In their final game leading up to the All-Star break, the Rangers did exactly what they needed to on the ice and won the hockey game. However, from an organizational standpoint, this team took a major loss after deciding to pull the special Pride Night themed jersey’s typically worn during warmups and auctioned off after the game. This sparked major disappointment from a lot of fans and rightfully so. While to some, it may seem like a minor detail from a night that every team recognizes. Although for many, it’s a night that is meant to make people feel included and welcomed by a sport that typically doesn’t give off such a friendly aura. That being said, by opting not to have the team wear these jerseys, whether or not it was intentional, came across as a slap in the face to many fans.
The big question regarding that decision is why? Was it a league decision? Was it Management? Was a player potentially going to refuse to wear the jersey? What changed from the time the Rangers marketed this event as a night where they would wear and auction off these jersey’s that ultimately led to the decision not to wear them at all? Well for starters, just a week or so ago the Philadelphia Flyers celebrated pride night and ran into some controversy as defenseman Ivan Provorov chose not to wear the jersey for “religious” reasons. Without going too deep into the topic of religion, this decision should have been deemed unacceptable immediately by John Tortorella, the rest of the coaching staff and the Flyers organization. At the end of the day, it’s a jersey with the team logo in front of it. Regardless of the cause it’s supporting, a decision not to wear that jersey should result in a decision to not allow that player to play in that game.
Instead, Torts credited Provorov for “staying true to himself” which is further proof that everyone involved with the Flyers, especially Provorov and Torts, failed to realize the entire point of this night. It has nothing to do with the players, has nothing to do with their own personal beliefs, nor does it have anything to do with the team’s collective beliefs. The whole purpose of a night like Pride Night is to show that hockey really is for everyone and that all fans should feel welcomed by the sport and safe in its environment. By encouraging Provorov’s decision, the Flyers and the league itself is acknowledging their support in the matter is artificial and that they don’t really care about making the NHL a true ally to the LGBTQIA+ community.
As a result, the situation is already snowballing around the league as sure enough, both the Rangers and Hurricanes elected to soften their stance on the matter and did not have their players wear Pride Night jerseys as advertised. While the reasoning behind it is unclear, it has become clear that because there were no repercussions for Provorov, any player who now feels entitled enough to not wear a jersey for a cause like this feels they can do so without penalty. From an organizational standpoint, especially public relations-wise, this has disaster written all over it. While we’d like to think the league isn’t filled with homophobic player’s, it’s only fair to consider that there could be more Ivan Provorov’s out there, which directly relates to the probable reason that the Rangers and Hurricanes didn’t wear the jersey’s over the weekend. There’s a very real chance that from an organizational standpoint, the Rangers, Hurricanes and more team’s to come would probably rather avoid a similar situation altogether, than to fully celebrate the night at all.
The fact of the matter is, Provorov’s decision should not have been tolerated by the Flyers but it especially should not have been tolerated by the league. Sure, player’s should have the right to express themselves and their beliefs how they choose but at the end of the day that isn’t what this is about. The point of putting that jersey on isn’t for self expression, it’s to welcome those it impacts to the sport they love or are interested in becoming a fan of. Citing religion as a reason for not being able to support others for loving who they love is a bogus cop-out to begin with; however in doing so, Provorov made the whole thing about himself. If the league really wants to stand by the whole concept that hockey is for everyone, they can’t allow stuff like this to fly and with the cascading effects that have now made its way to the Rangers and Hurricanes, the NHL has failed their fans.
As far as the Rangers side of it goes, I have a hunch that it was an upper management decision. The NY Post reported that a couple players were surprised when they walked into the locker room and saw the Reverse Retro jersey’s hanging in their stalls in lieu of the Pride Night Jersey. That alone gives the impression that this wasn’t necessarily a player decision. Even if there was a player planning to “pull a Provorov” , you’d have to think that word would spread enough about it where other player’s wouldn’t be surprised about the decision. Not to mention the majority of the team has supported the cause in the past so unless one or several players felt liberated enough from what happened in Philly and decided not to participate, it’s hard to believe it was the result of a player’s planned choice.
In my opinion, this decision reeks of Jim Dolan and given his recent little media tour, it would make sense. It always seems that at least once or twice a year, Dolan remembers he owns a hockey team too. I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if it was his decision to pull the plug on the whole thing with little to no thought on the repercussions of the whole situation. He has a bit of a history of irrationality and acting on impulse. Plus, the optimist in me would like to think that the majority of this team, or at very least the leaders would be big advocates in honoring the full Pride Night festivities. Hopefully, there will be teams that take the right stance and dawn the jerseys moving forward or the league eventually comes around and does the right thing but until then, it’ll be interesting to see how these kinds of nights are handled.
Regretfully, this whole situation kind of hindered what became a pretty solid outing for the Rangers. We talked about the importance of heading into the All-Star break on a positive note and all Pride Night stuff aside, they got the pair of points they wanted and played an all around game. Came as a bit of a surprise that Jaroslav Halak got the start in the Rangers final game but if there’s one thing Rangers fans should know it’s to not question the Goalie Guru. In the long run, it made sense to give Igor a slightly longer break, especially since he’s headed to the All-Star game with Fox and Panarin.
Halak ended up having an incredibly impressive night, stopping all but one Phil Kessel shot that put Vegas on the board. Chris Kreider got things started late in the first period with a deflection for his 20th of the season. One he definitely needed after the rough game he had in Toronto. It would be his line really turning things up in this one as Vincent Trocheck would extend the Blueshirts the lead 2-0 to head into the second. Kessel cut the lead in half early in the second but the Rangers stayed the course and out-shot the Golden Knights throughout the remainder of the game. One of the highlights that came from the game came at the start of the period when rookie Will Cuylle dropped the gloves with Keegan Kolesar for his first NHL fight. Have to give the kid props for dropping the gloves, especially with a guy like Kolesar. While the Rangers have already sent him back to Hartford, (which makes sense given the All-Star break) you have to think this won’t be the last we’ve seen of him given his impact in his call up.
Filip Chytil, who has undoubtedly been one of the Rangers best players as of late, continued his hot streak and extended the Rangers lead 3-1. Jimmy Vesey would solidify the game's score at 4-1 with an empty netter with a minute and a half left. All in all, not a bad January for the Rangers who went 8-2-2 on the month. Add that to their 8-3-2 December giving them 16 wins (36 of possible 50 points) in their last 25 games as they hold on to the third position in the Metropolitan Division. Things were certainly looking bleak from late October to November but the team has turned things around and should head into the All-Star break with their heads held high in regards to their on ice play.
They’re now in the midst of a ten day break as they won’t play again until Monday February 6th where they’ll host the Calgary Flames. Hopefully the players all have a nice and relaxing break as the pressure will only increase from here on out. As for me, I plan to have some more content out this week focusing on the Rangers trade deadline plans as well as some contract extension thoughts, prospect pool and a brief look at the impressive upcoming draft class.
Chris Feldman
Comentários