Canucks captain says team will support Pride off the ice after NHL ban on rainbow tape

Rainbow tape is seen on Vancouver Canucks' Aidan McDonough's stick as players also wear pride-themed warmup jerseys during the pre-game skate before an NHL hockey game against the Calgary Flames in Vancouver, on Friday, March 31, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

The Vancouver Canucks’ captain Quinn Hughes has weighed in on the National Hockey League’s recent ban on any special jerseys or alterations to gear during any on-ice activities, including Pride-themed jerseys and rainbow hockey tape.

He affirmed that the team will continue supporting the LGBTQ2S+ community, but will follow the rules and stick to doing so off the ice.

“I preached it before, last year in the locker room, and this organization, with Pride, we’ll always support that,” Hughes told reporters after a team practice on Tuesday.

“It starts at the top of the organization with the (franchise owners) Aquilinis and down, and whether we’re wearing the tape or the jerseys that will be something that we’ll always support,” he continued.

“We may not be doing anything on the ice, but we’ll still be doing things off the ice to support it.”

The Canucks have been donning rainbow jerseys for warm-up at the team’s annual Pride Night since 2017, as well as sporting specialty jerseys for other events such as Diwali and Chinese New Year and in support of initiatives like Hockey Fights Cancer and military appreciation night.

The NHL brought in a ban on all of these themed jerseys last season, after a handful of players—including Canucks’ Andrei Kuzmenko—and a few entire teams declined to wear Pride jerseys. The league justified the ban by calling the controversy a “distraction” from the game.

Then last week, the league sent a memo to teams clarifying that players aren’t allowed to alter their gear in any way during any on-ice activity including practices, warm-ups and games. The ban includes the use of rainbow tape on sticks, which was first used in the NHL by the Edmonton Oilers in 2016 and has since been displayed by all 32 teams.

Speaking of the Oilers, captain Connor McDavid told reporters Tuesday he disagrees with the ban and would like to see it reversed. One player—Philedalphia Flyers’ Scott Laughton—said he’d go as far as sporting Pride tape no matter what the NHL says.

Whether any Vancouver players will defy the ban remains to be seen, and the official word is that the Canucks will follow the league’s rules.

“Decisions like that, that’s something we follow the NHL, what they recommend,” general manager Patrik Allvin said at a media availability Tuesday ahead of Wednesday’s season opener in Vancouver.

“I think this organization has done a lot of good things in the community… and we will continue to do that, but we definitely follow the league rules and what they’re telling us to do,” he continued.

Dr. Kristopher Wells, the co-founder of Pride Tape initiative, called the NHL’s decision a “step backwards and a betrayal.”

The associate professor at MacEwan University in Edmonton told The Canadian Press: “The NHL had this whole campaign called `Hockey Is For Everyone' that brought together all of these diversity and inclusion initiatives.

They seem to now have completely moved away from that message--clearly hockey is not for everyone.”

“We see hate crimes continue to rise, we see protests in communities all over Canada, and here we thought that the NHL was an ally,” Wells continued. “It feels like for many that they've turned their back on the community.”

In a statement, You Can Play, an organization that campaigns to end homophobia in sports, said the NHL’s decision represents a “stepping back” from its commitment to inclusion.

“We are now at a point where all the progress made, and relationships established with our community is in jeopardy,” it wrote. “Making decisions to eradicate our visibility in hockey—by eliminating symbols like jerseys and now pride tape—immediately stunts the impact of bringing in more diverse fans and players.”

The Vancouver Canucks play their first game of the season against the Edmonton Oilers Wednesday at Rogers Arena.