Firstly, respect. Secondly, what exact recourse does the league have if Dermott (or another player) keeps breaking this rule?
The NHL is such a retarded organization when compared to the other big leagues.
The unilateral ban followed a season in which several players refused to take part in warmups when their teams wore Pride Night jerseys due to their personal or religious objections.
You’re paid millions of dollars a year, how about you keep your objections to yourself and shut the fuck up.
I mean, I personally don’t understand their choices, but I also personally dont understand the choice to swear off pork or premarital sex for the sake of religion. At the end of the day though, it is their choice, even if it doesn’t make sense to me, or, in this case, look great on them. As you said, they make millions, why would they care if a few people call them out?
Edit: changed wording to clarify my point.
Fines and suspension I suspect
I can see that going badly for the league if it begins to affect enough teams. I don’t doubt they’ll go down the ‘teammate pressure’ route, but I can see it getting ugly if the league itself has no support from those rosters.
Seeing as hockey is fairly conservative and players rarely take an active role against the league or teams I bet Bettman didn’t actually think through the response of someone used pride tape. Good on Dermott. Now the NHL is in a lose lose position. It either does nothing and the rule effectively no longer exists or it imposes a fine and the NHL gets a lot of bad PR.
I love this. I hope more players follow.
My wife just called the NHL the “National Homophobia League” and I’m laughing so hard right now.
