NHL players are discussing options to protest racial injustice after the NBA and other professional sports leagues postponed games, according to a person with knowledge of those talks.
The subject rose to the forefront as multiple leagues called off games and two prominent Black NHL players expressed frustration that the predominantly white league went ahead Wednesday with two games preceded by moments of reflection.
The moment of remembrance took place before the Lightning-Bruins game, NHL's Amalie Benjamin reported.
"Actually it’s incredibly insulting as a black man in hockey the lack of action and acknowledgment from the @nhl, just straight-up insulting," San Jose's Evander Kane said in a tweet.
Minnesota's Matt Dumba and Kane, founding members of the Hockey Diversity Alliance, criticized the NHL for going ahead with games while every NBA playoff game, plus three in Major League Baseball and others in Major League Soccer and the WNBA, were postponed.
In a follow-up tweet, Kane let that the NHL know that "human rights take priority over sports."
We the @TheOfficialHDA have formally requested the @NHL to suspend all playoff games today. We strongly feel this sends a clear message that human rights take priority over sports.
— Evander Kane (@evanderkane_9) August 27, 2020
According to its website, the HDA's purpose is to "eradicate systemic racism and intolerance in hockey."
According to NHL's Amalie Benjamin, Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning players, when they found out about the boycotts, it was too close to game time to discuss doing anything.
But it seems the NHL might have listened to Kane, as Sportsnet's Chris Johnston reports that the Vegas Golden Knights and Vancouver Canucks have canceled their media availability session before their game on Thursday.
Scheduled Zoom media availabilites for the @GoldenKnights and @Canucks that were originally scheduled to be happening right now have been changed to "TBA" on the NHL's media website.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) August 27, 2020
No word yet from NHL officials if Thursday's Philadelphia Flyers-New York Islanders and Knights-Canucks playoff games will be postponed.
