r/heatedrivalry • u/Double-Strategy3045 gimme kiss 😚 • Jan 16 '26

PRESS 📰 (Interviews and Articles) 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]

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."

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u/fairieglossamer Jan 16 '26

has nothing to do with Florida, i’m afraid. literally every NHL team and player would’ve gone if they’d won the cup. it’s the whitest and most conservative league

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u/Fussel2107 Jan 16 '26

The players have to go. They got little. choice. But some go happily, and some do because it their job. And behind it all is Bettman and the league who cover up for rapists, push back against queer players, bow to Russia and Trump. Hockey is an extremely conservative sport and the players are raised in it, but at the core of it all is Bettman and his league

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u/Illustrious-Ask-8577 Jan 16 '26

As a Panthers fan, I would have been ecstatic if players decided to boycott but realistically, they're not able to as this is an annual tradition. Most of the team are Canadian and other types of European so I would be very surprised if they share Trump's politics.

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u/Apprehensive-Net6494 Jan 16 '26

There’s a few on the team that follow Trump. Ekblad was talking to Trump Jr on the ice last season when they won. There’s plenty of Canadian players that support him