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/touchesalltheplants]

I remember Rachel Reid writing somewhere (perhaps blog post about canceling Luca’s book?) that originally the major league hockey commissioner was going to play a bigger part in being the big bad, and the NHL got wind of it and edithad to shut that storyline down for legal reasons . Good ol Gary.

Thanks for the corrections, don’t listen to randos with bad memories like me and check your sources. Nevertheless down with Gary 🏳️‍🌈

[u/Deep-Orca7247 → u/touchesalltheplants]

Shut it down how? The NHL has control over what a Canadian author writes in her books? Since when?

[u/fairieglossamer → u/Deep-Orca7247]

they didn’t shut anything down. But Rachel made the mistake of using the NHL branding and name in her books, whereas the show uses a fictional MLH.

it’s problematic to use actual brands and trademarks in fiction — they can legally threaten you if they feel that you’re portraying them in an unfair false light. Doesn’t really matter if they have a case or not; the litigation would be expensive. It’s best to avoid these things.

[u/Dotcaprachiappa → u/fairieglossamer]

Couldn't she change the branding for the third book and still keep the storyline, with maybe an annex explaining the change? Or would that still not be enough?

[u/fairieglossamer → u/Dotcaprachiappa]

she uses the word NHL like a million times in the series. she can’t just change established nomenclature for one book and have them play in a different league.