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Canucks' Diwali and Lunar New Year jerseys now banned by NHL

Rob Williams
Rob Williams
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Jun 22 2023, 11:57 pm
Canucks' Diwali and Lunar New Year jerseys now banned by NHL
Vancouver Canucks/Twitter

The Vancouver Canucks don’t lead the league in much, but they did in this.

The league’s decision to ban all special jerseys during warmup will be felt more in Vancouver than in most other NHL cities. That’s because no team celebrated its community through the use of special jerseys better than the Canucks.

At least eight special jerseys were worn by the team last year, with artists brought in to design popular works of art shown off by players in warmup.

Fans loved the jerseys that were created for Diwali and Lunar New Year in particular. Special designs were also created and worn by players in warmup for Pride, First Nations Celebration Night, Black History Month, Hockey Fights Cancer, Armed Forces Night, and St. Patrick’s Day.

While the Canucks are still permitted to design special jerseys, they won’t be allowed to wear them before games anymore — something the NHL has been heavily criticized for by hockey fans today.

Commissioner Gary Bettman called specialty jerseys a “distraction” in an interview with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman today — a clear reference to a small minority of players that drew negative attention to the league by refusing to wear Pride Night jerseys last season. Bettman suggested that it “undermined” the causes teams were trying to support.

After years of wearing Pride jerseys with full participation and without controversy, Andrei Kuzmenko refused to wear it last season. He was among a number of Russian players around the league that sat out warmup for their teams’ respective Pride Nights, perhaps because of Russia’s new anti-LGBTQ laws. But this wasn’t just a issue for Russian players, as the likes of James Reimer, and Eric and Marc Staal, also refused to wear their teams’ Pride jerseys.

But rather than punishing players for refusing to wear what are essentially team-issued uniforms, they’ve decided to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

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