NHL Assistant Commissioner Bill Daly said the league has no information to suggest its Russian players are at significant risk, either in Russia or elsewhere, if they choose to participate in the teams’ Pride Night activities, he said Daly to The Athletic on Friday. This news comes after several teams cited security concerns for players of Russian descent as justification for not wearing Pride jerseys.
“We take all risks seriously and this one is no different,” Daly wrote in an email to The Athletic. “Nevertheless, we have no information that would indicate that there is a material threat (in Russia or otherwise) related to any Russian player participating in a club’s Pride activities.”
The Chicago Blackhawks became the latest team this season to choose not to have their players wear Pride jerseys during warm-up for their upcoming Pride night. According to team sources, the decision was made by team management and security officials because they feared for the safety of their Russian heritage players.
Following the release, the Blackhawks sent The Athletic a statement saying that while they agreed with the league’s assessment of the material risk to Russian players, they felt a response was warranted.
“We are currently not aware of any direct, material threat to any person. That being said, we understand that there is a broader threat to certain players and believe we must respond accordingly. We will not be making any further comments on this matter at this time. We want to reiterate that our entire Pride night will go ahead as planned and we look forward to all of the activities and members of the LGBTQIA+ community taking the spotlight.”
The Minnesota Wild also previously scraped their plans to wear Pride jerseys out of a similar cause. The New York Rangers, who have several prominent Russian players, also did not wear Pride jerseys after previously announcing they would, citing “an individual’s right to respectfully express their beliefs”.
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Blackhawks will not wear Pride jerseys: sources
Teams’ concerns about the safety of Russian players have been raised since Russia’s anti-gay laws were changed in early December. According to The New York Times, the new law “makes it illegal to disseminate ‘propaganda’ about ‘non-traditional sexual relations’ in any media, including social media, advertisements and films.” The law states that fines can be as high as $6,4000 for citizens and $80,000 for organizations.
Other NHL teams have allowed their players to wear Pride pre-match jerseys this season.
In January, Brian Burke, a veteran hockey executive whose family helped reshape the conversation about LGBTQ+ issues in pro sports, said he was “clearly and visibly upset” that teams are scaling back planned Pride events, but believes so that the drive for inclusion will continue the game.
Earlier in the month, one player (Russian defender Ivan Provorov) had a player (Russian defender Ivan Provorov) opt out of warming up with his teammates at their Pride night in January because he didn’t want to wear the team’s Pride jersey and invoked his Russian Orthodox religious beliefs. The Wild abandoned their plans to don Pride jerseys out of concern for Russian players. Star striker Kirill Kaprizov in particular has had a difficult journey back to the United States after returning to Russia last offseason.
In March, the Sharks went ahead with plans to hold their Pride night, despite opposition from goaltender James Reimer, who cited his faith as a reason for not wearing a Pride jersey during warm-up sessions. Most recently, Panthers players Marc and Eric Staal did not participate in warm-up exercises as part of the team’s Pride night Thursday, also citing their Christian faith.
(Photo: Mark LoMoglio/NHLI via Getty Images)