By Suzanne Bowdey
The Washington Stand
There may be a “Glam-boni” at the Chicago Blackhawks’ game this Sunday, but there won’t be a parade of Pride jerseys. Incredibly, management in a fourth NHL city has called off the special warm-ups, proving to everyone in pro sports that this isn’t just a one-off. This is a movement — and it’s changing everything.
Unlike other teams who’ve bagged the rainbow gear, the Hawks PR department got creative. In Wednesday night’s statement, the front office offered a unique twist to the debate. Instead of citing a potential player boycott or offering no explanation at all, the Hawks insisted the move was made out of concern for the team’s three Russian players — an expert deflection, they hoped, from the criticism other teams faced.
According to the Chicago-Sun Times, team officials consulted with security experts and decided that it was “unsafe” for Nikita Zaitsev, Philip Kurashev, and Anton Khudobin to wear the colors of sexual radicalism after Vladimir Putin signed a new law cracking down on “gay propaganda.” Under the Kremlin’s December policy, promoting, praising, or normalizing LGBT relationships is considered illegal.
Certainly, the safety of the league’s Russian players is important (as a Caps fan, I happen to care a lot about the wellbeing of one Alex Ovechkin). But let’s be honest: this was more about the Blackhawks protecting themselves than its international players. While the team insisted the decision was made by the front office — not the players — there had to be more locker-room pushback than insiders are letting on. If not, why scrap the jerseys for every skater? Why not just excuse these three?
And since when has the league cared so much about Russian players? Just last year, a number of high-profile analysts and former players called for the NHL to deport the Russians over the Ukraine war. “The NHL must immediately suspend contracts for all Russian players!” hall-of-fame goalie Dominik Hasek ranted. “… If the NHL does not do so, it has indirect co-responsibility for the dead in Ukraine.”
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