Basically, everyone was punished because the NHL decided not to open a Pandora’s box by accepting certain causes and refusing to allow others to be put forward.
The result? In concrete terms, we see players unable to honor a noble cause because of the NHL’s refusal to approach a place where some players are placed in a… delicate position. Let’s put it this way.
The most recent example? The Wild’s Marc-André Fleury can’t honor his wife with a mask made just for her.
As part of Native American Heritage Night and to honor his wife, who is native, Marc-Andre Fleury had a custom-designed mask created by Cole Redhorse Taylor. Mask quotes his dad on back, has names of his kids.
He’s bummed the NHL has informed him he can’t even wear in warmups pic.twitter.com/wTR1BtkLOI
– Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) November 24, 2023
What you need to know is that Fleury’s wife is from the aboriginal nations, and as part of the Wild’s celebrations to honor their culture, the Quebec goaltender decided to have a mask made.
The NHL, however, has said no to wearing it… even as part of a simple warm-up.
Angered, Flower was ready to defy the rules and pay a fine to wear it. That said, he eventually learned that the Wild would also have faced a “significant” penalty had he chosen to wear it due to threats from the NHL. He’ll just have to sign it and put it up for auction.
So he won’t be able to do what he wanted. His agent, Allan Walsh, spoke about the situation on Twitter.
Marc-Andre Fleury indicated he was planning to wear the mask anyway and pay the fine. The NHL then threatened the Wild organization with an additional significant fine. https://t.co/iVmCqyQR2H
– Allan Walsh (@walsha) November 24, 2023
Obviously, at the moment, the NHL looks bad. It has chosen to place itself, once again, on the wrong side of history in the court of public opinion, and that’s not sitting well with the fans.
In brief
– It’s the CH’s party of hope.
Jacob Fowler could give himself a gift by beating Notre Dame today pic.twitter.com/VYf0xQ5qlJ
– DansLesCoulisses (@DLCoulisses) November 24, 2023
– A name to watch.
Lots of injuries in the @CanadiensMTL organization. Time to talk to Xavier Simoneau @RocketLaval who is knocking on the @NHL door. Beware of your critics. Those who have bet against him for 9 years have often looked bad… @Lintrepidegat #samedi pic.twitter.com/3GF5RC5bdQ
– jf plante (@jfplante_Droit) November 24, 2023
– And it’s not over, it’s just the beginning…
Alouettes : The rollercoaster of emotions is not over!https://t.co/Hp8EjKmPbC
– RDS (@RDSca) November 24, 2023
– He’s back.
Andrei Vasilevskiy will make his season debut tonight against the Hurricanes, Jon Cooper confirmed. pic.twitter.com/lyVlmCRT4L
– Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 24, 2023
– Enjoy.
As you know, @Hellmanns and Bleu, Blanc, Rouge have joined forces for an exclusive video series called “Legends in the Kitchen.”
Episode 3 with @M_LacroixRDS and me https://t.co/ZQ9LFwef6b#HellmannsCanadaPartner
– Tony Marinaro (@TonyMarinaro) November 24, 2023