NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh, responding to a recent curtailing by the NHL of Pride and similar celebrations, said the "overwhelming majority" of players in the league support the 2SLGBTQ+ community.
"I mean, we can't really change the perception of a country's view on a particular issue, particularly around the LGBTQ community," Walsh said Friday, while a guest on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. "But I want the LGBTQ community to know that the overwhelming majority of the players in the National Hockey League and the Players' Association support them."
Walsh's comments came on the heels of the NHL Board of Governors on Thursday approving changes that meant teams will no longer have players wear special tribute sweaters of any kind during warmups.
The NHL's move was a reaction to some players, notably Ivan Provorov and Florida's Staal brothers, opting out of wearing tribute warmup sweaters for Pride Nights this past season for political or religious reasons.
The sweaters can still be "modelled" and auctioned off, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman on Thursday, but the issue of players not wearing the jerseys became a "distraction" to the various causes they were meant to celebrate.
Walsh was also asked about the situation in Arizona, where the Coyotes had their proposal for a new rink decisively voted down in May and are looking at playing in a 4,600-seat Arizona State University arena for the foreseeable future.
"I wouldn't say we're back at the drawing board, but the pressure is on the ownership of the Coyotes to come up with a location where — if they want to stay in Arizona — to find a location where they can build a new arena," Walsh said. "My concern in talking to the players is, how long did this go on for? It has been going on for several years now. And what I'm trying to do is have a date ... that if we don't have some movement in a new stadium ... actual shovels in the ground, then I think we, collectively with the NHL, need to make some decisions on the future of the Coyotes, as these players deserve to play in the National Hockey League rink.
"The players there are heading into the prime of their career, and they're playing in a college arena. And I think the concern they have is, what is the attraction for free agents to come to Arizona to play in a college arena? What is the potential for the team winning in the future? So they have a lot of questions and a lot of valid concerns.
"I've gone to a game. ... I've walked around. It's a fine arena for a college. But it's not a fine arena for the National Hockey League."
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