New Jersey Devils Hockey Team Sidesteps NHL's Pride Jersey Ban
No Pride jerseys allowed on the ice by the NHL's brass? No problem for the New Jersey Devils, who created their own solution to the ban on inclusion in the form of jerseys with a specially designed logo that echoes the rainbow's colors.
LGBTQ+ athletics site Outsports reported that the "players will wear Pride-themed jerseys as they enter the Prudential Center for their game against the Edmonton Oilers on Dec. 21, designated as the team's Pride Night."
The jerseys, which were "designed by local artist Kathryn Kennedy," constitute "a work-around the team has devised after the NHL and league commissioner Gary Bettman mandated that no Pride jerseys be worn by anyone on the ice during warm-ups or a game (or that anyone support any worthy causes on the ice)," Outsports detailed.
Kennedy said in comments posted on the team's website that the creative logo on the bespoke jerseys, which features multicolored bubbles and an abstract shape that seems to be skating with jubilantly raised arms, is intended to "represent coming out, this notion of breaking the barrier to be able to live freely and openly."
The New Jersey Devils website said that the "custom designed jerseys worn during player arrivals will be auctioned between December 21 and December 28, with proceeds benefiting Hyacinth, a New Jersey HIV/AIDS service organization.
"The question the move raises is whether all of the players on the team wear the jerseys," Outsports noted, recalling that "The NHL hid behind reaction to a few players refusing to wear jerseys earlier this year as the reason for a full league-wide ban."
The ban originally extended to Pride tape, as well, but that part of the restriction was lifted after equality-minded players began to openly defy the ban.
"Hopefully the players who do wear the jerseys are celebrated, and the players who don't wear the jerseys simply share why not," the article, which specifically said players who choose not to wear the jerseys should not be penalized for it, added.
The team has "hosted a Pride Night every (non-pandemic) season since 2017, creating what, by many accounts, is one of the best Pride Nights in the NHL," Outsports recalled. Kudos to the Devils for making sure that LGBTQ+ hockey fans are warmly welcomed to their Pride night!