Specialized cultural celebration warm up jerseys have been a huge part of the culture of the NHL for years. Black, Hispanic and Asian heritage has been celebrated through these jerseys as well as contributors to the community such as first responders and military heroes. Since 2016, every team in the league has held LGBTQ+ Pride Nights which included warming up in pride jerseys and taping their sticks with a specially made rainbow tape created by the company Pride Tape. According to pridetape.com, the company’s “sole purpose is to promote diversity, equality and inclusion through sport.” During the 2022-23 season, seven players, mostly Russian, spoke out against pride nights citing political and religious views. Many of the players opting out of the pride night celebrations claimed they feared for theirs and their family’s safety if they were to wear a pride jersey as Russian law is strongly against the LGBTQ+ community and the display of support could put them in danger. Following the refusal of some players to take part in the pride night traditions, teams such as the Minnesota Wild and the New York Rangers canceled their pride nights completely.
In June of 2023, the league announced teams would no longer wear specialized warm up jerseys at all, including the Hockey Fights Cancer jerseys, which are auctioned off post game to raise money for cancer studies and awareness, and the leagues camouflage military appreciation night jerseys. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman says the ban was the league’s way of “eliminating distraction.”
At the commencement of the 2023-24 NHL season, the league banned the use of Pride Tape across the league including during warmups. Upon the implementation of the rule, Hockey Is For Everyone Ambassador and Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand spoke out against the ban, as did Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid, and Toronto Maple Leafs alternate captain Morgan Rielly.
The first defiance of the new rule came from an unexpected source, not a big name like Sidney Crosby or Nate MacKinnon, but a player making less than a million dollars a year without a contract for next season. Travis Dermott, a little known player with everything to lose, is the first player to play a game with pride tape on his stick since the ban. Dermott currently plays for the Arizona Coyotes and has been a vocal supporter of the LGBTQ+ community his entire tenure in the NHL. He has used pride tape on his sticks his whole career spanning from Toronto to Vancouver to Arizona. According to sources, Dermott placed an order with Pride Tape for enough tape to last the season and he plans to continue the use of the tape. As for his punishment, the NHL declared players who violate the ban will face fines and potentially more severe punishment, but after Dermotts display of defiance, the league said they would review the case “in due course.” In the wake of Dermott’s defiance and the surge of media coverage of the leagues restrictive rules, the rule as been rescinded and players will again have the option to, as reported by the NHL, “represent social causes with stick tape throughout the season”
Before the ban was rescinded, Nashville Predators prospect Luke Prokop, an openly gay man said “As someone who aspires to play on an NHL team one day, I would want to enter the locker room knowing I can share all parts of my identity with my teammates.” Prokop is playing in the Predators minor league system with the hopes of being pulled up to play in the NHL in the near future. The NHL’s initial ban on pride tape was not only harmful to the LGBTQ+ community made up of players, fans and front office staff in the sport but it hurts the integrity of the league and the futures of aspiring hockey players forced to weigh their sexuality against their futures in the sport.