NHL commissioner: No more specialty sweaters during warmups - ESPN

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Thursday that teams will no longer wear specialty sweaters during warmups because «it's become a distraction.»

The decision to move away from specialty warmup sweaters for events such as Pride Night is the latest development in what was arguably the most polarizing subject in the NHL this season.

«I've suggested that it would be appropriate for clubs not to change their jerseys in warmups because it's become a distraction and taking away from the fact that all of our clubs in some form or another host nights in honor of various groups or causes,» Bettman said in an interview with Sportsnet following a Board of Governors meeting. «And we rather them continue to get the appropriate attention that they deserve and not be a distraction.»

Bettman said teams still can have specialty nights such as Pride Night, Black History Night, Military Appreciation Night and Hockey Fights Cancer. He also said teams still can create and sell those specialty sweaters for various charities.

«Players who choose to model them can do that,» Bettman said. «It's really just the question of what's on the ice.»

The league-wide conversation around specialty sweaters — namely Pride Night sweaters — picked up in January when then-Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov opted not to wear a Pride Night-themed warmup sweater. Provorov, who was recently traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets, cited his religious beliefs, saying he wanted «to stay true to myself and my religion.»

The Minnesota Wild and New York Rangers were among the teams that said they would wear special sweaters for their respective Pride Nights only to reverse course. The Wild announced their sweaters would be sold at a charity auction.

In March, the