As NHL teams, players opt out of Pride Night events, concerns grow about league's commitment to change

Growing up in Edmonton, Daylen Mitansky didn't feel like the hockey rink was a place that would welcome him. 

"Don't say gay was a huge thing," he said. "Jocks were never [openly] gay, you know. It was just unheard of." 

He eventually found his way onto the ice in 2017 at 29, playing with an LGBTQ hockey team in Calgary. He's now on the board of the Calgary Inclusive Hockey Association, which includes two teams — the Pioneers and the Villagers.

Mitansky marvels at how far hockey has come since he was a kid, and at seeing the NHL make strides toward inclusion. But now he's watching with a bit of concern that the league is taking a step backward. 

The NHL and some of its teams are facing fallout over players who don't want to take part in Pride Night — a show of support for LGBTQ fans and athletes. 

There are concerns the league's handling of the situation could set back years of progress on LGBTQ inclusivity — though some would say the sport has not progressed far enough — and the timing couldn't be worse. Not only is hockey facing a reckoning over toxic culture in the sport, including sexual misconduct and various forms of discrimination, but this situation coincides with LGBTQ people facing a new surge of hate and, in parts of the U.S. at least, a rollback in long-fought for rights.

Pride Nights have become an annual affair for the NHL, with every team hosting its own versions of the event in 2018. Although there are a several components, the highlight is often seeing players on the ice for warm ups with rainbow logos on their jerseys or rainbow tape wrapped around their sticks. 

But this year, some players have said wearing any sort of symbol supporting LGBTQ people goes against their religious beliefs. Meanwhile, three teams — the Minnesota Wild, the New York Rangers and Chicago's NHL team — cancelled their Pride Night warm ups, though kept other events. 

In Chicago, the reason given for the cancellation was that three of the team's Russian players could face repercussions in their home country because of restrictive laws against the promotion of what it calls "non-traditional sexual relations." The Russian government imposed a stricter version of this law last year, though a form of it has been around since 2013.

Even if the players were penalized, it would likely result in a fine — one they could no doubt afford. Some reports have suggested there are concerns the players' family members in Russia could also face backlash.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Athletic the league had "no information that would suggest there is any material threat that would exist [in Russia or otherwise] related to a Russian player participating in a club's Pride activities." 

Previously, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the league and its clubs "had to respect some individual choice" and that respecting diversity sometimes means understanding differences. 

Kristi Allain, a sociology professor at Fredericton's St. Thomas University, who researches hockey culture, said it seems like the NHL was trying to present itself as a "beacon of diversity [and] inclusion" while also allowing some of its stars to get away with prejudice.

The reasons given — from players' religious beliefs to their perceived risk of running afoul of Russian laws — just don't cut it for her.