NHL players proudly wear Pride jerseys in spite of NHL ban
When the New Jersey Devils took to the ice Thursday night at the Prudential Center for the team’s annual Pride Night game, they exploited what appears to be a loophole in the National Hockey League’s ban on specially-themed jerseys during warm-ups.
They wore them before the warm-ups. As the Los Angeles Blade reported in June, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman declared rainbow-themed jerseys had “become a distraction and taking away from the fact that all of our clubs in some form or another, host nights in honor of various groups or causes, and we’d rather they continue to get the appropriate attention they deserve, and not be a distraction.” His recommendation to the league’s governors became policy for the 2023-2024 season, despite only seven NHL players, out of 1,123, opting out of pregame warmups on Pride Nights.
Before their game hosting the Edmonton Oilers Thursday, the team issued a press release stating that the specially-designed jerseys would be “worn during player arrivals,” apparently bypassing the league’s new policy.
The Blade asked a league spokesperson to comment but did not receive a response by press time. Although the Oilers beat the Devils, 6-3, in what was the home team’s second Hockey Is For Everyone game of the season, fans enjoyed Pride events before and during the game, including LGBTQ+ honorees and in-game features.
