As more and more players and teams have announced that they will not be wearing Pride jerseys during the warmups for their team’s Pride Night, the Calgary Flames will not be one of them.
Flames head coach Darryl Sutter said on Monday morning that the plan is for the whole team to wear Pride jerseys for warmups during Tuesday’s game against the Los Angeles Kings, which is their designated Pride Night.
While this may seem like a bit of a surprise to some who see Sutter as an old-school hockey coach, he has also previously stated that he’d welcome an openly gay player on his team when with the Kings, and said the same when talking to the media on Monday. He’s been pretty open about LGBTQ+ rights in general as the conversation has grown over the years.
The Flames also revealed the jerseys they’d be wearing for Pride Night warmups on Tuesday on their social media channels. These jerseys will also be signed and auctioned off, with proceeds going to the Flames’ CSEC Inclusion Program.
While this shouldn’t need to be an announcement, it’s in response to the recent wave of players and teams announcing they won’t be participating in Pride Night warmups and wearing the jerseys, usual either due to their Christian religion or in response to recent Russian law banning LGBTQ+ “propaganda”.
The New York Rangers, Minnesota Wild, and Chicago Blackhawks all didn’t wear the jerseys as a team, while Ivan Provorov, James Reimer, and Eric and Marc Staal sat out of Pride Night warmups while the rest of their teams participated.
Buffalo Sabres defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin joined that group on Monday as well, stating that it is due to the safety of him and his family due to the recent Russian laws.
NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly has previously stated that there should be no concern for players on the matter, but some like Lyubushkin and Provorov feel otherwise.
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