Hockey fans and commentators are asking questions about the National Hockey League’s special jersey policy after Minnesota Wild goaltender Marc-André Fleury decided to wear a custom mask. Native American Heritage Evening to honor his wife’s legacy.
After Fleury, his hockey team and his agent shared the unique design with X (formerly Twitter), the NHL said wearing it would violate league rules.
The custom-designed mask created by Cole Redhorse Taylor featured quotes from Fleury’s father on the back and bore his children’s names.
The NHL informed Fleury that he could not wear it during the game or during warmups.
Not only did the NHL threaten Fleury with fines, but they also threatened the Minnesota Wild with an additional fine. significant fine.
Despite the looming threat, Fleury wore the mask during warm-ups. He served as a substitute and did not play during the match.
On the team’s X post showing off the helmet, fans who heard about the threat of fines Fleury urged. wear the mask.
A source told ESPN that no punishment is planned for Fleury disobeying the NHL and wearing the mask despite their multiple threats to sanction the player.
In June, the NHL implemented a new policy prohibiting teams from wearing “special” jerseys during warmups, practices or games. This policy has been extended to uniforms, equipment and covers themes such as pride, military appreciation or ethnic heritage evenings.
The NHL Board of Governors unanimously approved the ban without objection from the National Hockey League Players’ Association. The ban follows instances where players refused to participate in Pride Night warm-ups last season for personal or religious reasons.
Fleury’s mask is not the first example against this policy this season. Previous exemptions have already been granted. In October, the NHL revised its original ban on Pride recordings. The change came immediately after Arizona Coyotes defenseman Travis Dermott used Pride tape during a game. Dermott suffered no punishment.
“Players will now have the opportunity to voluntarily represent social causes with their tape throughout the season,” the NHL said in a statement following Dermott’s act of defiance.
Although the league denied Fleury’s request to wear a mask for Native American Heritage Night, it allowed Sergei Bobrovsky of the Florida Panthers and Phillip Grubauer of the Seattle Kraken to wear special masks for Hockey Fights Cancer nights. .
ESPN reported that a source close to this decision said that these exemptions were granted because the goalkeepers had already worn cancer awareness masks before the ban and because of the nature of the cause they were supporting.
Conversely, Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Logan Thompson was forbidden put a cancer ribbon on his helmet.
The NHL has proudly announced over the past few seasons that “hockey is for everyone.” However, given recent decisions, one of the league’s most high-profile agents, Allan Walsh, questioned whether that was the case.
“The NHL’s refusal to allow Marc-Andre Fleury to wear a custom-designed mask (during Native American Heritage Night (even during warm-ups) is everything you need to know about Gary Bettman’s NHL,” said Walsh, publication on X.
Michael Farber, veteran sports journalist echoes this sentiment during an interview with Mitch Melnick on TSN radio.
“You can’t say hockey is for everyone and take this project away because that’s clearly not the case,” Farber said.
Farber said Fleury was one of the league’s favorite goaltenders and a likely Hall of Famer. He wondered why the NHL couldn’t have some flexibility in this situation.
Montreal 690 host Mitch Melnick agreed with Farber.
“I wonder what’s wrong with these people in the National Hockey League,” Melnick said.
Melnick explained that the NFL had a similar problem with players wearing special cleats. He explained that they have since come to their senses and are allowing players to do what they want with their cleats.
“Moving forward the hockey narrative is everyone’s business; this would have been a great opportunity. It’s a project that not only got scrapped, but ended up getting mud splattered all over the NHL logo,” Farber said.
Nathan Murdock, sports YouTuber and former NHL and Sportsnet employee, highlighted the contradictions.
“By trying to avoid ‘controversy,’ the NHL has once again embarrassed itself,” he said.
The mask Fleury wore during warm-ups was put up for auction. The auction at the time of publication, it stood at $17,100.
