No Rainbows In This League

I had every intention to take today off with it being Thanksgiving in Canada, but the NHL decided to throw a monkeywrench into those plans after showing their cowardice once again today. I'm already in the camp that removing the themed pregame warmup jerseys does irreparable damage to the NHL's attempts at including people of all races, creeds, colours, and sexual orientations, but today's announcement simply doubled down on the insane bigotry that a vocal minority showed last year in regards to those warmup jerseys. As shown in the image, players were free to use Pride Tape on their sticks if they chose to do so in the past, but Pride Tape will not be permitted to be used on sticks for this season and beyond.

At this point, it's hard to figure out of the NHL is simply a bunch of old, racist men or a cowardly set of bullies who are afraid to be progressive and forward-thinking when it comes to growing the game they claim to love so much. According to reports, there was a memo sent to all 32 NHL teams last week that restated that on-ice uniforms and equipment cannot be altered in any way for any these nights for this upcoming season, and that "equipment" part would mean that Pride Tape is officially out as tape that can be used and/or visible during practices and games this season.

If the NHL believes that players like Eric Staal, Marc Staal, Ivan Provorov, and James Reimer are who people are buying tickets to see, we need to have a discussion about where this Pride Tape phenomenon began because one of the NHL's biggest stars - Leon Draisaitl - was one of the first NHL players to sport the tape during an NHL event! You may know him, and it was very likely that Connor McDavid would have sported it as well had he not been injured earlier in the season.

We go back to 2016 for this report from CTV Edmonton's Debra Clark.


As stated in the report, the Edmonton Oilers were the first NHL team to apply the tape to sticks in their room, and I'm guessing the NHL has sold more McDavid and Draisaitl jerseys in one season than the combined number of jerseys sold that have the names of Eric Staal, Marc Staal, Ivan Provorov, and James Reimer on the back. But whatever happened in 2016 clearly doesn't matter in 2023, it seems.

I don't know if the NHL actually reads archived stories on their own website, but it seems this article from Jeff McLean last year about the NHL supporting Pride Tape that led to its incredible growth and how other sports embraced it should be left on the desk of every person who voted to kill themed nights. As McLean wrote, "The NHL's support has led to the tape being adopted into other sports such as cycling, baseball and lacrosse, and major sporting events like the 2022 Beijing Olympics."

If that's not enough to convince these morons running the league that the NHL's promotion of Pride Tape led to more people noticing their league, perhaps the next paragraph that McLean wrote will hit closer to home as the Seattle Pride Hockey Association credits the NHL for positive social change when it comes to acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community.

"Co-founder Joey Gale states, 'The impact of a global organization like the NHL using its platform for positive social change in the LGBTQ+ community is truly moving. As a gay lifelong hockey player and fan, I still feel an overwhelming sense of joy when I see NHL players and teams using Pride Tape. The visibility and intentionality of players using Pride Tape helps hockey move toward the vision of making it a space for everyone, especially LGBTQ+ youth.

'As a co-founder of the Seattle Pride Hockey Association, our story as an organization began in part because of the Pride Tape I had on my stick. All players of any ability have the power to make even the smallest impact by simply wrapping their stick with Pride Tape.'"

For a league that has fallen behind both MLS Soccer and F1 Racing in terms of fan popularity in North America, allowing a handful of players to determine who can and cannot use a specific kind of tape seems awfully stupid if one is trying to grow one's fanbase. What may be worse is that their outspoken stance against one specific theme night has now prevented all theme nights from being celebrated, so the Indigenous community, the South Asian community, the Chinese community, and all of the other nights celebrating different cultures and peoples will also not be celebrated. It's hard to attract fans from these communities if they don't feel welcome, so congratulations on cutting your proverbial nose off to spite your stupid face, NHL.

It seems you can't say "gay" in NHL circles any longer, and the NHL would prefer if you swapped "gay" for "pray" since all of Eric Staal, Marc Staal, James Reimer, and six Russian players used religion as their reasons for not participating in Pride Nights last season. The NHL doesn't want teams supporting the LGBTQ+ community, but it's ok for the outspoken players to exercise their religious rights by refusing to participate in a theme night? Are we really double-standarding this to the point of idiocy?

Personally, if I were an NHL player, I'd have so much rainbow tape on me this season that some worry about my sanity. It would be on my stick, I'd use it over my socks to hold my shin pads in place, I'd put a strip under the TV numbers, and I'd make sure there was a square affixed to my helmet. If the NHL has a problem with my uniform not being uniform, I'd welcome them to come down and change it personally. In fact, I'd dare them.

It gets harder and harder to support the NHL everyday. From insane ticket prices to garbage merchandise to watching the NHL tell fans that they don't matter, this league is led by some of the most repugnant people I've ever seen. To all those who feel like the NHL has let you down, I stand with you both in your disappointment and as your ally. There's simply no rationale for the NHL's decision.

If the NHL falls further down the list of sports in terms of fan popularity, it's literally their own doing. I have but one thing I can say about that: thoughts and prayers, NHL.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!