There’s been a trend this NHL season that has nothing to do with the sport’s on-ice product. Several teams have announced plans to hold Pride Nights, during which players wear jerseys celebrating the LGBTQ+ community either during warmups or games — or both.
But many of those plans have been scraped by teams after being made public. The most recent example came on March 7, when Minnesota Wild players chose to not wear special Pride Night jerseys that had been designed.
Below is a deeper dive into why this is happening among NHL teams.
A reported Russian connection
According to a report from The Athletic, there is a connection to Russia in all of this. On March 10, The Athletic published a report titled “The NHL’s Russia-Pride jersey problem, explained: Why Wild became latest to scrap plans.”
The report explains how NHL players specifically from Russia have played a part in what has become a league-wide controversy.
- Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov opted out of participating in warmups with his teammates when the team held their Pride Night back in January. Provorov, who is originally from Russia, stated that he didn’t wish to participate due to his Russian Orthodox religious beliefs.
- When the Wild were planning to wear Pride jerseys on March 7, the team originally even had an auction site where fans could bid on a Pride jersey that was worn by a player. However, the website was deleted. This could have something to do with the fact that Wild star Kirill Kaprizov is originally from Russia and had issues returning back to the United States from Russia over the summer.
- The New York Rangers also planned to hold Pride Night, but canceled. The Rangers have several Russian players on their roster, including goalie Igor Shesterkin and forwards Artemi Panarin and Vladimir Tarasenko.
- It is worth noting that the Pittsburgh Penguins did hold their Pride Night on Dec. 12, and Penguins star Evgeni Malkin — who is Russian — wore a Pride jersey.
The deeper connection here is to Russian president Vladimir Putin and laws he’s put into place in the country. Under Putin, Russia has passed several laws that restrict the rights of LGBTQ+ citizens. In December, the New York Times reported that the country passed a law that “makes it illegal to spread ‘propaganda’ about ‘nontraditional sexual relations’ in the media, advertising, movies or on social media.”
As the Athletic notes, five percent of the NHL’s players are Russian.
“These are legitimate fears,” Ben Noble, associate professor of Russian politics at University College London, told the Athletic. “‘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.”
A total of 14 NHL teams still have Pride Nights planned for the remainder of the 2022-23 season.
A timeline of this season’s Pride Night controversies
Getty Images
Sharks (March 18)
The San Jose Sharks held their Pride Night on Saturday and the team’s players wore jerseys in support of the LGBTQ+ community during warmups. However, prior to the game, Sharks goalie James Reimer announced that he wouldn’t be participating in warmups and cited his religious beliefs as the reasoning behind the decision.
Reimer was the only Sharks player that refused to wear the Pride jersey during warmups
While he revealed that he didn’t want to participate due to his religious beliefs, Reimer did sign pucks with the Sharks Pride logo on them, which was given to select fans on Saturday.
Here’s his entire statement, which team tweeted out:
Wild (March 7)
The Wild originally had an auction site where fans could bid on a Pride jersey that was going to be worn by a player on March 7. However, the website was deleted. In addition, the Wild flew Minnesota native Jack Jablonski into town for the Pride game. Jablonski was paralyzed when he was playing hockey in high school and now works for the Los Angeles Kings.
Jablonski revealed he is gay in 2022, and the Wild even designed a “JABS” patch that was going to be worn on the Pride jersey. When it was all said and done, Jablonski was the only person that ended up wearing the jersey, since the team elected not to don the Pride sweaters for that game.
However, the Wild did still hold several of the team’s planned Pride night initiatives, which included 17 players wrapping the blades of their stocks in rainbow tape. Defenseman Jon Merrill and his wife, Jessica Molina, along with other Wild players, donated tickets to the QUEERSPACE Collective and hosted a postgame meet-and-greet with the organization.
It’s noteworthy that Wild star Kirill Kaprizov is from Russia and had issues returning back to the United States from Russia over the summer.
Rangers (Jan. 27)
In an email to season-ticket holders, the Rangers revealed that they were planning to wear Pride-themed jerseys during warmups prior to their game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Jan. 27. Those jerseys, the team said, would be auctioned off after the game.
Instead, the team wore their traditional home jerseys when they took the ice for warmups before the Jan. 27 game.
The Rangers released a statement the following day, but didn’t offer a reason as to why the team didn’t wear the Pride-themed jerseys in warmups as planned.
“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,” the statement read. “In keeping with our organization’s core values, we support everyone’s individual right to respectfully express their beliefs.”
The Rangers still held other Pride-themed events on Jan. 27, including a Pride giveaway.
A member of NYC Pride also dropped the ceremonial first puck.
Flyers (Jan. 17)
Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov made headlines when he decided not to participate in warmups when the team celebrated their Pride night on Jan. 17. The Flyers wore Pride jerseys during warmups prior to their game against the Anaheim Ducks on that night.
Provorov cited his Russian Orthodox religious beliefs as the reason for refusing to participate in warmups.
“I respect everybody, and I respect everybody’s choices,” Provorov said following the game. “My choice is to stay true to myself and my [Russian Orthodox] religion. That’s all I’m going to say.”
The Flyers defenseman had brought his concerns over wearing a Pride jersey to the team a week beforehand. Leading up to the contest, Provorov made it clear that he didn’t plan to join his teammates during warmups.
The rest of Philadelphia’s players chose to participate in warmups, despite Provorov’s opposition to the idea.
“The Philadelphia Flyers organization is committed to inclusivity and is proud to support the LGBTQ+ community, the Flyers said in a statement. “Many of our players are active in their support of local LGBTQ+ organizations, and we were proud to host our annual Pride Night again this year. The Flyers will continue to be strong advocates for inclusivity and the LGBTQ+ community.”
