NHL scrapping all themed warm-up jerseys after last season's Pride boycotts

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman revealed Thursday that all 32 franchises will not wear any special-themed pregame warmup jerseys next season.

Bettman pitched the idea at the annual Board of Governors meeting in New York, suggesting it would remove any distractions around players’ unwillingness to participate in Pride Nights after seven skaters chose not to do so this past season.

The decision will also affect other notable events, including Military Appreciation, Hockey Fights Cancer and St. Patrick's Day. Those proceedings along with Pride Night, however, will continue at each respective arena despite the axing of the pregame sweaters.

Bettman believes these changes will help direct attention to the individual causes rather than any potential controversies stealing the spotlight away from them.

“I’ve suggested it would be appropriate for clubs not to change their jerseys in warmups because it’s become a distraction,” Bettman told Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on Thursday.

“All the efforts and emphasis on the importance of these various causes have been undermined by the distraction in terms of which teams, which players. This way, we’re keeping the focus on the game. And on these specialty nights, we’re going to be focused on the cause.”

All 32 teams hosted a “Pride” or “Hockey is for Everyone” night during the 2022-23 season, and are expected to do so again next year.

Pride jerseys, in particular, morphed into a hot-button topic after Philadelphia’s Ivan Provorov became the first skater to refuse to wear the rainbow-colored sweater, citing religion. James Reimer and Marc and Eric Staal also opted out due to their religious beliefs.

Russian skaters Ilya Lyubushkin, Denis Gurianov and Andrei Kuzmenko also decided not to attend the pregame festivities over concerns about how it would impact their relationships and safety back home.

Evgeni Malkin and Sergei Bobrovsky — who are also Russian — skated during warmups in the Pride-themed jerseys during their clubs' respective celebrations.

Three teams cancelled their Pride Night warmups altogether last season, including the Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers and Chicago Blackhawks.