The NHL never has had an openly gay player, but if a player does come out, he will be accepted, according to results of an anonymous survey conducted by USA TODAY Sports at the NHL/NHL Players' Association Media tour Sept. 8-9, 2015, in Toronto.
Thirty-five NHL players were asked whether they would be accepting of an openly gay teammate, and 34 (97.1%) said they would be.
"I'm not surprised by that," said Calgary Flames president Brian Burke. "I'm disappointed by the one player. I don't think our players have an issue with gay players. I think the first player to come out is going to find an unbelievably welcome reception. I think my generation has a bigger problem than their generation when it comes views on the gay community."
David Denson, 20, a minor leaguer in the Milwaukee Brewers' organization, recently became the first active player associated with Major League Baseball to reveal he is gay. Jason Collins became the first active NBA player to say he was gay in 2014.
The NFL has not had an openly gay player on an active roster, but the St. Louis Rams drafted Michael Sam, an openly gay player, in 2014. He did not make the team.
"I think the (USA TODAY survey) says a lot about our players," Burke said. "I think it says a lot about how far society has come in this area."
In 2013, the NHL announced a partnership with the You Can Play, an advocacy organization dedicated to ensuring equality and respect for all athletes regardless of sexual orientation. Burke's son, Patrick, who works in the NHL Office of Player Safety, was a co-founder of that organization. Brian Burke is on the organization's advisory board. Both became involved in the organization as a tribute to Brian's late son, Brendan, who came out as gay in 2009 when he was manager of the Miami (Ohio) men's hockey team. He was killed in a car accident in 2010.
"You Can Play has helped immensely in this area," Brian Burke said. "When we shot the first set of You Can Play (promotional) videos, guys were stopping me at rinks and saying, "Why didn't you ask me?" Guys were mad. Guys were insulted that we didn't ask them. That's when I thought, 'Wow, we are farther ahead than I thought."
Other survey results
** Twenty-five players said the NHL should realign again if Las Vegas and Quebec City enter the NHL as expansion teams and eight said the teams should just be added to the Western Conference. Currently, the Eastern Conference has 16 teams and the Western Conference had 14 teams.
** On the question of whether the NHL should sell advertisements on jerseys, 25 players said 'no' and 10 said 'yes.' Many of those who said 'yes,' stipulated that the use of advertisements had to be done in moderation.
** The Columbus Blue Jackets were the leading vote-getter when players were asked to name the No. 1 "sleeper" team heading into the 2015-16 NHL season, but 14 different teams received votes
The Buffalo Sabres and Edmonton Oilers received five votes, while the Florida Panthers received three and the Dallas Stars, New York Islanders and Nashville Predators received two votes each. The Montreal Canadiens, Minnesota Wild, Boston Bruins, Calgary Flames, San Jose Sharks, Winnipeg Jets and Toronto Maple Leafs received one vote each from the surveyed players.
** When asked how many goals Phil Kessel would score in his first year with the Pittsburgh Penguins, the consensus was at least 40, according to a survey of 17 players. Thirteen of the respondents said he would score 40 or more. The lowest estimate was 30 goals and the highest was 50 goals.
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