Last month, Arizona defenseman Travis Dermott defied the NHL’s ban on using pride tape. The league did not enforce the rule, it did not fine Dermott after his display in the desert on Oct. 21, and quickly reversed course on the regulation that had been adopted sometime in the dead of night.
Friday, Minnesota netminder Marc-Andre Fleury defied the NHL’s ban on wearing themed-style masks when he donned a Native American Heritage inspired one for his team’s match against the Avalanche. The league did not enforce the rule. It did not fine Fleury — who wore the mask as a tribute to his wife, Veronique, who is a registered member of a Canadian tribe.
The NHL does not have the courage of its convictions. That is because the NHL has no convictions.
The league has been running scared ever since last season’s Pride Nights were cloaked by controversy when a handful of players opted out from wearing themed jerseys in pregame warmups. Ninth Avenue seems to be terrified at being labeled “woke” by a loud subsection of the society that lives on social media. So the NHL, under the direction of Gary Bettman, has ditched decency and common sense as it lurches from one embarrassment to another.
There is a difference between quasi-compelled virtue-signaling and personal sensitivity. I understand full well why the NHL, surely with at least tacit support from the union, prohibited themed jerseys this season. This was a good deed inaugurated by the league that became loudly counterproductive when mired in social media outrage.
But there was no peer pressure for Dermott to wear pride tape on his blade. There was no peer pressure exerted on Fleury to wear the specially designed mask. These were examples of good people expressing themselves for the common good.
The NHL is a business. That is understood. It should not be expected to lead a moral crusade. But the league itself adopted — and fairly cloaked itself — under the “Hockey is for Everyone” banner. Now the policy-makers have displayed a lack of courage when individual players wish to do their part in supporting the cause.
There is a lack of moral courage emanating from Ninth Avenue, where the folks up top not only do not have the courage of their convictions, but no convictions at all.