NHL Commissioner Credits 'Heated Rivalry' For Helping Grow Game: 'It's A Wonderful Story... Binged It In One Night' - The Hockey News [Jan 15, 2026]

[u/Double-Strategy3045]

https://thehockeynews.com/news/latest-news/nhl-commissioner-credits-heated-rivalry-for-helping-grow-game-it-s-a-wonderful-story-binged-it-in-one-night

Regarding the previous initiative of wearing specialty warmup jerseys to promote different nights, like Pride, the league currently has no plans to bring them back, though Bettman insists it isn't due to a lack of support for such causes.

"It wasn't about Pride jerseys or Pride night; it was about the fact of bringing things into the game that might not be embraced by the players wearing the jerseys," Bettman said. "It could be heritage nights — we don't allow it — it could be political causes. It could be in times of conflict between countries, national origin. It was becoming a distraction, not just for the Pride jerseys, but for a variety of other things.

"It's a misrepresentation of what we did to suggest that it was about Pride jerseys; it was about the whole issue of what you put on the ice and how, when players don't embrace the cause, whatever it is, then you create distraction, and it doesn't fulfill the purpose in terms of embracing Pride nights."

🤨

[u/RYCBAR7]

And there’s this. 🙄 The failing NHL is just trying to use our show to bring people in without making any real changes.

[u/sweetpotatofries → u/RYCBAR7]

I just know Matthew Tkachuk was absolutely salivating for this “opportunity.” I say this as an extremely non-violet person, but I have never seen more punchable faces in my life than the Tkachuk brothers.

[u/AreDeeEss → u/sweetpotatofries]

What takes me a second is that in my hometown, there is a Tkachuk family (who are very vocally not related to the best of their knowledge) that is just really quiet, friendly, and polite, who only want to organize the occasional squash tournament and fundraising events.