Along with everyone else in the league, the Islanders took note on Saturday when Arizona’s Travis Dermott used rainbow tape on his stick in violation of the NHL’s guidelines — set over the summer following a series of controversies over Pride nights last season.
The guidelines, widely seen as toothless, were officially scrapped on Tuesday, with the league announcing that players can now “voluntarily represent social causes with their stick tape throughout the season.”
Specialized warm-up jerseys are still gone — not just for Pride Night, but also Hockey Fights Cancer, Military Appreciation Night and every other theme that teams celebrated in the past.
“I think it can be a little disappointing for everyone,” Matt Martin told The Post. “Obviously you want to support. We all have people in our lives that have cancer or have passed through cancer. I’m a big supporter of the military. All of the other ones as well, Pride nights and Hispanic nights, things like that. But the decision was made by the league, I guess.”
The Islanders still have rainbow tape in their dressing room, Anders Lee told The Post, though no one has used it this season, in concert with the rules.
Whether that will now change is not clear.
“Just cause we don’t wear the tape doesn’t mean that we don’t support that kind of thing,” Lee said. “I don’t really have much for you on that in a solution way, but I think the tape is great. Unfortunately, it’s just not getting used. I don’t think that is indicative of how things are felt.”
The elimination of warm-up jerseys impacts the Islanders less than most teams, since they did not use many to begin with.
Last year, the only specialized warm-ups they wore were Military Appreciation, Hockey Fights Cancer and St. Patrick’s Day — the lone exceptions to the organizational policy against such sweaters, since they were produced by the league, creating an expectation for teams to wear them.
Incidents with other teams, including the Rangers opting out of wearing Pride warm-ups at the last minute and Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov not wearing a rainbow jersey, prompted the league to get rid of the sweaters entirely.
That way, the thinking went, there could be no negative backlash against players for following their personal or religious beliefs.
“For me, obviously, I don’t mind wearing the Pride stuff,” Bo Horvat told The Post. “I don’t mind representing and wearing a jersey or doing nights like that. But obviously it’s some people’s beliefs that they don’t want to do it. It’s tough.”
By banning not just the warm-ups but any expressions of support at all, though, the league was seen to have gone too far in the other direction.
The hope now is that by allowing players to use tape on a voluntary basis, those who want to do so can without creating a backlash for those who do not.
That is not an easy line to walk, but if the league can successfully do so, it would draw near-universal acclaim from players.
“I believe guys should be able to support what they want to support,” Martin said. “I don’t necessarily think that guys with religious beliefs and things like that should necessarily be canceled, I guess, for not wearing it. I think to each their own, honestly. I wouldn’t have an issue wearing any of those things, personally.
“I’ve worn them in the past when I was in Toronto and with the Islanders back in the day. That’s not an issue for me in any way. I support those causes. But I think everyone has their reasons and beliefs and whatnot.”