raised concerns to team officials the week prior to Pride night, and by the night before Jan. 17, he had reaffirmed his intention to pass on wearing the jersey for religious reasons. Flyers hockey operations made the call to go forward with the warmup jerseys for the rest of the players — who remained intent on participating, with or without Provorov — while allowing Provorov to stay in the locker room and skip warmups.
After the game, Provorov was asked to explain his absence. “I respect everybody, and I respect everybody’s choices. My choice is to stay true to myself and my (Russian Orthodox) religion,” he responded. “That’s all I’m going to say.” — Charlie O’Connor
The Flyers' hockey operations department knew the night before that Ivan Provorov would not be participating in warmups for Pride Night.
Business operations & ownership, however, did not.
Inside the breakdown of communication that led to Tuesday night:https://t.co/wRuPP6yZVx
— Charlie O'Connor (@charlieo_conn) January 20, 2023
Penguins Pride night
The Penguins’ Pride night, on Dec. 12, went off without any restrictions or changes. All players wore Pride warmup jerseys that were later auctioned for LGTBQ+ charities.
Malkin participated, as he has in every Pride and/or theme night held in Pittsburgh since he joined the Penguins in 2006-07. He has never objected.
Malkin has never publicly shared his stance on LGTBQ+ issues. He is generally apolitical.
Brian Burke, the president of hockey operations, has marched in June Pride parades in Pittsburgh since he joined the organization in February 2021. — Rob Rossi
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What the league has said
The NHL must “respect individual choice” if players decide not to take part in events such as Pride night, commissioner Gary Bettman said during the All-Star festivities in South Florida last month.
When asked whether Provorov’s decision not to take part in Philadelphia’s Pride night warmup or apparent changes to New York’s Pride night plans send the wrong message about inclusivity in the sport to young players and fans, Bettman told reporters that “some people are more comfortable embracing themselves in causes than others.”
On Feb. 28 in Calgary, Bettman told reporters: “Our clubs do a lot for Pride nights. And the issue was a handful of players not wanting to wear the Pride sweaters in warmup. That doesn’t (necessarily) mean they’re homophobic. It means they were uncomfortable wearing that type of sweater. And you have to respect, at some point, individual choice.
“You may be charitable and donate to charities. And then, somebody comes up to you and says, ‘I’d like you to donate to a particular charity.’ And you say, ‘I don’t really want to donate to that charity.’ It doesn’t mean you’re against them. It just might mean you have other priorities.”
The league has traditionally avoided commenting on situations involving Russian affairs, particularly last summer when there was worry about players like Kaprizov in their homeland.
The league won’t comment specifically on whether the anti-gay propanda law is why Russian players may not be comfortable wearing Pride sweaters, because the league doesn’t want anything it says misinterpreted in Russia.
Five percent of NHL players who have played a game this season are Russian, so the league has a dilemma when it comes to Pride nights and the visuals of Russian players wearing jerseys. They’re trying to be respectful of that, so it would not be surprising if the jersey part of Pride night initiatives becomes a thing of the past in future seasons.
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On March 24, deputy NHL commissioner Bill Daly told The Athletic’s Scott Powers: “We take all risks seriously, and this one is no different. Having said that, we have no information that would suggest there is any material threat that would exist (in Russia or otherwise) related to a Russian player participating in a club’s Pride activities.” — Michael Russo
Reaction from the LGBTQ+ community
Like every other corner of the fan base, hockey’s LGBTQ+ community is anything but monolithic and doesn’t speak with one voice. Reactions to the growing number of teams opting out of wearing Pride jerseys have ranged from righteous anger to a weary shrug. But for many, the issue underscores just how far the sport has to go to make it a welcoming place for all hockey fans.
The question is: Do Pride nights really do anything to achieve that goal?
Multiple activist voices in the LGBTQ+ hockey community have privately wondered if Pride nights are more trouble than they’re worth, because they stoke a defensive reaction in much of the hockey world, furthering the rift among fans. But, they say, Pride nights aren’t going anywhere unless teams eliminate all the other themed nights they host, as well, including military nights and police nights. One went so far as to say they’d have to eliminate the national anthems, too, if the goal is to make the sport as apolitical as possible. After all, some of the teams that host Pride nights also are corporate partners with Chick-fil-A, whose corporate owners have spent millions of dollars on anti-LGBTQ+ legislation efforts over the years.
I didn’t sleep much before Pride Night in Anaheim because I seriously worried about the backing out issue. I had chills seeing my jersey design worn on-ice in warmups & thank my team for allowing me that joy, for committing fully to LGBT acceptance. That’s what we need more of. https://t.co/aJxUDIPjeg pic.twitter.com/cRweNe7BdK
— Lindsay Imber 🎹 (@LindsayImber) March 8, 2023
But corporate-sponsored rainbow tape and rainbow jerseys aren’t going to change hearts and minds. As Brock McGillis — whose Alphabet Sports Collective, an advocacy group for the LGBTQ+ community in hockey, had its launch party in Toronto on Thursday night — has said in the past, humanizing LGBTQ+ players and fans is the only way to break through the bigotry. That, ideally, means having a sizable number of openly gay and non-binary players in the NHL. With that simply being unrealistic at the moment — Predators prospect Luke Prokop is the first and only out player under a pro contract — humanizing means having prominent players continue to stand up for the community. Lost to many amid the Provorov controversy was how the Flyers, led by veteran Scott Laughton, have been leaders in that space. — Mark Lazerus
Additional Reading
(Top photo: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)
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