When Travis Dermott steps onto the ice in Los Angeles on Tuesday night, he plans to do so without the strip of Pride tape that catapulted the Arizona Coyotes defenseman into the middle of one of the NHL’s most contentious issues over the weekend.
“I think that one game probably caused enough of a stir and got enough attention,” Dermott told The Athletic on Monday night.
However, the aim is not to silence or deter the 26-year-old.
Not exactly.
About 48 hours after he skated Saturday afternoon in defiance of a new NHL rule that prohibits players from displaying “Cause Message” on their equipment by wrapping Pride tape around the shaft of his Warrior stick, Dermott still had League officials didn’t even make direct contact with him.
However, given the tremendous coverage and attention his act of LGBTQ+ allyship received, and given the opportunity to reflect on how it may have put members of the Coyotes organization in an awkward position, he believes his point of view is indeed has been clarified.
And that there are other ways for him to make it further.
“The war is not over yet. Absolutely not,” Dermott said. “When something like this happens, you don’t want to completely retreat and shut up, but you have to find the right plan to attack it.
“Where you support your organization and you don’t want to make them look bad, and you don’t want to step on the league’s toes and really start a fight with them, but still tell them I think this is important.”
Dermott did not consult with management, the coaching staff or any of his colleagues before wrapping the rainbow-colored tape around the shaft of his bat shortly before a 2-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks at Mullett Arena.
It’s a practice he’s followed regularly since his time in the AHL, and the only reason it took until the fifth game of the Arizona season for him to use the tape again was because he was waiting for a new delivery, after moving his previous batch during an off-season move from Vancouver.
Dermott was aware of the new NHL regulations, but felt it was important to continue to show support for a cause and community he cares about.
“None of the players actually saw me put it on my bat,” Dermott said. “It was kind of just, ‘Okay, I’ll do this, and we’ll deal with the consequences and move on, and hopefully I’ll have a positive influence on some people who needed that positive influence.’ ‘“
While it’s not surprising that Dermott is involved in the name of supporting the LGBTQ+ community, considering how long he’s been doing it – “I had someone close to me who was in that community and wasn’t completely comfortable with it “Not really,” he said – making it all the more remarkable that he did so at a time when he is struggling to re-establish himself in the league.
Dermott was only able to play in 11 games for the Canucks last season due to ongoing concussion issues and is now playing on a two-way contract that will see him receive reduced compensation if the Coyotes send him to AHL Tucson.
In his skates, it would have been much easier to do nothing given the current climate at NHL headquarters.
Instead, why was he the first player to defy a rule that caused widespread consternation in dressing rooms across the continent?
“It’s easy to forget it’s a fight when it’s not right in front of you,” Dermott said. “When you don’t see it every day, when it’s swept under the rug, when it just stays hidden from the naked eye, it’s easy to forget that there’s a group of people who don’t feel like they belong, because the majority of people it is.” feel like they belong.
“Once we stop thinking about it, I think it becomes dangerous.”
Dermott openly admits he felt some anxiety after Saturday’s game. He never imagined the reaction would be so significant and widespread. That began to unravel as it became clear that the Coyotes were willing to stand by his side.
“The response I have received is the full support of my team,” Dermott said.
He noted that he apologized to equipment staff for using the Pride band without telling them.
“They are the ones who are supposed to make sure that all of our equipment is up to spec, legal and so on,” he said. “I felt a bit like I had betrayed these guys. … But at the same time, I think they understand so well and know that I wasn’t malicious towards them.”
The challenge now is to find ways to continue to support Pride initiatives in light of the new NHL rules.
The Coyotes are scheduled to host their Pride Night on Friday — the first team to do so since the league clarified its rules in an Oct. 9 memo distributed to teams — and Dermott is still working on his own plans to celebrate the occasion.
“My Instagram will probably be more active from now on,” he said. “I’m now going to actively find ways to not completely shut up and… not upset the league and not abide by their rules.”
“But yes, I’m still here. The fight is not over yet. We will continue to talk about it. And if the league doesn’t want the season to end, we will find other ways.”
Like many of his colleagues, Dermott was emotional when he learned that the NHL was banning charitable messaging this season. That decision came at the June board meeting after a handful of players made headlines last season by refusing to join their teammates and wear Pride sweaters during warmups.
“One way to look at it is that the league is taking away our voice,” Dermott said. “We can’t talk. We no longer have that expression. I think that’s a valid way of thinking, and it’s easy to see it that way. Many people do that, and I’m sure it will continue to do so.
“It’s a fine line where the league wants to look good and support all of these things, but you also don’t want to have all the negativity that can come from someone who doesn’t support it, and you don’t want that either.” Me force people who don’t support something to support something and I completely understand that point of view.
“I can take a step back and see that it is undoubtedly not a problem. But at the same time, you want players to still be able to express themselves if they want. We would still like to have that.”
Dermott speaks passionately about the people he has met in the LGBTQ+ community since he first publicly advocated for the cause. Through personal conversations, he’s learned that sometimes it’s the most outgoing personalities in a room who privately benefit from seeing an NHL player “with a strip of tape on his stick.”
“I don’t hear that many people actually spend time with the LGBTQ community and feel pushed aside by them,” Dermott said. “Things like that just make you feel more comfortable and you learn that they’re people too – normal people who lead mostly the same lives as you. So why should we treat them differently just because they are interested or not interested?
“It just seems crazy to me.”
And for many others, it seems. Dermott was overwhelmed by the outpouring of support that followed his decision on Saturday. He estimates that the tone of these messages was “99.99 percent positive.”
“As athletes, we have a great platform to spread love, and I think if we don’t spread that love, what the hell are we doing?”
(Photo: Zac BonDurant/Getty Images)