The NHL, NHLPA and the NHL Player Inclusion Coalition have agreed that players will be able to represent social causes with tape this season, including during games and practices, the NHL confirmed Tuesday.
This question has been a hot topic since the NHL banned all pre-game tributes before this season.
First reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the NHL confirmed the reversal in an X post just before 11 a.m. While saying the return of tape can happen, the NHL has not commented on the league’s ban on warning jerseys for social reasons.
Arizona Coyotes defenseman Travis Dermott is the first player known to have disobeyed the ban by putting rainbow tape on his stick for a game Saturday against the Anaheim Ducks.
The NHL made the decision to ban Pride ribbons and special jerseys – widely seen as a promising, if performative, step to promote inclusion in a largely insular hockey culture – after several notable players in the league publicly chose not to participate in Pride Night activities. including Ivan Provorov and Andrei Kuzmenko.
Speaking on Sportsnet Halford & Brough Earlier this month, deputy commissioner Bill Daly explained that the decision was not intended to put players in a “difficult position”.
“We don’t want a situation where some players, or a large majority of players, are using a certain cause message that other players don’t want to use and that puts those other players in a difficult position. We don’t want to put them in that difficult position,” Daly said.
Commissioner Gary Bettman also said in June that the discourse surrounding Pride Nights had become a “distraction” for players. The ban on themed jerseys to commemorate special causes also included Hockey Fights Cancer, Black History Month and Military Appreciation Night.
Pride Tape, a Canada-based organization, says it is “very grateful to everyone who believes hockey should be a safe, inclusive and welcoming space for all.”
“We are extremely pleased that NHL players will now have the opportunity to voluntarily represent important social causes with their tape throughout the season,” the organization said on X.
The organization previously told CityNews that the NHL’s ban on the Pride stripe overshadowed positive steps taken to make hockey more inclusive.
Kurt Weaver, COO of the You Can Play project, explained earlier this month that it was important to have colorful visibility on gaming’s biggest stages.
“That’s the biggest visibility point we have, it’s the product on ice. Although visits to the community center have taken place and funds have been raised and donated to local community organizations and many other great works, the big exposure comes during the broadcast during the game, during what is happening on ice,” he said.
“It makes people wonder, ‘Is this sport for me?’ because the actual product where it matters is when we don’t see that visibility happening.
–With files from Greg Bowman
