NHL teams have hosted Hockey Is For Everyone nights since the 2017-2018 season, but despite this name, recent actions by the league have made it seemingly clear that hockey is NOT for everyone. 

Hockey Is For Everyone, or Pride Night, are specially-themed games that are meant to promote LGBT diversity and inclusion in the sport of hockey. During the last season, 14 of 32 teams, including the Buffalo Sabres, wore jerseys incorporating a pride rainbow into their logo for the pregame warmups. These jerseys were later auctioned off for charity. Many players and teams also opted to use Pride tape, a rainbow-striped hockey tape, on their sticks to show support for the LGBT community. The NHL, however, put a stop to this after only seven players of the approximately 1,000 in the whole league refused to participate in warmups when their teams wore the jerseys. These players, citing reasons such as religion and anti-gay laws in their home country of Russia, were all supported by their teams and the NHL in their decision. Entire teams, including the Chicago Blackhawks, who had originally planned on wearing specialty jerseys, decided against them after the actions of these players. 

But these players no longer need to worry about pride-themed jerseys, as the NHL’s Commissioner Gary Bettman has issued a ban on all specialty-themed jerseys and gear. This came in a June 22 interview with SportsNet in which he called the jerseys a “distraction” from the game and from the causes that these nights supported. He said that the few who chose not to sport the jerseys got more attention than the cause the jerseys were in support of. In this same sweep, things like Pride Tape and specially painted goalie helmets were also banned. The ban even extends to practices, preventing players from ever wearing specialty jerseys on the ice. This ban is not just for pride-themed jerseys but on jerseys for all theme nights, such as Hockey Fights Cancer and any heritage nights. The jerseys can still be made, however, and can be worn off-ice and sold or auctioned off. 

In a memo sent to all 32 NHL organizations, it was made clear that theme nights could be hosted, but teams had to adhere to all league uniform policies. This memo clarified that no player was to be made to appear to support a cause by wearing or being near people wearing specialty jerseys. The NHL encourages players to support whatever causes they stand by off-ice. However, it is on-ice where players can draw the most attention to the causes they support. This memo was made without consulting the NHL’s Player Inclusion Commission. No specific penalty to players or organizations for violating the ban was spelled out in the memo.

Both Pride Tape and You Can Play, a partner of the NHL whose goal is to support LGBT inclusion in the sport of hockey, released statements making clear their disapproval and disappointment by Bettman's move to ban specialty gear. This disapproval is shown by players as well. Edmonton Oilers captain and hockey star Connor McDavid stated that he was disappointed to see the ability to support causes with stick tape taken away, as well as by the ban on themed jerseys. Morgan Rielly of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who has long been a vocal ally to the LGBT community thinks that Pride Night is a great way to get people involved and make them feel seen, like hockey is actually for everyone, and wishes that players still had the opportunity to be involved in causes and show their support while on the ice.

On October 21, Travis Dermott of the Arizona Coyotes chose to defy the ban on using Pride Tape at his team's season home opener and was met with a huge wave of support for the decision. Dermott said that on-ice is the best place to give exposure to causes, not off the ice where the league wants to delegate it. He feels that just these small shows of support have a great effect and are really important to him. Dermott did not face punishment for his actions and shortly after the Coyotes game, the NHL rescinded their ban on Pride Tape and other colored tape. They said that the ban was originally to stop players from skirting around the ban on specialty jerseys. Players now can voluntarily support causes by way of colored stick tape. This is a step in the right direction, but overall the NHL’s approach to the issue as a whole has shown how far behind it is in terms of LGBT inclusion.

This ban doesn’t just affect those wanting to support the LGBT community. All teams host Hockey Fights Cancer nights over the month of November. Goalies will often get specially painted versions of their masks to wear on these nights. One such player is Sergei Bobrovsky of the Florida Panthers, who has had a special purple version of his typical mask made to wear for November since 2012. Both Bobrovsky and Seattle Kraken goaltender Philipp Grubauer were permitted by the league to violate the ban on gear for specialty nights by wearing the helmets all November, not just on their teams’ Hockey Fights Cancer night. Logan Thompson of the Vegas Golden Knights was not so lucky. He was not allowed by the NHL to put a cancer ribbon on his helmet in a November 11 game against the San Jose Sharks.

Another goalie affected by the ban on specialty gear is Marc-André Fleury, who plays for the Minnesota Wild. Fleury is an NHL veteran and is an overall beloved player, especially by the Pittsburgh Penguins, for whom he put in his first 13 NHL seasons. When the Minnesota Wild hosted their Native American Heritage Day on November 24, Fleury was hoping to wear a custom mask designed by a Native American artist, honoring his wife Véronique, who is Native Canadian. The mask was designed by Cole Redhorse Taylor and features the Dakota language and flowers native to Minnesota. A month before the game, the Wild organization submitted the mask to the League asking permission to wear the helmet and they were under the impression that Fleury would be allowed to wear the helmet during pregame warmups, but not during the game itself. Then a week before the game, the NHL gave a firm no to wearing the helmet at all and said that Fleury would face a fine if he chose to wear the mask. Fleury stated he was willing to pay this fine, but the League doubled down and threatened to significantly fine the Wild as well. Fleury did wear the mask during warm-ups, but he served as the backup goalie in the game so it is unclear if he would have chosen, or been allowed, to wear the helmet during the game. Neither he nor the Wild have faced repercussions for this decision. 

Overall this decision by Bettman and the NHL has shown how poor the attempts at diversity and inclusion in professional hockey are. The lack of repercussions faced by those who have violated the ban on specialty gear as well as their compromise on using colored stick tape does offer some hope that the National Hockey League will realize the huge mistake they have made and overturn the ban in its entirety.